Persuasions
1972-xx-xx
Record Plant
Sausalito, CA


KSAN FM
Interview & Music
Interviewer: Dusty Street



01-Dusty Street Intro
02-Persuasions Intro > Swanee River
03-Interview (includes band intro)
04-Pieces Of A Man (not sure on title)
05-Interview (where they met & how they started)
06-Buffalo Soldier
07-Interview
08-I Could Never Love Another(After Loving You) >
09-Drip Drop >
10-Eveything Is Gonna'Be Alright >
11-Interview
12-Oldies Medley



The Persuasions:

Jerry Lawson - Lead
Jayotis Washington - First Tenor
"Sweet" Joseph Russell - Second Tenor
Jimmy Hayes - Bass
Herbert "Tubo" Rhoad - Baritone



Lou's Note: I originally got this with an unknown date in 1974. This may well be from 1971 or 1972, as they mention their latest album is "We Came To Play", which was released in 1971. They also mention they had recently gone over to Capitol. Their next album in 1972, "Street Corner Symphony", was their 2nd for Capitol. Since "Buffalo Soldier" and "I Could Never Love Another" are from their 1972 album, I'm going to give this show an unknown date in 1972.

I got the venue as the Record Plant but it could well have been the KSAN studios.

Before I figured out the interviewer was Dusty Street, confirmed by what one of the Persuasions states after she tells them that Bill Moss & The Celestials had done "Everything Is Gonna' Be Allright" before the Temps covered it, I had emailed Raechel Donahue thinking the interviewer might be her. She told me it wasn't her but that it was probably Bonnie Simmons, as she couldn't think of anyone else that knew enough about the Persuasions to come up with the "Bill Moss comment".

She turned out to be wrong, but she remembers being the producer of a "triplecast" back in 1972 where KSAN did a 48 hour show from the Record Plant, the KSAN studios, and the Fillmore at the same time. She just doesn't remember which of the 3 venues the Persuasions were at. This further confirms for me the year was indeed 1972.


Sound quality is good. It tends to be oversaturated at times and there is some mic feedback occassionally, but quite good for its age.



Persuasions background:


The story of the Persuasions begins in February or March of 1962 as Jimmy "Bro" Hayes remembers it. It was one of those beginnings which seemed serendipitous at the time, yet in retrospect seems fated. You see, all the future members of the Persuasions moved to New York City independently, from different states. They hadn't gone to school together or grown up together. Yet starting about 1960, every day they all went to a basketball court at Green and Washington (pictured on the We Came To Play album) to play with about thirty or forty other guys. After playing, everyone would sing together. Jimmy Hayes heard some of the voices were singing in harmony, but he couldn't identify the individuals. One evening he invited the group as a whole to come to his apartment to have a rehearsal and get together a little group, knowing that his tiny apartment couldn't hold everyone, nor would everyone show up. Four other guys showed up that night. They began to sing before even knowing one another's names. We know them as the Persuasions. They feel it was a spiritual thing.

For a few years they sang in basements, garages and in the subway, where they found a great echo. One of their garage sessions was recorded while they were "just messing around." It was being played in a Jersey City record store which piped the sound onto the street (Stan Krause's?) when David Dashev walked by, heard it and sent the tape to Frank Zappa, who loved it. The decision to go to California and record was a momentous one as a couple of the group had families and they all had jobs. When they said OK they didn't even have a name. Jimmy Hayes was reading the Bible and saw Persuader in it. When he explained to the group his idea, because they were going to have to persuade people to follow a cappella music, everyone agreed immediately. At the time lots of groups ended their names with ions (Temptations, Impressions, etc.) so rather than Persuaders they became Persuasions. Frank flew the guys to California in 1968 to record on his Straight Records label. The album released was a combination of the studio recordings and some very early live tracks. It was a beginning.

In 1969 the Persuasions recorded an album in two tiny studios in Jersey City, NJ. It wasn't released until ten years later. The big label to pick them up was Capitol Records, who released three albums in the early 1970s, including "Street Corner Symphony," which had some tunes listed on the charts and has been their best selling album. The middle of the seventies was a time of upheaval and experimentation. Record labels just didn't know how to market the group. A&M Records tried to make them into a pop group on a couple of instrumentally accompanied albums. Jayotis Washington left the group for a while to be replaced by Willie C. Daniels. The guys zeroed back into their a cappella roots on their one release on Elektra, "Chirpin'," and have never strayed since, though they have done various background gigs for Joni Mitchell, Ned Sublette and many others.

It hasn't been a smooth path for the five Persuasions. Both the ups and downs have been in their lives aplenty. It was as low as it could be when Herbert "Toubo" Rhoad passed away, on the road, in December of 1988. It was up when Spike Lee had them perform on the television special about a cappella music in 1990. That show and the CD released, entitled "Do It A Cappella," was an important moment for both the Persuasions and a cappella music. For the field in general, it put it on the map in a way that had never been done before. For the Persuasions, it established their position in the field as the premier group. They had sung their songs through the decades of a cappella drought and kept the spirit of a vital music alive. Now, as the field of a cappella music flourishes once more, we have to thank these five guys. Jerry Lawson is the lead singer, one of the best ever, who also was primarily responsible for creation of their original music. Jayotis Washington is the first/second tenor who came from Detroit and adds the Motown sensibility to the group, in addition to the beautiful, soaring, high tenor. Perhaps "Sweet" Joe Russell has the most powerful voice at second tenor, but for sure, though all but Jayotis began their singing in southern churches, he adds the gospel element to the group. Jimmy "Mr. Bass Man" Hayes is, well, the bass singer. Not only is his one of the deepest voices singing a cappella but the foundation of all their music begins with his vocal line. As he's the one who initiated the whole thing, so his role as foundation of the group has dual meaning. Then there was Herbert "Toubo" Rhoad, whose solid baritone just glued everything together. Thanks guys.