Duke Bardwell

The release of Duke Bardwell's first CD brings joy to many people, especially those Louisianians who watched him grow out of the "bayou country" and straight into the musical big-time with artists like Tom Rush,Jose Feliciano and Elvis Presley. Now it's Bardwell's turn to premiere his own music. He does so, on "Angel's Wings," with style, sensitivity and grace.

Born in Baton Rouge, Bardwell is the son of Stanford Sr. and Loyola Bardwell, a family of nine, all of whom were named after major universities (among them, Stanford Jr.,Duke and his twin sister, Tulane, Harvard, Princeton, Auburn and Cornell.) Duke's inborn sense of rhythm found expression at age 5, when his mother gave him a ukulele. He had been plunking on a piano at his aunt's country house in Fluker, La., but the ukulele was more his style.

Within a short while, Bardwell graduated to guitar, then trumpet. His love for music, coupled with his interest in several instruments, plus voice, led him into some of Baton Rouge’s best r&b bands in the early sixties. In the eleventh grade, during the Jimmy Clanton era, he played on weekends with Lenny Capello & The Dots, a local group with a hit single, and toured the sock hop circuit in a three-state area. From that rock and r&b band, he joined The Dixie Crystals.

When The Beatles overran rhythm and blues, Bardwell and his friends traded their flat tops for "long hair and Madras pants," he remembers, and formed The Greek Fountains, a rock band combining rhythm & blues and British standards for a unique blend of popular styles. The Greek Fountains toured the Southeast, and Mercury Records released the band's single, "Countin' the Steps", which received considerable regional airplay. Back home, joined by fellow singers Butch Hornsby and Big Luther Kent, the band cut an album for Montel Records, "The Greek Fountains’ Riverfront Band Takes Requests."

It was an exciting era. The Greek Fountains opened concerts in New Orleans, Jackson, Ms. and Mobile, Ala. for The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Sonny and Cher. He also played with the Basement Wall, another popular regional band, prior to taking flight for the Northeast in the late sixties.

As bass player for the legendary folk singer Tom Rush, Duke played for thousands of people in packed houses--including Madison Square Garden--and recorded tracks on Tom Rush LPs released by Columbia Records.

It was the influence of Rush--who recorded the music of young songwriters like Jackson Browne, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell--that led Bardwell to compose his own music. "Though I know he doesn't know the impact he had on me, the way that Tom approached the personal aspects of stories...the way he instinctively knew what would reach out to people...was the thing that had the greatest influence on me.  I greatly appreciate the time that I had with him."

Two years later, Bardwell was writing songs for a sizzling r&b band of old friends. He co-founded Cold Gritz & The Black-Eyed Peas, which signed with Ode Records. "Bayou Country," one of the cuts on "Angel's Wings," was released as a single, and in 1971, Bardwell moved to Los Angeles. He played bass and sang with his friend and former Greek Fountain band mate, Casey Kelly as an opening duo for Loggins & Messina; their first show was the Philharmonic Hall in New York City.

Jose Feliciano also liked Bardwell's material and signed him to a personal management contract as a singer-songwriter. Duke performed solo at intimate clubs, played bass in recording sessions with Feliciano, and played live with him on, among others, the Tonight Show, The Dinah Shore Show and Soundstage in Chicago.

One day in 1973, Elvis Presley's drummer, Ronnie Tutt, appeared in the studio to record with Feliciano. Tutt liked Bardwell's style and arranged an audition with Presley's band. Presley hired him. In January 1974, Bardwell began to tour with "The King," playing for tens of thousands of people--in Houston, 44,000 at a single concert. Altogether, Duke performed in 181 shows with Presley. He plays bass on an Elvis live album recorded in Memphis and on a bootleg CD, "The Twelfth of Never," which made the Top 30 in England last year.

While performing with Elvis, Duke was also touring with songwriter Gene Clark, who was a mainstay in the original "Byrds".  It got a little difficult to schedule, but the enjoyment was back performing in intimate acoustic situations, not unlike the time spent with Tom Rush.  During this same time, he also got to play bass on Emmylou Harris's "Pieces of the Sky, and Blue Kentucky Girl albums.  Though he only had one track on each album, the experience was a memorable one.

Bardwell left Elvis's band after a year and a half. He stayed in California for awhile and formed a band of his own, but soon drifted back to Baton Rouge, where he wrote more original material and worked in the 1980's with regional groups including Gumbo, Tomcat and the Blues-o-Matics. In 1989, while living near Destin, Florida, and managing some restaurants, he picked up his guitar again, after meeting Franco "Washboard" Jackson, "He made me remember why I started playing music in the first place--the absolute joy of it," he says. Their band "Hubba Hubba" still plays all over the gulf coast.

"Angel's Wings" takes flight on that joy. Recorded and co-produced with Merel Bregante at Cribworks Audio in Austin and released by Club Louisianne, the CD features the best of Bardwell's own compositions--9 of 14 on the album--and old favorites by good friends.

It's an "affair of the heart" for Bardwell, whose music has always ranged the spectrum of human emotion, from ballads and blues to country tunes. The artist's funny, insightful, always sincere and often touching lyrics make this album worth hearing over and over again.