Brewer & Shipley Bio

 

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photo: Jim Goss

 
  Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley began their careers separately on
the 1960s folk club circuit.  Both native mid-westerns (Oklahoman and Ohioan respective to their billing), they first met in 1964 at the famed Blind Owl coffee house in Kent, Ohio.  It would be another three years before they would team up, and during those three years the two solo folk artists crossed paths numerous times at various coffeehouse gigs on the folk circuit and each tried their hands in other musical partnerships. 
 
     
  Down In L.A.   
 

By 1967 Michael had found work as a songwriter at Good Sam Music, a publishing offshoot of Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss’ newly formed A&M records in Los Angeles.  Soon Tom arrived in L.A. in search of work and fate would take its course when he moved into a house around the corner from Michael.  Soon they began writing songs together, and Tom was also hired as staff writer for Good Sam Music.  Their early songs were recorded by Glen Yarborough, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Poor, Noel Harrison, and H.P. Lovecraft.

Their demos for the publishing company exhibited such a sound and style of their own that A&M suggested they record their songs themselves.  Their debut album as Brewer & Shipley, Down In L.A., was released by A&M in 1968.  Down in L.A. was pretty much made up of L.A. studio guys, plus a friend or two here and there, including Leon Russell, Jim Messina, and studio wizards Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine, and Jim Gordon.  But the songs were their own and demonstrated the strong melodies and lyrics that would become their trademark.

Even with a newly released album and mutual friends who were starting to make it big in L.A. in bands such as The Association, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield, Michael and Tom disliked their life in L.A. and decided to move back to the Midwest.  They ended up settling in a farm-like hideaway just outside Kansas City, Missouri.  Tom Shipley described their decision to settle in Missouri as one of fortunate circumstance. "There was a music scene built up in Kansas City, and Michael and I used to come during Christmas and it was great. There would be clouds in the sky -- you don't see clouds in LA, just the haze. There was a significant period of time when we were essentially homeless. Then we set ourselves down with all these old friends to try and get a musical production company going."  

 
     
  Finding Good Karma in the heartland  
 

Once in Kansas City, Brewer & Shipley ended up on Kama Sutra Records after just one album on A&M, which is a story in itself.  "We really didn't care for L.A. very much," explained Michael.  "We had just had enough, and figured there had to be a better way to make music, without living there.  So we left California, and ended up coming back to the heartland. We ended up in Kansas City and started a management/production company with some friends, Good Karma Productions.

"At the time, it was just unheard of to not live in L.A., Nashville, or New York if you're actually in the business.  So the people at A&M pretty much thought that we'd just quit the business and gone home. But, of course, we hadn't.  We were just going back to what we'd originally done, which was traveling around and performing our songs for people. We got out of our contracts with no problem, 'cause they just assumed we'd quit the business.

"Our management went to the east coast to shop some labels. Buddah [of which Kama Sutra was a sister label] signed us, because [Buddah executive] Neil Bogart at the time was known as the king of bubblegum -- you know, [Buddah Records act] 1910 Fruitgum Company and all that stuff. He was trying to shatter that image, and looking for album artists. And that's what Tom and I were. We were never about singles. Every song on our albums was just as important as the next one. All of our albums, we meant to be whole packages."

 
     
  Album Artists  
 

Brewer & Shipley have recorded original material albums for four different labels, A&M Records, Buddah/Kama Sutra, Capitol, & their own One Toke Productions.  After leaving A&M Records having only released their underrated debut album Down In L.A., they were signed by Kama Sutra  and it was there that they had their greatest commercial success with their four albums, Weeds, Tarkio, Shake Off The Demon, and Rural Space.  After releasing four albums in four years, they left Kama Sutra and were signed by Capitol Records who released two more albums in two years there, ST11261 & Welcome To Riddle Bridge.  They split up 1979 and since reuniting in 1987 have released two more albums on their own One Toke Productions label, Shanghai & Heartland.


