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HBO is responsible for redefining the drama genres in television….True DetectiveTrue Detective follows two Louisiana detectives, played by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, on a 17-year search for a serial killer.Novelist and writer Nic Pizzolatto created and wrote the award-winning HBO seriesTrue Detective. Pizzolato is from southwest Louisiana and taught literature at several universities before pursuing screenwriting in 2010.Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring executive producers Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, season one of True Detective uses multiple timelines to follow two Louisiana detectives' 17-year-long hunt for a serial killer.The show is phenomenal and will arguably go down as McConaughey's and Harrelson's best performances of all time.Official True Detective TrailerThe first season aired in early 2014. Similar to FX's American Horror Story, True Detective uses an anthology format, with each season featuring a different storyline and cast of characters.Pizzolatto has said that the second season will feature three new lead characters. Season two will take place in California, consist of eight episodes, and will star Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn. Pizzolatto will continue writing and each episode will feature a different director.Season two of True Detective premiered June 21, 2015 - the eighth and final episode aired August 6th. This series received mixed reviews, most people either loving it or hating it. Regardless of any opinion, one thing is for sure - the show is beautifully shot, and the ensemble cast is fantastic.Without a doubt, the first season of True Detective is some of the greatest television ever produced. If you've somehow missed this show, you should watch it immediately. You will not be disappointed.The WireRather than employing a score or soundtrack, The Wire primarily uses music that emanates from a source within the scene, such as a radio or jukebox.The Wire premiered in 2002 and ended in 2008. The gritty series consisted of 60 episodes spanning five seasons.While the show received average ratings at the time and wasn’t nominated for major television awards, critics and fans alike consider The Wire to be one of the greatest TV dramas of all time.Lauded for its realistic portrayal of urban life and its exploration of political and social themes, the show looked unflinchingly at all aspects of Baltimore: the city’s drug trade, seaport, government, schools, and news media.The ensemble cast was comprised almost entirely of little known character actors who defied expectations by presenting a true range of humanity. Many of those actors went on to success in TV and film.The Wire was created and primarily written by former police reporter and author David Simon, who said that despite its presentation as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution to which they are committed."The Wire: Season 1 Opening Scene & IntroSimon first set out to create a police drama loosely based on the experiences of writing partner Ed Burns, who had come up against the bureaucratic Baltimore police department during his time as a homicide detective. Simon had had similar experiences as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun, so he chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his intimate knowledge of the city.This show is highly recommended for anyone who considers themselves a connoisseur of quality entertainment.The SopranosThe Sopranos is regarded by many as the greatest TV series of all time.Created by David Chase, The Sopranos revolves around New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini (12 Angry Men, A Civil Action), and his struggle to strike a balance between his personal and criminal lives.The show premiered in early 1999 and ended its sixth and final season in 2007. Following its phenomenal success, the show was syndicated and broadcast on the A&E network in the US and internationally. Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas, Rizzoli & Isles) is Jennifer Melfi, the psychiatrist Tony begins seeing after an onset of panic attacks start disrupting his life.Tony's wife Carmela, played by Edie Falco (Oz, Nurse Jackie), and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), Tony's cousin and protégé, are two of the main focal points in the mobster's life. Tony spends much of his time struggling to maintain his marriage while preparing his inept cousin to rise up within the organization.The show features plenty of additional family members, criminal colleagues and rivals in prominent story arcs throughout the series' 86 episodes.The Sopranos TrailerProduced by HBO, Brad Grey Television, and Chase Films, the series was primarily shot at Silvercup Studios, New York City, and on-location in New Jersey. Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) was one of many talented executive producers involved in this ground-breaking show.The Sopranos undoubtedly took television to the next level, changing the way we watch TV forever. What was once considered a step down from the movie business has been transformed into a legitimate art form that attracts A-list actors, directors, and producers from all corners of the globe, due in no small part to this wonderful series.Boardwalk EmpireCreator Terence Winter was inspired by the book "Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City" by Nelson Johnson.Steve Buscemi stars as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, a Prohibition-era period drama series set in Atlantic City, New Jersey. At a cost of $18 million dollars, the pilot episode was directed by Martin Scorsese.The series was picked up for an additional 11 episodes in 2009. Four years later HBO renewed Boardwalk Empire for a fifth and final season which aired in late 2014.Boardwalk Empire received 40 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won 17 of them. It also won a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.Boardwalk Empire TrailerIn addition to Martin Scorsese and creator Terence Winter, Mark Wahlberg and Tim Van Patten are among the show's six executive producers.The series has received widespread critical acclaim for Buscemi's performance and those of other historical figures (Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and more), as well as its authentic visual style.Nucky Thompson is based on the historical Enoch L. Johnson, a political figure who controlled Atlantic City during the Prohibition era. Nucky interacts with historical figures from all facets of life, including mobsters, government agents, politicians, celebrities, and the common folk who idolize him.Prohibition marked the beginning of organized crime in America and Boardwalk Empire is a compelling glimpse at what led up to a critical moment in US history.DeadwoodDeadwood won eight Emmy Awards as well as a Golden Globe Award.Created by David Milch, Deadwood is an American western television series set in a gold-mining camp of the same name in South Dakota.Deadwood aired from 2004 to 2006, with 36 episodes spanning three seasons. The show featured an ensemble cast, many of whom appear as historical figures (Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, George Hearst, and many more).Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Damages) stars as Seth Bullock, a former Marshall from Montana who settles in Deadwood to establish a hardware business, along with his business partner and friend, Sol Star (John Hawkes).The series follows Deadwood's evolution from mining camp to official town, including themes of western capitalism and the fringe-style law enforcement that is associated with the period.Deadwood TrailerMilch researched the period, consulting historian Watson Parker’s book,Deadwood: The Golden Years. Parker specialized in the history of the Black Hills and the show’s production crew later used many of Parker's other papers and books as references for the series.Milch has repeatedly stated in interviews that his intent with the show was to study the way a civilization comes together from chaos, by organizing itself around symbols (i.e. gold). The series visits a variety of issues, such as politics, immigration, ethnicity, prostitution, misogyny, and violence.This show is truly one of the greatest period pieces ever created and is rooted in historical truths, along with its fair share of fiction. It also features one of the most beautiful opening sequences ever created. Watch this gem as soon as you are able. You won't be disappointed.Bored to DeathUnderemployed writer Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) is inspired by a Raymond Chandler novel to advertise his services as a private detective.Bored to Death stars three of the funniest people to appear on television: Ted Danson (Cheers, Damages), Jason Schwartzman (almost every Wes Anderson film), and Zach Galifinakis (Reno 911!, The Hangover).Created by Jonathan Ames, the show follows a Brooklyn-based writer (also named Jonathan Ames but played by Schwartzman) who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective.After his girlfriend Suzanne breaks up with him, Jonathan finds himself with plenty of spare time. As his career as a writer begins to flounder, he posts an ad on Cragislist, advertising his services as a private detective.Jonathan quickly involves his friends, Ray Hueston and George Christopher, to join him in his dangerously hilarious antics. Alternately bumbling his way through bizarre money-making schemes and trying to win his girlfriend back, Jonathan is surrounded by oddball characters with their own stalled dreams and ambitions.Bored to Death TrailerHBO cancelled Bored to Death after twenty-four episodes in 2011. Fortunately for all of us, HBO began development on a TV movie in 2013. If you're a fan of dark humor and satire, you owe it to yourself to watch this show immediately!Game of ThronesGames of Thrones has a wide cult following. While some critics feel the series overuses nudity and violence, overall the show receives widespread acclaim.Based on George R.R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, Game of Thrones was adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.The series premiered in the US in 2011 and its fifth season is scheduled to air in the spring of 2015. Game of Thrones is filmed at a Belfast studio and on location in Northern Ireland, Morocco, Scotland, Malta, Iceland, and Croatia.The series is set in the fictional lands of Westeros and Essos during a period similar to the High Middle Ages. The story