According to my songwriting database, a truly amazing piece of software called “MasterWriter,” I have written about 100 songs (country/rock/ pop/adult contemporary genres) as sole writer and another 75 or so with upwards of 20 co-writers. Of course, once this information is revealed, inquiring minds want to know the titles of all the hits big-name artists have had with my songs. I wish I could reel off such a list; I believe I someday will. So as not to name drop when I didn’t quite get there, I’ll say simply that I’ve come close. For big-time recording projects, several thousands of songs may be listened to by the A&R folks, by the producer, and by the artist – to pick ten or so; breaking through that barrier is the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to do. Writing the songs is a piece of cake compared to getting them recorded by a major artist on a major label. I once had four songs “on hold” at a major label for two years while the president of the label was trying to decide whether to sign a female singer (the co-writer on three of the songs). Ultimately, he left the company without signing her, and the rest, as they say, is history. Upon getting the “Well, they’re off hold" news, I think I briefly considered Hari Kiri. Click here (www.solidsterlingmusic.com) to visit my songwriting website and to listen to some demos.

But let me start at the beginning. As a child, I could sing, and I had good rhythm. But what I discovered I couldn’t do was sing according to the standard musical notation system. I sang in the a capela choirs until high school when sight reading became necessary. That was okay, though, because when I saw The Beatles perform “She Loves You” on The Ed Sullivan Show in November, 1963, I was in a rock ‘n’ roll band by the next week (I was in the 10th grade). Since I couldn’t play an instrument (never got past the "flutophone" in grammar school; remember that thing?) and since I could sing, I was the lead singer. Soon, it was decided I should be the keyboards player, as well, so I bought a blonde Wurlitzer Model 145B electric piano and told my mother I wanted to take piano lessons (the model pictured at this link is a Wurli 140; real close to the 145B). With some trepidations, I’m sure, she obliged. On the occasion of my third half-hour lesson with the balding, male piano teacher in the basement of a downtown Little Rock building, I was fired. Seems when I played my piece for the week, I played it in a different key (which I didn’t know what was at the time) and with more sophistication than the sheet music he had given me called for. Once I admitted that I had tossed the mimeographed page of sheet music in favor of listening to my father’s 78 rpm record of “My Wild Irish Rose,” the piano teacher was done with me (especially after he learned that night that my musical-instrument goal was to play keyboards in a rock band). To his everlasting credit, though, he took the time right then and there to show me all I needed to know to get started playing by ear. And so I did. I soon graduated to the organ (and picked up rythym guitar, as well). I played and sang in rock bands through college. By that time, I had learned that the “road” wasn’t for me (even if I was good enough to get hired to ride down it) and that, in any event, I didn't want to be a rock star.

But I never lost my passion for music. In the late 60s and early 70s, I made the transition to country music when rock became “Inagodadivida." Besides, my musical heroes of the time – Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Conway Twitty – all had preceded me there. By this time, I long since had traded keyboards for the acoustic guitar so that in a more reasonable way I could accompany myself singing, especially as a solo performer. While I’m nothing more than a fair acoustic player, the guitar is by far my favorite instrument (even if I do own a Hammond B-3 and a Leslie from the 60s and two Wurlitzer 200A electric pianos from the 70s – not to mention my collection of ElectroVoice 664 and Shure 55 microphones from the 60s and 50s, respectively). As one might guess, I own a few guitars, too (Fender Strat, Ovation, Guild, Epiphone, played through a vintage Fender Super Reverb). Electric guitar is too cool for words; my all-time favorite electric guitar player is Lonnie Mack (his instrumental recording of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" has reportedly sold about 50 million records since about 1960; he's a fabulous singer, too).

I tried my hand at writing songs as time went by, but not seriously until I moved to Nashville to work as a lawyer in the music industry in 1983. I was invigorated by all the songs and the songwriting, so I jumped right in. Before I left for Texas a couple of years later, I had done well enough that a major country music publisher offered me a multi-year songwriting contract at the subsistence level (that’s the norm; I think the "advance against royalties" I would have earned was $100 per week). I turned the offer down (had a family; just couldn’t do that to them – nor to myself, for that matter), and I’ve never looked back on that. I did, however, keep writing songs.