Their biggest albums Weeds and Tarkio were recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area with producer Nick Gravenites, who'd already made a name for himself as a member of the Electric Flag, and for writing songs recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.  Gravenites was instrumental in assembling the great backup musicians for Weeds, including: legendary guitarist Mike Bloomfield; keyboardist Mark Naftalin; violinist Richard Greene; keyboardist Nicky Hopkins; and, ace pedal steel guitarist Red Rhodes.

"Weeds took on a life of its own; it kind of created sort of a hybrid music between our style and [the session musicians'] style." Brewer was also pleased with the album's country-rock accents: "Weeds, along with the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, were two of the first albums of the time to incorporate more of a country thing. We liked the sound of the pedal steel guitar played other than just a real twangy, hokey old-fashioned country...the instrument itself, we thought, could be incorporated into more of a folk-rock genre."  Weeds was heavily played on FM stations and got Brewer & Shipley an underground following.

Their biggest selling album Tarkio took the new sound a step further, again with the help of session players and Gravenites.  Tarkio’s most celebrated guest appearance was by Jerry Garcia, who contributed pedal steel guitar.  Michael explains how that came about, "Wally Heider's studio in San Francisco had a bunch of the Bay Area [musicians] in there every day.  It was like going into the office. The Dead was in there every day, or some offshoot of the Dead; the Airplane or offshoots were in there every day, Hot Tuna or whoever.  We knew a lot of them from back in the folk days. I met Paul Kantner when he played banjo and had a flat-top haircut, so we went back a ways with some of these people.  Jerry had just started playing pedal steel guitar. He came in one day, and we were working on some stuff. We said, 'Hey Jerry, we got a song here, would you like to play pedal steel?'  And he said, 'Sure.'  So he set up his pedal steel and played on a song called 'Oh Mommy' (I Ain't No Commie), the B-side to 'One Toke Over the Line.'" 

Even though none of their subsequent albums would come close to the commercial appeal of Tarkio, they were all well crafted with some standout songs.  Mitch Jayne of the Dillards explained, “People never cease to be amazed by Brewer and Shipley who since 1967 have been assembling their careful albums with the same skill fiddle makers use; each one an example of the best work that they had learned to do so far.  Like fiddle makers too, they have always surrounded themselves with the best of materials and benefited from the seasoned nature of them.  Years playing with and listening to other artists not only made them selective and knowledgeable, but more aware of their unique ability to blend their skills and be themselves.”

 Mr. Nixon, I ain't a fixin
“One Toke Over The Line” from Tarkio took Michael & Tom on quite a ride in 1971.  From having a top-ten hit, to having it pulled from the airwaves and being labeled as subversive to America’s youth by Vice President Spiro Agnew.  They made Nixon’s famous Enemies List, which they still wear as a badge of honor even today.  While the duo of Nixon & Agnew faded in political disgrace, “One Toke” has lived on and become a classic rock anthem.  But Brewer & Shipley wrote the song tongue-firmly-in-cheek and never set out to create an icon to high culture.  Michael explained, "We had been songwriters for so long that it was just another song for us. It wasn't even one of our favorites," he adds a minute later. "We always thought our ballads were our better songs."

 
     
  Consummate live performers  
 
While crafting such wonderful albums with some of the best musicians in the world backing them, Brewer & Shipley were always at their best as live performers.  Whether with a small backing band, or more often by themselves and their two acoustic guitars, the duo was constantly touring from 1969 to 1979.  They played all over the country in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, The Bottom Line, The Troubadour, The Roxy, Keil Opera House, and Arrowhead Stadium.  Because
of their broad appeal, they became a favored support act for major tours, and shared the stage with a diverse list of artists, including: Elton John, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, Electric Light Orchestra, Blood Sweat & Tears,  James Taylor,  Stephen Stills, The Beach Boys, Loggins & Messina, Linda Ronstadt, John Sebastian, and The Ozark Mountain Daredevils among others.
 