interweaves several plot lines including a civil war among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, the fierce peoples of the North, and an exiled patriarch of the deposed ruling dynasty to reclaim the throne.Game of Thrones TrailerGame of Thrones was nominated for and won numerous awards, including Outstanding Drama Series for its first three seasons.Peter Dinklage (Death at a Funeral, Nip/Tuck) won two awards for his role as Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf and member of one of Westeros’ most powerful families. Also in the wonderful ensemble cast is Lena Headey (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dredd) as Queen Cersei and Sean Bean (GoldenEye, Ronin) as Eddard “Ned” Stark.Even if you aren't generally a fan of the fantasy genre, this beautifully crafted series is absolutely worth experiencing.John AdamsThis seven-part mini-series follows Adams from his role as an American founding father to his term as president. Just as compelling is his wife Abigail's story, as she contends with the challenges of everyday life in the 18th century.John Adams is a seven-part mini-series that chronicles the political career of the second U.S. President and the crucial role he played in the founding the country.Paul Giamatti (Sideways, 12 Years a Slave) brilliantly portrays John Adams and Laura Linney (The Big C, The Truman Show) plays his wife and close confidant, Abigail Adams, the woman behind the man.The series follows Adams from the Boston Massacre of 1770 through his years as an ambassador in Europe and then his terms as vice president and president. Just as compelling are the storylines involving his wife and family as they cope with smallpox and other challenges of the time.Directed by Tom Hooper, this miniseries is based on the book John Adams by David McCullough and adapted for the screen by Kirk Ellis.John Adams TrailerThis biopic of the first fifty years of US history and John Adams' intimate involvement was aired in seven parts in 2008. It received widespread critical acclaim and won many awards—four Golden Globes and thirteen Emmys, more than any other miniseries in television history.Experience this breathtaking piece of American history, as well as these amazing performances from some of Hollywood's elite.RomeCiarán Hinds as Julius Caesar and Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus, a soldier and one of the primary storytellers in the series Rome.Created by an international team of British, American, and Italian producers (Bruno Heller, William J. MacDonald, and John Milius), Rome aired for two seasons starting in 2005 and ending in 2007.Set in the 1st century BC, the show begins with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, during Ancient Rome's transition from Republic to Empire. This season ends with Caesar's infamous assassination and the rise of Emperor Augustus, a.k.a. Gaius Octavian.Rome was shot in Italy and features a rich ensemble cast of characters, many of whom are based on historical figures. The main protagonists are two soldiers who are mentioned in Julius Caesar's own Commentarii de Bello Gallico: Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) and Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd).Rome TrailerThe fictional Vorenus and Pullo witness and influence many of the historical events portrayed in the series, although some of these events are not accurate. One of the show’s strengths, however, is in the way it follows not just the rich and powerful but also the lives of common people.James Purefoy (The Following, Resident Evil) stars as the legendary Marc Antony, and the series follows him all the way to Alexandria, where he meets the mighty Queen Cleopatra.If you are a fan of expertly crafted period pieces, add this gorgeous show to your library.Generation KillDespite their initial doubts, Marine commanders eventually encouraged officers of the 1st Reconnaissance to read Wright's work to gain insight into the reality of war.Written in 2004 by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright, Generation Kill is adapted from Wright’s book about his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the USMC during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This intense mini-series was shot over six months and grippingly portrays a year in the lives of young marines leading the drive into Baghdad.Originally published as a three-part series in Rolling Stone, the first article, The Killer Elite, won a National Magazine Award for Excellence in Reporting in 2004. Wright’s story informs the series. Marines struggle with inadequate supplies, poor communication, and bureaucratic nightmares in the opening weeks of the war.Generation Kill TrailerOriginally aired in 2008, the series was filmed in Namibia, Mozambique, and South Africa. The look is gritty and authentic and the series opens with the Marine Recon team crossing into Iraq during the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.Wright wrote episodes with Ed Burns and David Simon (both of The Wire). Lee Tergesen (The Big C, Desperate Housewives) portrays Wright and Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, Battleship) plays Sgt. Brad 'Iceman' Colbert who shares the lead vehicle with embedded reporter Wright. Viewers may also recognize James Ransone from The Wire and Treme, who portrays Cpl. Josh Ray Person.We owe it to ourselves to experience this piece of infamous recent history, and take from it a number of important lessons concerning the tragedy of war.An Abundance of Great TVWe are living in a golden age of television, with quality writing and acting on cable, commercial networks, and public television. These HBO series are just a few of the outstanding examples of storytelling on the small screen. Leave a comment about your favorites below!

