EmittRhodesMusic.net • Rare Audio

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Barry Richards Show

Emitt was invited to the Baltimore area by local dj Barry Richards in 1970. Richards filmed Emitt performing two tracks from the then recently released Emitt Rhodes album. These solo performances were later broadcast on a local TV show Richards hosted. Luckily for us, Chuck Conjar was an Emitt fan at the time; he set up his trusty reel-to-reel in front of the TV set and recorded the sound coming from the television speaker. Says Chuck:

"I hunted down that old reel to reel tape that was recorded using a cheap one speaker Panasonic. The tape had deteriorated significantly and appeared to be close to dry rotted. When I put it on my machine, the signal was so low that the VU meters were flat. But, I did find a faint signal and decided to spend some time trying to make it hearable. I was able to boost the signal enough to record it on my hard drive, but the noise level was nearly as high as the signal itself. Still, I did my best to salvage what I could. Pitch correction was difficult because the tape deterioration caused the pitch to waver slightly. That was one thing I couldn't fix, however I did bring it within the neighborhood of the performance — and I think with a little imagination, you will be able to tell what it sounded like when Emitt played solo in that TV studio."

Considering its age and the manner in which it was recorded, I'd say it sounds pretty good. It at least provides us a glimpse of a vintage solo Emitt performance. Thanks Chuck! (These tracks should be considered relatives of Jennifer DeBernardis' recordings of the Barry Richards interviews with Emitt from the same time period.)

This is a live 1972 television performance of "Love Will Stone You" from the David Frost show.