     
 

Setting sails and casting dreams

 
  In 1979, after more than a decade of writing, recording, traveling, and performing, Brewer and Shipley amicably parted company to pursue separate personal interests.  "There was no big break up," Brewer said.  "We'd been on the road too many years, it almost killed us."  "We were burned out," Shipley agreed.  "In the words of a song popular at the time, I fooled around and fell in love with a lady I met on the road.  I knew it wouldn't last if I didn't stop touring.  So I did, and it did, and we're still married."  

Michael continued to make music, recording a solo album for Dan Fogelberg’s Full Moon Records entitled Beauty Lies (1983).  Tom began working as a television producer/director, eventually forming his own production company Tarkio Communications. He later founded the Oral History of The Ozarks Project, a non-profit organization producing documentaries about life in the Missouri Ozarks.  Today, Tom is busy in his role as Manager of Video Production for Missouri University of Science and Technology.

 
     
  One kind favor brings them back together  
 
In 1987, at the request of a Kansas City radio station, Brewer & Shipley reunited for a concert to celebrate the station's first birthday.  Unsure of what to expect after being out of the public eye for so long, the duo was overwhelmed as they walked on stage to over 10,000 cheering fans welcoming their return.

Having come full circle from their days as staff songwriters living in Los Angeles, Brewer & Shipley began writing together again. Their first project was the soundtrack for one of Shipley's documentaries...the award winning, "Treehouse - An Ozark Story".  Since reuniting in 1987 Brewer & Shipley have released two albums Shanghai in 1993 and Heartland in 1997.

Even after reuniting, both continued their own interests.  Tom continues his video production and 

Michael has since released his second solo album Retro Man in 2004.   Brewer & Shipley continue to tour and lucky fans across the country continue to show up for their infrequent but very well received live shows. 
 
     
  Every little thing we're puttin' out returns to us again  
 
In the last decade, the duo has witnessed rejuvenated interest in their music, beginning with BMG's purchase of their Kama Sutra catalog and subsequent re-issue of the critically acclaimed Tarkio release. This was soon followed by the inclusion of "One Toke Over The Line" on the Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas motion picture soundtrack.  A live record of classic performances from 1973, Archive Alive, was released in 1997, the same year they released an album of new material Heartland on their own One Toke Productions label. The duo also contributed guest vocals on their trademark song “One Toke Over the Line” on the 1998 Rainmakers cover of their hit for the Hempilation II (Free The Weed) CD.  That was followed by BMG’s release of Best of Brewer & Shipley: One Toke Over The Line in 2001, and Collectors Choice/BMG’s release of a twofer CD of their first two classic Kama Sutra albums Weeds & Tarkio, in 2004.  Michael’s second solo album Retro Man was also released in 2004.
 
 
 

 
 
The Last Of The Hippies
 
 

"I never considered myself a hippie," commented Michael. "I was a young, married man paying taxes, working, pursuing a career. I wore the clothes of the time and had long hair -- back when I had hair -- but I never lived in a commune. I actually bathed and shaved."

Tom, however, had no problem with the label. "Back in the days when we were officially card-carrying hippies traveling cross-country and living out of our Volkswagen," he says, "I spent a lot of time on a Hopi reservation out in the middle of Arizona. But I did not take acid and go running naked through any of their pueblos. And I bathed."

Nevertheless, he is aware of the legacy and chalice they carry, laden with the fragrance of long ago.  "We were playing the Catskills a few years ago," he recalls, "and this beautiful girl comes gliding across the floor, just glowing.  She comes up to Michael and takes his hand and clutches it toward her chest.  'You guys,' she says, 'are the last of the hippies.  When you're gone there won't be any more.'"

But don't despair just yet, 40 years into their musical partnership, Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley are still writing, performing, and adding to the soundtrack of our lives.  You can tell them how much their music has meant to you by leaving a note on the message board on this website, as they monitor it regularly.  If you would like to see them live, visit the Shows page for tour information. 

 
     
 

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         Email: KeeperOfTheKeys@BrewerandShipley.com
            Last modified: 01/30/2010