I believe that the story of Bruce Channel and Hey Baby should make a fine musical movie, inclusively, featuring The Beatles."Hey! Baby" is a classic one-shot, number-one hit from 1962 by Bruce McMeans, better known just by his mother’s name, Bruce Channel. By 1961 officially rock was dead. It was “twisting time”; “surfing time”, “mashed potato time” etc... The real joke was that most people, starting with the younger generation, never realized that all this was just the same rock, renewed.“Hey! Baby” is one of the many records proving that, during a period in which rock has sometimes been characterized near death, the form was continuing to evolve in unexpected and delightful ways. An irresistible mid-tempo shuffle from the first few bars of homespun harmonica (played by Delbert McClinton), it was a seemingly effortless blend of rock, blues, country and Cajun beats, featuring Channel's lazy, drawling vocals and an instantly catchy tune. It was perhaps too much of a natural; Channel could never recapture the organic spontaneity of the track, failing to re-enter the Top 40 despite many attempts. So, Hey! Baby remained a real one hit wonder. The lyrics are by Bruce Channel and the score is by Margaret Cobb. Bruce Channel composed it in 1959 and has been performing the song for two years before recording it.Bruce Channel grew up in Grapevine, a small city in the area now known as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. He attended Grapevine High School where he gained popularity as a performer. Around this time, he began writing songs with Margaret Cobb, 10-15 years his senior, from Irving, Texas, about 15 miles from Grapeville. Channel was introduced to Margaret by her brother because she "knew how to write songs" and the young musician wanted to be a songwriter.Cobb, a singer herself, introduced Channel to country banjo star Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery who was also based in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. This resulted a fruitful contact.The pair ended up writing many Channel-Cobb songs and led to Channel's first record in 1959 (produced by Montgomery on Fort Worth label Teen Ager) and to the recording two years later of Hey Baby, with Montgomery co-producing.Later Margaret Cobb, with Marvin Montgomery, became Channel's joint manager, and she even organized his fan club. She was also a music publisher, running Marett Music in Irving with Montgomery. Marett Music was associated with Trojan Records, a local label formed in 1963 by Irving singer Don Martin.Channel says, “I would hear songs that I liked and look up the people who wrote them and learn their songs. I wanted to be a songwriter. I was always more influenced by the writers than the singers. But you have to get out there and play those songs for someone.”So, Channel put together a band and played local dances and sock hops, eventually performing on the popular Dallas-based radio program The Big D Jamboree. He then landed a six-month regular spot on the Louisiana Hayride. Following that, Channel returned to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.Bruce was getting in the swing of writing and wanted to record. By 1961 Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery introduced Channel to Major Bill Smith, a music promoter and longtime character on the Fort Worth music scene who modeled himself after Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.Channel was only twenty-one, but he already had experience as a vocalist, along with a growing ambition to become a professional songwriter. Major Bill Smith wasn’t really a record producer. He was a retired major from the Air Force, World War II. He’d gotten bad burns on his hands, and they promoted him to a major when he was discharged. So he was Major Bill... He had all this energy, everything was “It’s going to be a smash!” So he was active in recording people at that time in Fort Worth. He was the only guy that was active.Major Bill has been spending a lot of time searching for talent in the Dallas - Forth Worth area and he usually hired Delbert McClinton and his bar band, The StraitJackets for session musicians every time he needed a backup band.McClinton was born in Lubbock, Texas but relocated with his family to Fort Worth, Texas, when he was 11 years old. Currently McClinton is a worldwide-recognized blues-rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist. From his first professional stage appearance in 1957 to his most recent national tour in 2018, he has recorded albums for several major record labels and singles that have reached the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Rock Tracks, and Hot Country Songs charts. Four of his albums have been number 1 on the U.S. Blues chart, and another reached number 2. He has earned three Grammy awards and