Garagerocktopia salutes the Jesters

One of the most fascinating things about the music we write about here at Garagerocktopia, in the opinion of your humble blogger, is how often an obscure or long-gone band or artist can keep sending ripples through the music world long – way long -- after they first hit the scene. 

Sometimes, they need not even have recorded, or still have records around, to have had an impact. Now, fair warning, this story will mention a lot of artists and genres that we normally don’t talk about much on this blog. But, in my opinion, the story is just too interesting to ignore, especially since it all leads back to a little ol’ garage rock band from the South.

Such is the case with the band we feature this week, the Jesters, back in the early part of the ‘60s the pride of Meridian, Mississippi. The band was led by Butch Carter, by all accounts a terrific singer and bandleader who helped the Jesters become one of Meridian's top rock bands.

Jimmie Rodgers

Spitting distance from the Alabama state line, Meridian is a town which currently has a population of a little over 40,000 people. But its impact has been far beyond its size. Just a few of the artists hailing from there include Jimmie Rodgers, perhaps the first country singer to incorporate blues into his music and long-term, one of the most important figures in American music. His innovations led directly to the creation of rock and roll.

Rap artist Big K.R.I.T is from Meridian, as is Hayley Williams, lead singer of the mega-popular rock band Paramore.

“God was doing what he was supposed to with Meridian,” said Frank Morris, ex of the aforementioned band the Jesters, of the city’s musical legacy. “We didn’t have video games or 8,000 channels on TV, so I guess we just spent that time making music.”

It seems that “Jesters” is a very popular band name. Perhaps most famous group to garage rock aficionados were the Memphis Jesters, who recorded on Sun Records. There were  also the Jesters of North Carolina, a fine garage rock band themselves. In New York, there was a doo wop group called the Jesters. To make it even more confusing, all of the bands were operating within a few years of each other.

The Meridian-based Jesters are not the most famous of amongst these, and their music, as far as we can tell, is currently unavailable.

But like a mini-Sun there in the south, the music that radiated from the band shines in a mind-boggling number of directions. While the Jesters never got within a country mile of the national charts, one alumnus did, another would distinguish himself with some of country music’s coolest and most groundbreaking artists. And Morris was on the ground level of people who would be involved with some hugely popular music.

Chris Etheridge was an original member of the the band.  He left early in the Jesters' run and would go on to become a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons. His illustrious career would also see him collaborating with the likes of Willie Nelson (in his days as a founder of Outlaw Country) and Emmylou Harris.

The Jesters’ former guitarist, Frank Morris, is semi-retired from music and operates a tech business. But as a 16 year-old, he was asked to lend his musical services to the Jesters, at the time a top rock band in Meridian. Morris would eventually be one of the first people hired by Peavey Electronics, a major maker of musical equipment, which was based out of Meridian.

“I was just a kid. I didn’t know anything about any other bands called the Jesters,” recalled Morris, talking by telephone from his home in South Florida. “The Jesters in Meridian were really popular and I got stars in my eyes when they asked me to play.”

In the mid-60s, Soul music, thanks in no small part to James Brown, Atlantic Records and Stax Records, grew its base well beyond African-American audiences. Rock and roll has always looked in the direction of so-called “black music” for inspiration, and garage bands did, too, including the Jesters. The music these groups made was dubbed “blue-eyed soul.”

“We did a lot of Beatles and top-40,” Morris said, “but our original material was along the blue-eyed soul lines.”

The Endless Chain

Becoming a Jester at the same time as Morris was Paul Davis. Davis played guitar and keyboards for a few years in the Jesters. Morris and Davis would form other groups later on, including the Six Soul Survivors, which continued the blue-eyed soul sound. That band would morph into The Endless Chain.

Later, Davis would become a huge star in his own right, plus write hit songs for others. Davis’ name on the pop charts would become a common sight. 

His 1977 song, “I Go Crazy” at one point held the record for time spent on Billboard’s Hot-100 singles chart, and he would hit the top 10 again in 1982 with “’65 Love Affair.” Davis would also have great success as a collaborator or songwriter with the likes of Juice Newton and Marie Osmond. Yet Morris thinks Davis could have been an even bigger star.

“Paul hated to perform and he hated cameras,” Morris revealed. “He never got out and promoted his music and didn’t do everything the label wanted him to do. But he had a lot of songs he wrote, and a lot of people doing his songs.”

It becomes clear very quickly when talking to Morris how much love he still has for his old friend and band mate.

“Paul was one of those guys who was so likeable,” said Morris. “He was very friendly and very laid back. He was really humble about his gift, and trust me, it was a gift. People who met that guy were the better for it.”

Sadly, Davis passed on in 2008. Though friends, Morris left Mississippi by 1985 had moved to Florida and had mostly lost touch with Davis, seeing him for the last time a few years later. They played some golf in 1984 and that would be the last time Morris saw Davis.

Before then, Morris had a key role in the beginning of some big careers. With a penchant for turning his garages into recording studios, musicians would pop up at his address – and go on to become big names with big careers.

One of those was Meridian’s own Steve Forbert. For a brief time in the late ‘70s, Forbert, by all accounts an excellent songwriter, was hailed as the new Dylan – a moniker often laid on young singer-songwriters who showed any promise. And usually, their fates turned out the same – a brief time of stardom, then a sudden disappearance from the spotlight. This movie would be exactly the same for Forbert.

Forbert had a top-10 hit in 1979 with melodic “Romeo’s Tune,” before fading, deservedly or not, from the spotlight. But before that hit and the subsequent acclaim it brought, Forbert was just another artist who recorded in Morris’garage.

The same can be said about Parker McGee. Though also an artist, McGee is probably most successful as a songwriter who penned some giant soft-rock hits, including “I really Want to See You Tonight” for England Dan and John Ford Coley.

“I had a little one-car garage and I converted it into a studio. There were so many talented artists in Meridian. McGee was one of them and he recorded often at my studio.”

Today, despite many years of semi-retirement from the music biz, Morris still has some big name associations. Williams is a family friend. Recently, Morris has been a sort of consigliore for country singer Ashley Briggs. So despite starting off in a somewhat unheralded garage rock band from Meridian Mississippi, Morris has been on the front lines of major-league pop careers.

“I never had the Midas touch myself,” Morris admits, “but I have helped a lot of others. I’ve had the pleasure of being associated with so many talented people. I just wish a little more had rubbed off on me.”

This, of course, is not the first story we've had about a band from Mississippi. You can check out our feature on the Gants here and here.