He could've been a contender: Wayne Berry and the fickle footpath to fame

Some folks are unlucky, some are somewhat responsible for their own bad luck, some are a bit of both. Wayne Berry is one of those folks. Here's a guy who had all the goods and who could've conceivably become a star in the early to mid-1970s, if things had broken his way. But a mix of bad luck, jeaousy (fuck Billy Joel and his management!) and his own pigheadedness meant that Berry never made it above the level of also ran and never was. But he could've been somebody...he could've been a contender. The long and winding road of Berry into, then out of the music business has been told very well already, in an in depth article of No Depression (https://www.nodepression.com/wayne-berry-nashville-cat-home-at-last). If, like me, you don't necessarily like to scroll through dozens of screens to read an article (and there are a lot of screens, the whole thing is about 5000 words long...) I've included the article as liner notes of sorts to our album of the day. 

To cut the story very short: grew up in Nashville - hung out with Félice & Boudleaux Bryant and J.D. Loudermilk - moved to L.A., joined the Underground and helped draft dodgers - got signed ton Capitol as a solo artist, but preferred starting a country band, Timber, with George Clinton (not that one, the other one) - solo debut album shelved as a result - after two albums, Timer falls - does a bunch of demos and finally a solo album, the utterly fantastic Home At Last - on his first big tour upsets headliner Billy Joel by doing fantastically in his support slot and gets dumped from his national tour - album thus flops - follow up album Tails Up comes out in a tiny pressing number for about five minutes - hooks up with George Clinton again, for mainstream soft rock project Volunteers - after another failure hangs up his rock'n'roll shoes, goes back to Nashville and becomes a minister. The End.

Berry saw J.D. Loudermilk pitch tunes to artists and agents, "that affected me in a 'Tin Pan Alley' sort of way", and you can definitely see and hear it in his music. Instinctly, he could craft music that was both worthwhile and commercial, without being pandering - if, you know, the commerce and then the public had wanted any part of it. If you listen to Berry's music, you really think he should've been bigger. Not because the music is excellent and it woud have been only fair - the music is excellent, but unlike some other musical heroes of mine (*coughGENE CLARKcough*), it is not wishful thinking to imagine hearing a Berry tune on Top 40 radio. He had a knack for writing memorable hooks, as well as being able to write in a number of styles, incorporating country and folk elements, a whole lot of pop, some reggae...this is where the 'Tin Pan Alley' sort of way really comes into play.  

The attached album is a primer on Berry and his music, a Greatest Hits if you will that just accidentally has no hits in it, but sounds like it should. It breaks down as follows: one track to represent the shelved Capitol Records album (which drowned an insecure-sounding Berry in an ill-fitting countrypolitan sound), three tracks from Timber (from their second album, where Berry really started to find his voice, and a follow-up single), four (high-quality) demos sandwiching his lone single for A&M, the lovely "Beachwood Blues", six tracks from his classic Home At Last album, three from patchier follow-up Tails Out and three from the Volunteers project.  21 tracks to familiarize yourself with Berry and his music, or dive back into it, with some music here that you probably haven't heard before. 

This is also just an appetizer, for a much larger reclamation project to give Berry his due. In the following weeks I will post no less than three Berry albums that never were. High quality stuff all around, from a man who could've been a contender, who could've been somebody. To some of us, he is. 

PS.: If someone needs Home At Last, just say so...