has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards as of 2018. He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in March 2011, along with Lee Roy Parnell, Bruce Channel, Gary Nicholson, and Cindy Walker.Marvin and Bruce went to see Major Bill and he agreed to work with Bruce, so they went into the studio on West 7th Street in Fort Worth with Marvin as co-producer of the session and Mayor Smith called Delbert to get some guys together to record a few demos on Bruce. That’s where Delbert met Bruce the first time and they became good friends immediately and still remain good friends.They cut about four sides of Bruce’s songs that day; In the beginning, the A side of one of those records was “Dream Baby” and the “B” side, Hey! Baby”.Channel remembers the day clearly: “I walked into the studio with Marvin Montgomery and saw a friendly face, Bob Sullivan, who had been the engineer on the Louisiana Hayride. I played through my songs, just me and the guitar, and McClinton’s band, the Straitjackets, listened. Then, just like that, McClinton kicked off “Hey Baby” with his harmonica, with that intro you know so well. McClinton is just a virtuoso with that thing: all he has to do is hear what you are doing and he will find the key and play it. He just kicked it off with that harmonica and his band jumped in and knew what to do. We recorded it once, twice, and then Marvin came in and put some piano on it the third time and that was history. Delbert’s harmonica intro was so true. It was what identified the song. It was different. Everyone knew the song with that first harmonica lick, and I guess you’d have to agree that little song has stood the test of time.”They did that in two or three takes, and Major Bill still thought the song on the flip side of it, Dream Girl was going to be the hit, but Bruce, Marvin and Delbert were all saying, ”Hey! Baby” is the hit! And Major Bill didn’t decide it until producer Huey Meaux, in Houston, offered him $500 for it. And then he decided that he had something. That’s the way life with Major Bill was!McClinton recalls, “Major Bill had about six labels, but Smash was the offshoot of a major label, Mercury. Major Bill got a deal with Smash and “Hey, Baby” became a world-wide hit. We all made five dollars for that session. We always made five dollars a session; it was just ‘roll and play’ recording — no overdubs, nothing fancy, but I guess that five dollars took me a long way.”In the spring of 1962, “Hey Baby” became a No. 1 hit in Billboard Magazine, remaining at the top of the charts for three weeks. Soon, Bruce Channel went on a national tour with Fats Domino, Brook Benton, Don and Juan, The Impressions, and The Duke of Earl (Gene Chandler). “We started in New York and went down the East Coast and then across and up to Denver and ended in Houston,” Channel says. “They had a tour band for the whole show, so I went out as a single, and they tried to replicate McClinton’s harmonica part with horns.”“Hey Baby” soon blasted across the Atlantic, and concert promoters wanted Bruce Channel to perform in England. Channel recalls, “So, they had a British band ready to back me up, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. I told Major Bill that I just could not do it without McClinton. I could not have done it with just that British band, and, boy, he saved our bacon over there. Everyone loved that harmonica. Everybody loved Delbert.”And because Bruce wanted that harmonica Delbert McClinton traveled with Major Bill Smith to London, arriving the day before Bruce Channel was scheduled to arrive. “We got to the airport, landed in London, got in the cab went to the hotel, and I left my bag of harmonicas in the cab. That was all I was there for, to play harmonica, and I had already lost my tools.”Fortunately, Smith located a Hohner harmonica factory nearby. As McClinton recalls, he and Smith were preparing to go and buy a new set of harmonicas when the cab driver walked into the hotel and asked if Delbert had left his harmonicas in the car. He returned them.”It was on this tour that McClinton met a relatively unknown singer and guitarist named John Lennon. Both twenty-two-year old musicians had a lot in common and spent several days hanging out together.McClinton explains: “The Beatles were opening for us on the tour. They would open the show, then I would play three songs or so, and then Bruce would come out and we would do the headliner set. John wanted me to give him some tips on harmonica. The story’s been romanticized. I didn’t really teach him. I showed him what I did. When to suck and when to blow. Nothing really more than that … although it was a great moment in time. I did hang out with John a few nights when we were off. The Beatles were playing regular gigs at the time at The Cavern, an underground old cellar in an old building. The club was pretty empty when we got there, and I sort of looked at John and thought, “what the — ?” Then, in no time, the place filled up, body to body. On one of our nights off, John came by the hotel with a friend of his, and they took me out and showed me things I never imagined. Beatnik joints, beanbag chairs, and people just laying over in the corner having sex, you know? I mean they sure didn’t do that in Fort Worth. It was that European intensity in the ’60s. It was