Even before he began to record seminal music using an Esquire plugged into a Harvard amp – creating one of the favorite pairings in history – Steve Cropper was the epitome of a team player. Sixty-plus years down the road, his new album, Friendlytown, celebrates collaboration and the joy of the guitar tag team. With guests Billy Gibbons, Brian May, and rising country-rock singer/songwriter Tim Montana joining Cropper’s band The Midnight Hour (lead vocalist Roger C. Reale, bassist Jon Tiven, and drummer/percussionist Nioshi Jackson), the disc is even more guitar-centric than his typical effort.

Cropper’s fate was steered by a Silvertone when he was 14. By then, his family had moved from rural Missouri to Memphis, where local radio filled his head with gospel, R&B, and early rock and roll. After an uncle let him hold an old Gibson, the bug bit and he asked for a six-string of his own.

“I remember my mother setting aside $17 and change, and when we ordered that Silvertone, they said they could deliver it for 25 cents. We told them, ‘Forget that!’ and I went to pick it up myself,” he laughs. “If we’d had to pay that extra quarter, I’d never have been a guitar player.”

Later, he bonded with schoolmate Charlie Freeman over their infatuation with guitars and music, and they formed a group called Royal Spades.

Memphis at that time was a burgeoning musical hotbed thanks in part to a recording studio run by Sam Phillips, whose Sun Records label was fostering the upstart careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, who were making music that melded the blues trickling up from the Mississippi Delta with country from Nashville and hillbilly songs from the Ozark Mountains. By 1961, the band had changed its name to The Mar-Keys and its members were backing singers in the studios of the newly-dubbed Stax Records. That year, they also scored a million-selling #1 hit with an original instrumental, “Last Night” (the song having no guitar part, Cropper played secondary organ). After morphing again, they scored a hit in ’62 as Booker T. & the MG’s with the instrumental “Green Onions,” propelled by Booker T. Jones’ organ melody and Cropper’s razor-sharp Esquire/Harvard licks backed by Stax A-listers Al Jackson, Jr., on drums and Lewie Steinberg on bass.

At Stax, Cropper spent the ’60s backing star vocalists, along the way, co-writing “In the Midnight Hour,” “Knock on Wood” and “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.” He has also collaborated with Jeff Beck, Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Albert King, Robben Ford, and is one of the Blues Brothers. Cropper and the MG’s were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ’92.

In 2021, Cropper released Fire It Up, his first album of original instrumentals in more than a decade. The pandemic lockdown meant its tracks were recorded remotely (forsaking the feel and spontaneity of playing in a room together). Nonetheless, it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Friendlytown brought more old-fashioned studio interplay.

“Steve and I started to get together weekly to see if we had anything to say, musically,” said Tiven. “When we finished [something], we’d send it off to Roger to get words and a melody started. We came up with a half-dozen compositions in no time.”

Early on, Cropper suggested they invite a guest guitarist to bring in different flavors.

“Brian May and I have been close friends for many years, and we had called upon him to work on Steve’s Dedicated album [in 2011],” Tiven noted. “That had been fun for all involved, so I suggested to Steve that we try to convince Brian to write one with us and play on it. He was all for it, and Brian took no convincing, so I sent off one of the instrumentals for him to work on. I didn’t hear anything for about a month, so I sent a nagging e-mail, to which he replied, ‘I’m behind, I must confess/My apologies/Too Much Stress.’ A chorus was born.”

Hearing May’s tracks, Cropper was delighted.

“I listened as a Brian May fan, and loved it,” he said. “What he did with the track is incredible. His playing is super and his singing is great.”

Around the same time, Tiven ran into Billy Gibbons while shopping at Trader Joe’s. Having become acquainted when they appeared together onstage with John Belushi, Tiven mentioned the work he and Cropper were doing on a new album.

“His eyes lit up and he said, ‘I’ve got a song for you,’ to which I replied, ‘It only goes on the record if you play on it.’ He smiled, said ‘That could be arranged.’

“Two days later, he was at my house writing a new song with Steve and myself, and as we finished the first verse I implored him to leave room for Roger to write words. We had several more sessions, and we were all buzzing afterwards. Billy was particularly vocal about how much fun he was having, and after he left, I mentioned to Steve that Billy’s enthusiasm might be opening a door. ‘Why don’t you ask him to join our group?’ Steve suggested, which I did. Next thing we knew, we had a new member and a name – Steve Cropper and The Midnight Hour.”

