MUSTANGS Austin Texas 7" 45 Rare '66 Northern Soul HEAR

$

778

THE MUSTANGS OF AUSTIN TEXAS TENDER LOVING CARE 7"
Category / Style / Moods: R&B SOUL

 777.77 / S asocc
The Mustangs of Austin, Texas

TENDER LOVING CARE

1966 STANGS AUSTIN, TX 7"

CONDITION
Visually VG-, but TLC side plays VG or better

MEGA-RARE REGIONAL RELEASE
ONLY 500 PRESSED!



Click the pix for a better view

 TRACKS:  

1. 

TENDER LOVING CARE

2. 

HOW DO YOU QUIT

Austin's first Soul 45! As the prize for winning a local Battle of the Bands, Matthew Robinson and the Mustangs had 500 copies of this single pressed. Matthew Robinson, born February 27, 1948 in Austin, Texas. In ’64 he and schoolmates formed the Mustangs (they had a huge hit – Tender Loving Care), which toured with James Brown, Jimmy Reed, Big Mama Thornton and Johnny Winter... Stevie Ray Jimmie Vaughan also figures prominently in Matthew Robinson's reckoning, although by that time the tables were turned, with Vaughan giving advice to a struggling Robinson. Vaughan is just one of a number of key figures that Robinson conjures when relating the story of his own musical odyssey. The first is Calvin Thompson, original guitarist for Austin's legendary gospel group, the Bells of Joy. Robinson was surrounded by music in his youth, but it was watching Thompson that inspired him to make it his life's work. "It was so magical the way he did it," he says. "He didn't miss leads or anything, and it was such a joyous thing. I [knew then] that's what I would like to do." Robinson started singing at local sockhops, and in 1964 formed his first band, the Mustangs. With the aspiring guitarist singing lead, the Mustangs achieved some prominence in the Sixties, touring nationally and opening up for a number of legends, James Brown, Jimmy Reed, and Big Mama Thornton among them. It wasn't until the band's demise that Robinson decided to pick up the guitar. It was slow going at first -- bad tone, sore fingers -- and a frustrated Robinson almost called it quits. It was then that Vaughan stepped in with some simple words of encouragement: "Don't worry about it, you'll get it." His next savior was local bluesman W.C. Clark. Clark had been watching Robinson practice, playing complicated lines and chords he would never use. "At the time, I had bought a book titled 1001 Chords," says Robinson, his voice rising with amusement. "It had all these chords, which I learned. Every one of them. But to this day, I probably haven't played no more than three or four of those chords." It was Clark who suggested a simpler course of study -- 26 chords, tops -- that Robinson still uses onstage. Finally, Robinson credits Count Basie, whom he met at the Armadillo shortly before Basie passed away. The Count told Robinson that learning to play music was a lifetime project, that a day didn't pass when he didn't pick up something new. "To do this," Robinson realized, "you're gonna have to work at it. It's not just gonna fall. Like Basie, just jumps in there and whups it, no problem. But I imagine he had to work at it too." If Robinson's guitar chops came along slowly, it didn't help that he had been playing for two years before he learned how to tune his instrument. "I didn't even know you were supposed to tune it when I first started," he laughs. "So, if I learned a song and the next day somebody had turned something or it went out of tune, I had to learn it again. It was strange. That's why my lines are weird like that when I play now, because I still hear that." It may have taken years, but Robinson eventually got the hang of it -- tuning pegs, 26 chords, and all -- and in time developed his own style, a clenched, staccato delivery that complements the sly grit of his voice. His fretboard influences run from John Lee Hooker to Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt to Andrés Segovia. "Anybody who played, [I would listen] to hear their voice, and wonder how they felt to get like that."  

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