weird but it was something to see.”McClinton continues: ”It got to be every night on the (six week) tour, somebody from another band would come to the dressing room because there wasn’t that much harmonica going on in anything but blues music. It wasn’t going on in rock and roll. And they wanted me to teach them how I did it. Well, you can’t teach anybody, but you can kind of show them. And that is what I did. And, yeah, one night it was John. He wanted to know how I did that, and we shot the sh@t on that and hung out and then … years later, somewhere along the line he mentioned to some reporter that he was influenced by the harmonica on “Hey Baby,” and it’s become “I’ve taught him everything he knows.” It’s been romanticized a great deal, as those stories are, but that’s exactly what it was. We were both twenty-two. We hung out. We were on common ground. We were just two guys who couldn’t get enough of it. Wanting to learn everything we could about this crazy business.”One of their dates was the English town of Wallasey, just across the Mersey from Liverpool. On June 21, 1962 Bruce and Delbert played the New Brighton Tower Ballroom; their opening act was a popular local band on the brink of superstardom, The Beatles. Backstage, John Lennon asked for a few harmonica tips from Delbert whose “Hey! Baby” sound John really liked, and Delbert was happy to share. Lennon put the lessons to use right away on "Love Me Do" and later "Please Please Me”."https://i.imgur.com/as8M90B.png"Says Delbert: “When we first saw them, their mode of transportation was a British World War II army ambulance, with a hole in the back where you could take a leak. Anyway, I remember on one particular occasion, this young girl comes up to our dressing room, and we were just worn out completely. I had tried that afternoon at the Cavern, the place the Beatles always played, but there was no hot water, but I needed a shave. And it was just awful, trying to shave with no hot water in this dank little bathroom with no hot water, ice cold water. And this girl comes up and says, you've got to come down and hear this group. They're the hottest group in the north of England. They had just gotten back from Hamburg, and it was the Beatles. We saw them and it was obvious they were amazing. I can't say I had any idea they would be what they would become, but they were excellent, and they did what they did.”"https://i.imgur.com/7ohTU8O.jpg"The photo above was taken at that meeting by Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney:from left to right, Pete Best (who would soon be replaced by Ringo Starr), John Lennon, Delbert McClinton (is he wearing Paul’s jacket?), Bruce Channel, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

"Hey! Baby" is a classic one-shot, number-one hit from 1962 by Bruce McMeans, better known just by his mother’s name as Bruce Channel. By 1961 officially the rock ‘n’ roll was dead. It was “twisting time”; “surfing time”, “mashed potato time” etc... The real joke was that most people, starting with the younger generation, never realized that all this was just the same rock, renewed.“Hey! Baby” is one of the many records proving that, during a period in which rock has sometimes been characterized near death, the form was continuing to evolve in unexpected and delightful ways. An irresistible mid-tempo shuffle from the first few bars of homespun harmonica (played by Delbert McClinton), it was a seemingly effortless blend of rock, blues, country and Cajun beats, featuring Channel's lazy, drawling vocals and an instantly catchy tune. It was perhaps too much of a natural; Channel could never recapture the organic spontaneity of the track, failing to re-enter the Top 40 despite many attempts. So, “Hey! Baby” remained a real one hit wonder. The lyrics are by Bruce Channel and the score is by Margaret Cobb. They composed it in 1959 and Bruce has been performing the song for two years before recording it.Bruce Channel grew up in Grapevine, a small city in the area now known as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. He attended Grapevine High School where he gained popularity as a performer. Around this time, he began writing songs with Margaret Cobb, 10-15 years his senior, from Irving, Texas, about 15 miles from Grapeville. Channel was introduced to Margaret by her brother because she "knew how to write songs" and the young musician wanted to be a songwriter.Cobb, a singer herself, introduced Channel to country banjo star Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery who was also based in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. This resulted a fruitful contact.The pair ended up writing many Channel-Cobb songs and led to Channel's first record in 1959 (produced by Montgomery on Fort Worth label Teen Ager) and to the recording two years later of “Hey! Baby”, with Montgomery co-producing.Later Margaret Cobb, with Marvin Montgomery, became Channel's joint manager, and she even organized his fan club. She was also a music publisher, running Marett Music in Irving with Montgomery. Marett Music was associated with Trojan Records, a local label formed in 1963 by Irving singer Don Martin.Channel says, “I would hear songs that I liked and look up the people who wrote them and learn their songs. I wanted to be a songwriter. I was always