'Elmo' continues to work toward first recording

Ask Robert Lee Thomas what song title would epitomize his 13 years in the Memphis music business and he goes deep in thought, mentally retracing the various gigs and assorted promises he has encountered through the years.

"You're making me think now," he says. "I guess it'd be something like 'We Paid Our Dues in Memphis,' or 'Playin' On That Memphis Groove.'"

Thomas, better known as "Elmo" of Elmo and the Shades, has been doing a little of both since he broke into the "professional ranks" of Memphis music. Although he's maintained a steady lineup of gigs, they've mostly paid meager wages.

As a result, it has been "very lean" at times around the Thomas house, which he shares with his wife and two young children. And a working musician's hours, usually from late afternoon until early morning, then rising to take care of the children, leaves little time and energy to cut a CD, which sometimes is the ticket that breaks a band out of a local market and into more money.

Thomas and his band have been working for the last couple of years on their first CD, as yet untitled. Thomas wrote most of the songs.

Why then have Elmo and the Shades persevered in a market that some say is past its prime, notorious for being somewhat cliquish and never fully aware or appreciative of its musical gold?

"I've been playing in Memphis for 20 years, and it's something I wouldn't trade," Thomas says. "We've had our ups and downs, but I think I've become a better musician and entertainer for it."

Elmo and the Shades, however, aren't the only band that has bubbled quietly underneath the Memphis music scene. Countless others are out there, too, and, like Thomas and his crew, the reason they continue working is because they can't imagine doing anything else - anywhere else.

Thomas, who spent his childhood in East Memphis, claims he received an early introduction to the music when Little Laura Dukes cared for him when he was a "real youngster." Thomas remembers the pint-sized singer/guitarist serenading him with her blues voice.

As a teen-ager ,Thomas would sneak into the former Peanuts Pub at Cleveland and Madison to hear the likes of Furry Lewis and Lee Baker. "The owner would let us stay until we ran out of money. Then he'd kick us out," Thomas says with a laugh.

His first band, Ramblin' Train, played an eclectic mix of blues, rockabilly and honky tonk at locales like Memphis' first punk club, The Well, and the former Daily Planet. Ramblin' Train broke up in 1983, the year Elmo and the Shades was born.

"The band has been a mix of raw rhythm and blues in the Southern tradition, combined with rock and funk influences," Thomas says.

Although different band members have rotated through the ranks, Thomas considers himself to be "the common denominator" in the group. Currently, the Shades include: Stevie "The Jay" Johnson, on guitar; David "Groove" Parker, on bass; and Curtis Steele, on drums. They also play frequently in their expanded form with Mickey Gregory on trumpet, Tommy Lee Williams on sax and Charlie Rich Jr., on keyboards.

Thomas has steered Elmo and the Shades through both plentiful and lean times, and acts as the band's promoter, manager and agent, in addition to his regular job as lead singer, harpist and guitarist. He also keeps plugging away at the CD.

It has been a project years in the making. "I wanted to get 13 or 14 tunes down, so I worked four to five nights a week in addition to our regular gigs. It's hard to find time to do both," Thomas says.

His band recorded at Cotton Row Recording a couple of years ago, Thomas says, then resurfaced last year at Ardent Music to finish the CD. The impetus behind the project was none other than John Daly, the legendary bad boy of the professional golf circuit and a Memphis resident.

"John stumbled into the Circle Cafe one night (a bar formerly located on Brookhaven Circle in East Memphis) and loved our whole package. He threw us into the studio, upgraded us...bought us new equipment," Thomas says. For a while, the band even practiced in Daly's home.

"I'm just trying not to let John down," Thomas adds, explaining why he's stuck by the multiyear CD project, despite its slow and uncertain progress.

Whatever the fate of the CD, Elmo and the Shades will continue performing in and around Memphis. And while they'd like to expand their touring circle into a 300-400 mile radius, they'll remain a homegrown, hometown band.

"Memphis musicians are laid back, more interested in playing than making a living," Thomas says. "It's strange when someone comes in from another region. They're hyped up. They want to network."

The only point of contention for Thomas is the low pay most musicians get for gigs, particularly on Beale Street. "Most clubs don't want to pay to have talent there. I know it's a bottom-line thing," he says.

Although Beale is beginning to open its doors wider, many musicians still are reluctant to perform there. "It's starting to open up, but you have to work for peanuts. That's why the best (local) musicians aren't playing there. Why play there for $50 per band member for one night when you can get $400 elsewhere?" Thomas asks.

It comes as no surprise to any Memphian that Beale Street has evolved into a business venture and tourist entertainment venue. That's OK, Thomas says, because the street is large enough to serve tourists yet remain a true blues forum.

"Beale Street has a track record," he says. "Let's make it real. I don't care if Pat O'Brien's gets in. That's not Memphis."