Stars come out for salute to NRBQ's Joey Spampinato

Party For Joey, a Sweet Relief tribute album celebrating the work of NRBQ's Joey Spampinato, is out now via True North.

Here's the scoop from True North...

True North Records has just released Party For Joey: A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato, which features a lengthy list of friends and fans of the NRBQ founding member/bassist saluting him with 14 versions of their own previously unreleased versions of Spampinato-penned songs.

A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato is an inspired album recorded by an astounding group of musicians including Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Case, Ben Harper, The Minus 5, Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, Chris Spedding, Robbie Fulks, Deer Tick, She & Him, Steve Forbert and Al Anderson who are all generously donating their proceeds from these recordings to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to support Joey with his current health issues. The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians and music industry workers who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability or age-related problems.

Joey Spampinato, a singer, songwriter and bassist, was co-founder of the legendary NRBQ, a rock quartet whose genre-defying music continues to inspire generations of music fans and fellow musicians. Many of those musicians answered the call from Joey’s wife Kami Lyle and producer Sheldon Gomberg when they contacted them about recording one of Joey’s songs for an album to help raise funds for Joey when it was revealed he was battling cancer.

Check out the contributions from Peter Case, Ben Harper (with Keith Richards, Charlie Musselwhite, Don Heffington & Benmont Tench), Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, The Minus 5 and Al Anderson following the complete track listing below. 

Party For Joey: A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato 

Al Anderson – “You Can't Hide” - Original Release: 1980 on Tiddlywinks 

Los Lobos – “Every Boy, Every Girl” - Original Release: 1987 on God Bless Us All

Deer Tick – “That I Get Back Home” - Original Release: 1980 on Tiddlywinks

Ben Harper with Keith Richards, Charlie Musselwhite, Benmont Tench, Don Was & Don Heffington – “Like a Locomotive” - Original Release: 1989 on Wild Weekend

Peter Case – “Don't Knock At My Door” - Original Release: 1972 on Scraps

She & Him – “How Can I Make You Love Me” - Original Release: 1983 on Grooves in Orbit

The Minus 5 – “Don't She Look Good” - Original Release: 1979 on Kick Me Hard

Steve Forbert – “Beverly” - Original Release: 1986 on Uncommon Denominators

Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale – “How Will I Know” - Original Release: 2013 on Smiles

Bonnie Raitt & NRBQ – “Green Lights” - Original Release: 1978 on At Yankee Stadium

Robbie Fulks – “Chores” - Original Release: 1979 on Kick Me Hard

Penn And Teller – “Plenty of Somethin’” - Original Release: 1997 on You’re Nice People You Are

The Nils & Chris Spedding – “That's Alright” Original Release: 1977 on All Hopped Up

Kami Lyle with Joey – “First Crush”

NRBQ vs. Rodd Keith

NRBQ wisely stuck to Rodd Keith's arrangement of "Little Rug Bug" released on Film City using his Rod Rogers alias. 

Chris Cohen vs. NRBQ

Deerhoof dude Chris Cohen does a fine job with Joey Spampinato's It's Not So Hard off NRBQ's Scraps album.

RIP Tom Ardolino of NRBQ, 1955-2012

"Wild music; crazy lyrics. Beautiful music; perfect lyrics. You get all this and more with these kinds of records. Strange sounding cheap early electronic keyboards like the Mellotron; out of control drum machines. Normal-sounding budget session musicians; drunk -- or something -- sounding session musicians. And singers who usually sound like they never saw the words to the song until the recording light was on. They probably recorded 50 of these "songs" in one day, sometimes using the same track more than once. It is this kind of set-up that can produce innocently beautiful works of art.

The ads in the back of magazines would say "Send us your poems or song lyrics and we'll get them recorded. Big money could be yours!," or some such come-on. What it turns out to be is that you pay them to put music to your words, then they send you a couple of copies of it on their label. And that's all they do. There are many of these companies, but the king of them all would have to be the MSR label of Hollywood, California -- now, sadly, defunct. Sometimes the song would be pressed on a 45, sometimes on an album collection, maybe with a picture of the house composer to help convince the customer that they're legit.

One day in 1971 I was looking at some albums in a surplus hardware store that had bought out a radio station's record library when I saw an album on MSR Records called Variety Songs For '69. It had a cheap stock cover with a big musical staff and song titles like "Richard Nixon," "More On Ode To Billy Jo," and "Beat Of The Traps," and the back cover was blank. It looked like something I'd better get.


Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood and Brush? by Gary Roberts


I went home and played it, and by the time I got to the song called "Beat Of The Traps" I knew there was something wild going on here. Not every song was great (they can't all be gems), but the ones that were sounded like they'd reached outer space. Listen to the song "Beat Of The Traps" and you'll see what I mean. These guys must have been recording these songs all day and by the time they got to this cut all hell had broken loose. Everyone involved gives an amazing performance -- these lyrics really inspired them.

Beat Of The Traps by Rodd, Teri and the MSR Singers


From then on, I would look out for these kinds of records and found that there are a lot of them out there. Rod Rogers also turns up on other labels, sometimes under the name Rodd Keith. I'd like to see a picture of him. Once while in Hollywood I called the MSR number, hoping to find out about Rod. A guy answered the phone and I asked him if he knew where Rod Rogers could be reached. He said, "You wouldn't want to go where he is." "What do you mean?," I asked. "He's pushin' up daisies, that's where he is." "Oh no, you mean he died?" "Yep. He was a keyboard genius," was his reply. And I agree. Listen to his perfect track for "Little Rug Bug." The words about a baby are great, too.

Little Rug Bug by Rod Rogers with the Swinging Singers


I love all the songs on this collection. "Our Hearts Were Meant To Beat As One" is one of my top choices for the "if you could have been at any recording session, what would it be" category. And check the punchline to see what "Lost In Space" is about. From great lyrics, indescribable music. These selections have them all."

Human Breakdown of Absurdity by Norm Burns


Apollo Up,
-- Tom Ardolino (the man who beats the traps for NRBQ)