more influenced by the writers than the singers. But you have to get out there and play those songs for someone.”So, Channel put together a band and played local dances and sock hops, eventually perform¬ing on the popular Dallas-based radio program The Big D Jamboree. He then landed a six-month regular spot on the Louisiana Hayride. Following that, Channel returned to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.Bruce was getting in the swing of writing and wanted to record. By 1961 Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery introduced Channel to Major Bill Smith, a music promoter and longtime character on the Fort Worth music scene who modeled himself after Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.Channel was only twenty-one, but he already had experience as a vocalist, along with a growing ambition to become a professional songwriter. Major Bill Smith wasn’t really a record producer. He was a retired major from the Air Force, World War II. He’d gotten bad burns on his hands, and they promoted him to a major when he was discharged. So he was Major Bill... He had all this energy, everything was “It’s going to be a smash!” So he was active in recording people at that time in Fort Worth. He was the only guy that was active.Major Bill has been spending a lot of time searching for talent in the Dallas - Forth Worth area and he usually hired Delbert McClinton and his bar band, The StraitJackets for session musicians every time he needed a backup band.McClinton was born in Lubbock, Texas but relocated with his family to Fort Worth, Texas, when he was 11 years old. Currently McClinton is a worldwide-recognized blues-rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist. From his first professional stage appearance in 1957 to his most recent national tour in 2018, he has recorded albums for several major record labels and singles that have reached the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Rock Tracks, and Hot Country Songs charts. Four of his albums have been number 1 on the U.S. Blues chart, and another reached number 2. He has earned three Grammy awards and has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards as of 2018. He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in March 2011, along with Lee Roy Parnell, Bruce Channel, Gary Nicholson, and Cindy Walker.Marvin and Bruce went to see Major Bill and he agreed to work with Bruce, so they went into the studio on West 7th Street in Fort Worth with Marvin as co-producer of the session and Mayor Smith called Delbert to get some guys together to record a few demos on Bruce. That’s where Delbert met Bruce the first time and they became good friends immediately and still remain good friends.They cut about four records of Bruce’s songs that day. The A side of one of those records was supposed to be “Dream Baby” and the “B” side, “Hey! Baby”.Channel remembers the day clearly: “I walked into the studio with Marvin Montgomery and saw a friendly face, Bob Sullivan, who had been the engineer on the Louisiana Hayride. I played through my songs, just me and the guitar, and McClinton’s band, the Straitjackets, listened. Then, just like that, McClinton kicked off “Hey Baby” with his harmonica, with that intro you know so well. McClinton is just a virtuoso with that thing: all he has to do is hear what you are doing and he will find the key and play it. He just kicked it off with that harmonica and his band jumped in and knew what to do. We recorded it once, twice, and then Marvin came in and put some piano on it the third time and that was history. Delbert’s harmonica intro was so true! It was what identified the song. It was different. Everyone knew the song with that first harmonica lick, and I guess you’d have to agree that little song has stood the test of time.”They did that in two or three takes, and Major Bill still thought the song on the flip side of it, “Dream Girl” was going to be the hit, but Bruce, Marvin and Delbert were all saying, ”Hey! Baby” is the hit! And Major Bill didn’t decide it until producer Huey Meaux, in Houston, offered him $500 for it. And then he decided that he had something. That’s the way life with Major Bill was!McClinton recalls, “Major Bill had about six labels, but Smash was the offshoot of a major label, Mercury. Major Bill got a deal with Smash and “Hey, Baby” became a world-wide hit. We all made five dollars for that session. We always made five dollars a session; it was just ‘roll and play’ recording, no overdubs, nothing fancy, but I guess that five dollars took me a long way.”By the spring of 1962, “Hey Baby” became a No. 1 hit in Billboard Magazine, remaining at the top of the charts for three weeks. Soon, Bruce Channel went on a national tour with Fats Domino, Brook Benton, Don and Juan, The Impressions, and The Duke of Earl (Gene Chandler). “We started in New York and went down the East Coast and then across and up to Denver and ended in Houston,” Channel says. “They had a tour band for the whole show, so I went out as a single, and they tried to replicate McClinton’s harmonica part with horns.”