1976 Dirk Hamilton You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right

1976 You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right

Dirk Hamilton

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Electric)

After moving to Los Angeles from Stockton, CA, Dirk Hamilton attracted the attention of Steely Dan producer Gary Katz, who in turn helped him sign a deal with ABC Records. The result, the Katz-produced You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right, is a quirky if occasionally misguided work, with moments of brilliance. Katz brought in a host of session pros, including Chuck Rainey, Elliott Randall, and Jeff Porcaro, all of whom had previously worked with him on various Steely Dan projects, to flesh out Hamilton's idiosyncratic, acoustic-based tunes. And while these great players are perfect for Steely Dan's sophisticated pop/rock, they don't really do much for the material here.

1976 Deardorff & Joseph

1976 Deardorff & Joseph

Deardorff & Joseph

Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar, Arranger, Guitar (Bass), Producer

Deardorff & Joseph were not widely heard or remembered, but that doesn't mean they were forgotten or even felt. Their 1976 debut became a cult item for collectors of soft Californian '70s pop, and it also marked the first time Jeffrey Comanor's "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" was heard (a few years later, England Dan & John Ford Coley brought it into the Top Ten). At the time, the album was largely ignored, even if it was a first-class professional production firmly within the Californian commercial sound of the mid-'70s and featured musical support by such luminaries as Dan Seals, Jeff Porcaro and his brothers Mike and Joe, Dean Parks, Jim Horn, and David Paich.

1975 Seals & Crofts I'll Play for You

1975 I'll Play for You
Seals & Crofts
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Vocals, Producer

Produced by Louie Shelton; Horn and String Arrangements – David Paich; Vocals – Jim Seals and Dash Crofts; Guitars and Banjos – Jim Seals and Louie Shelton; Keyboards – David Paich and Jack Lenz; Drums – Ed Green, Jeff Porcaro on “Golden Rainbow,” Jim Varley on “I’ll Play For You”; Percussion – Antoine Dearborn; Trumpet – Larry Ford, Ron King, Paul Hubinon and Bobby Shew; Reeds – Bob Crosby, Jim Horn, Steve Leeds, Gebe Cipriano and Henry Sigismondi; Trombone – Dick “Slyde” Hyde, John Leys, Lew McCreary; Bass – Wilton Felder, Mike Porcaro on “I’ll Play For You” and “Castles In the Sand”; Slide Guitar – Ovid Stevens; Flute – Jack Lenz on “I’ll Play For You”; Arp Synthesizer – Jack Lenz on “Fire and Vengeance”; Engineers – Tom Knox and Joe Bogan; Second Engineer – Marcus Joseph; Studio – Dawnbreaker Studios, California; Special thanks to Jerry Spry; Art Direction and Design – Robert Lockart; Photography – Ivan Nagy.