I’ve recorded many demos in Nashville (have turned out to be a pretty good demo producer); I’ve beat down music publisher’s doors; I've tried hard (but not nearly as hard as the untold thousands of songwriters who have sacrificed much in life for the dream); I’ve had lots of nice things said about my music, but the proof, we all know, is in the pudding. I’ll get there. I have some good things happening now, and I believe that within the next year or two a whole bunch of my near-master-quality demos will get seriously pitched by credible song pluggers all around town (meaning Nashville, where else?). My songwriting is better than ever. I'm now also writing songs more in the nature of adult contemporary, as well as the country/rock/pop I've been writing for a long time. I now am producing my demos entirely in the computer using another miraculous piece of software called Sony Acid Pro 6. I own my own music publishing company, Solid Sterling Music. Solid Sterling Music is a publisher member of BMI, and I am a writer member of BMI.

By the way, along the way, I ran into a musical notation system that I understand. It's called the "Nashville Number System." Check it out. It's sophisticated, complex, really cool, and it works! Finally, a chart I can read and write (if not nearly as well as the Nashville session players, a group of individuals whose talent defies description).

Through the years, I have continued to perform, as well (as lead singer, front man, acoustic guitar player, and some-time keyboards player). That has been frustrating, though. Trying to get together and keep together a band – whether a "roots rock" band or a "70s/80s" country band (I love both eras), is very difficult because our adult lives get in the way; you know, little things like family obligations and jobs and careers.... But I continue to perform when I can because I really enjoy it.

Recently, I had a musical experience I won't soon forget. In high school, I played in a rock band called "The New Continentals" (re-formed from "The Continentals"). There were six of us in the band. In May, 1966, The New Continentals played my high school graduation dance (Hall High School, Little Rock, Arkansas) at War Memorial Stadium.

On June 10, 2006, the exact same six of us played our 40th class reunion in Little Rock at the Pleasant Valley Country Club. It was a real blast. We wore the exact same clothes (not literally) we wore at the graduation dance (had to order the six matching neckties off the Internet), and we played two sets of songs from the 1965-66 era, i.e., what we likely had played at the graduation dance. Here is the flyer announcing our presence to our classmates....

“The New Continentals”

This exact configuration of “The New Continentals” played the Hall High School Class of 1966 graduation dance in the parking lot of War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas, one fine day in May, 1966. We wore white, Oxford-cloth, buttoned-down, long-sleeved Gant shirts, navy and white polkadot ties (our trademark...), dark trousers, dark socks (though a throw-back or two may have worn white socks), and brown Bass Weejun shoes. Most of us were “Marlboro men,” FOBs (friends of Budweiser), and surely we were tastefully doused in English Leather. Our hair was about the same length as it is today (except for one who has forgot where he put his).

Within an incredibly short time after that event, we scattered to the four winds – one earning a Silver Star in Vietnam, one spending some time on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, and the rest somewhere in between those two ideas – but we never lost our love of the music. We have more or less stayed involved with music over the years – from rock to pop to religious to country – including performing solo and in oldies bands and in church groups, songwriting, staging musicals, and recording. We have enjoyed every opportunity to perform “our” music – whether just fumbling with an old guitar in the night or performing before an expectant audience of whatever size.

Now, it is our sincere pleasure to reunite as “The Old New Continentals” and play for you two sets of songs we mostly played “back then.” If you enjoy our presentation of 50s and 60s music just one percent as much as we have enjoyed the idea of performing at our 40th class reunion (for four of us), defining the set list, writing the charts, getting all the musical gear and sound systems together, sending a thousand e-mails back and forth, getting together two days early to rehearse, and anticipating the performance of the show, you will have had a great time. We thank the Reunion Committee for this opportunity.

 The Players
Keath North (’66), Loleta, California, vocals
Don Tomlinson (’66), Houston, Texas, vocals, guitar, electric piano
Jay Schafer (’66), Little Rock, Arkansas, bass guitar, backing vocals
Bruce Foreman (’66), Marion, Illinois, rhythm guitar
Rick Brightop (’65), Benton, Arkansas, lead guitar
James Colton (Central ’63), Hot Springs, Arkansas, drums

The Old New Continentals

Set A

Money
Louie Louie
Double Shot Of My Baby's Love
Rock 'N' Roll Music
I Call Your Name
Summertime
Blue Suede Shoes
Johnny B. Goode
Unchain My Heart
Stormy Weather
As Tears Go By
Shake A Tail Feather

Set B

Twist & Shout
I Feel Fine
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
I Saw Her Standing There
The Last Time
All These Things
Round & Round
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying
Stand By Me
You Make Me Feel Good
Can't Help Falling In Love
Save The Last Dance For Me