“Hey Baby” soon blasted across the Atlantic, and concert promoters wanted Bruce Channel to perform in England. Channel recalls, “So, they had a British band ready to back me up, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. I told Major Bill that I just could not do it without McClinton. I could not have done it with just that British band, and, boy, he saved our bacon over there. Everyone loved that harmonica. Everybody loved Delbert.”And because Bruce wanted that harmonica Delbert McClinton traveled with Major Bill Smith to London, arriving the day before Bruce Channel was scheduled to arrive. “We got to the airport, landed in London, got in the cab went to the hotel, and I left my bag of harmonicas in the cab. That was all I was there for, to play harmonica, and I had already lost my tools.”Fortunately, Smith located a Hohner harmonica factory nearby. As McClinton recalls, he and Smith were preparing to go and buy a new set of harmonicas when the cab driver walked into the hotel and asked if Delbert had left his harmonicas in the car. He returned them.It was on this tour that McClinton met a relatively unknown singer and guitarist named John Lennon. Both twenty-two-year old musicians had a lot in common and spent several days hanging out together.McClinton explains: “The Beatles were opening for us on the tour. They would open the show, then I would play three songs or so, and then Bruce would come out and we would do the headliner set. John wanted me to give him some tips on harmonica. The story’s been romanticized. I didn’t really teach him. I showed him what I did. When to suck and when to blow. Nothing really more than that … although it was a great moment in time. I did hang out with John a few nights when we were off. The Beatles were playing regular gigs at the time at The Cavern, an underground old cellar in an old building. The club was pretty empty when we got there, and I sort of looked at John and thought, “what the…?” Then, in no time, the place filled up, body to body. On one of our nights off, John came by the hotel with a friend of his, and they took me out and showed me things I never imagined. Beatnik joints, beanbag chairs, and people just laying over in the corner having sex, you know? I mean they sure didn’t do that in Fort Worth. It was that European intensity in the ’60s. It was weird but it was something to see.”McClinton continues: ”It got to be every night on the (six week) tour, somebody from another band would come to the dressing room because there wasn’t that much harmonica going on in anything but blues music. It wasn’t going on in rock and roll. And they wanted me to teach them how I did it. Well, you can’t teach anybody, but you can kind of show them. And that is what I did. And, yeah, one night it was John. He wanted to know how I did that, and we shot the sh@t on that and hung out and then… years later, somewhere along the line he mentioned to some reporter that he was influenced by the harmonica on “Hey Baby,” and it’s become “I’ve taught him everything he knows.” It’s been romanticized a great deal, as those stories are, but that’s exactly what it was. We were both twenty-two. We hung out. We were on common ground. We were just two guys who couldn’t get enough of it. Wanting to learn everything we could about this crazy business.”One of their dates was the English town of Wallasey, just across the Mersey from Liverpool. On June 21, 1962 Bruce and Delbert played the New Brighton Tower Ballroom; their opening act was a popular local band on the brink of superstardom, The Beatles. Backstage, John Lennon asked for a few harmonica tips from Delbert whose “Hey! Baby” sound John really liked, and Delbert was happy to share. Lennon put the lessons to use right away on "Love Me Do" and later "Please Please Me”.""Says Delbert: “When we first saw them, their mode of transportation was a British World War II army ambulance, with a hole in the back where you could take a leak. Anyway, I remember on one particular occasion, this young girl comes up to our dressing room, and we were just worn out completely. I had tried that afternoon at The Cavern, the place The Beatles always played, but there was no hot water, but I needed a shave. And it was just awful, trying to shave with no hot water in this dank little bathroom with no hot water, ice cold water. And this girl comes up and says, you've got to come down and hear this group. They're the hottest group in the north of England. They had just gotten back from Hamburg, and it was The Beatles. We saw them and it was obvious they were amazing. I can't say I had any idea they would be what they would become, but they were excellent, and they did what they did.”""The photo above was taken at that meeting by Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney: from left to right, Pete Best (who would soon be replaced by Ringo Starr), John Lennon, Delbert McClinton (is he wearing Paul’s jacket?), Bruce Channel, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.“Hey! Baby” was used in the 1987 hit film Dirty Dancing in the scene where Johnny and Baby dance on top of a log.Austrian artist DJ Ötzi recorded a cover version titled "Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh)". It was released in July 2000 as the lead single from his debut solo album, Love, Peace & Vollgas. In 2002, it was re-released when it became the unofficial theme song for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and it reached number-one in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.