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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. |
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Down In
L.A. |
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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.
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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."
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Finding
Good Karma in the heartland |
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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."
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Album Artists |
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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. |
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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."
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Consummate live performers |
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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
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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. |
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Setting sails and casting dreams |
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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. |
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One kind favor brings
them back together |
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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
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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. |
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Every
little thing we're puttin' out returns to us again |
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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.
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The Last Of The Hippies |
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"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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