Tiven went to work coordinating schedules and studio time. “I wanted to make sure we jumped on this before anybody changed his mind,” he said. “So if you’re wondering how we got three of the greatest guitarists to ever walk the face of the Earth on one record… just lucky, I guess.”

Loaded with radio-friendly hooks, Friendlytown also includes guest spots from Free/Bad Company drummer Simon Kirk and Rascals co-lead vocalist/keyboardist Felix Cavaliere.
To dig further, we chatted with Cropper.

What were some of the first songs you learned on that Silvertone?
I didn’t listen to albums, but I listened to Top 40 radio all the time. Whatever was in rotation, that was my thing. But I didn’t copy other records; I’d go in the studio and try to create something a little stronger, a little better.

Do you recall the first songs you wrote?
I don’t, but they weren’t all that good, so I threw them away. The first song I wrote for Stax was notes to “I’ve Got No Time To Lose” which Carla Thomas recorded in 1964. They tried forever to get her another hit to follow “Gee Whiz,” and finally I told Carla one day, ‘We wrote this song, you’re going to love it.” I wrote it on piano, and I can’t even play piano (laughs), but her brother, Marvell, taught me just enough chords that I could write with them.

With Stax, you famously used an early-’60s Tele, but was the Esquire heard on “Green Onions” your first good guitar?
Yes, it was an old one I bought for nothing and was beat up. I took the strings off and painted it. I went down to Western Auto and got some Candy Apple Red paint so I could spray the guitar. But I didn’t prime it, so it soaked into the wood and left a purple hue (laughs). Everybody said, “Don’t change it! That’s good-looking.” So I had a purple Esquire for years – only one in the world (laughs).

Do you remember what happened to it?
It used to be at Jimmie King’s mother’s house. For a long time I thought it went down with Jimmy and Otis [Redding] when their plane crashed in ’67. Three months later, a friend was going to visit Jimmie’s mom and I asked him to tell her how sorry I was. He came back, shaking, and said, “You know that purple guitar you used to use?” I said, “Yeah,” and he said, “Man, it’s on her wall.” When he went back tell her the guitar belonged to me, she fainted right in front of him. She thought it belonged to her son. It and a pair of jeans he’d left for her to wash were all she had of his. After that, I said, “Leave it on the wall. It’s worth much more to her than me.” After she died, it was gone. So, somebody has that guitar, and probably don’t know what they’ve got. My wife is kind of looking for it and says she’ll find it (laughs). She probably can.

What makes you decide to start recording new songs or an album?
Usually, it’s the record company (laughs). They tell you, “It’s time!” Our A&R director, Stu Fine, and Jon Tiven put it all together; Stu did A&R on the last one, too – Fire It Up – and it was nominated for a Grammy. I hadn’t had an album in years before that.

You released “Too Much Stress” as the first single, with Brian May singing and sharing lead breaks with Billy Gibbons.
Yes, and it has done great so far. Brian hadn’t had a record in nine or 10 years, so fans are eager to hear new music from him.

What was your connection with him?
Jon has been friends with Brian for years, and I met Brian when he and I were at the James Burton & Friends show. Jon told him, “Brian, we’re making another album. You want to be on it?” But then we didn’t hear anything for six weeks. So, Jon called and said, “What’s going on?” Brian said, “I apologize. Just too damn much stress!” And Jon thought, “There’s a song right there!” So he went in and cut it.

Speaking of, how does song creation work for you?
I co-write everything because I dislike my own writing. I love it when somebody says, “Man, that’s good. Do that again.” To me, that means everything in songwriting – working to come up with a good line: “What did you just say? That’s a great line! Let’s keep it.” I love hearing that, and doing it with somebody else. If they write something good, I tell ’em it’s good.

Is that how things came together for Friendlytown?
Yeah, Jon and I wrote with Roger, and it came together quickly. Roger wrote most of his lyrics at his home in Connecticut, and this was the first time we were in the studio together. We cut all the tracks in a day or two.

How did you connect with Tim Montana?
We had a little costume party, and he showed up as Steve Copper – had the beard and everything. I said, “Get outta here!” (laughs). He looked more like me than I do (laughs).

Do you remember the first ZZ Top song you heard?
It was probably “TV Dinners.” The thing I always wondered about Billy was how could three people get that much sound onstage at one time? Well, I found out he plays two parts at once. I tried that, and I’m not very good at it. With country music, the bass always follows the chords and becomes a tonic, and I like playing around the tonic – fifths and thirds. Maybe that’s my sound.

How did your songs with Billy come together?
We met with Billy in the studio and he asked, “What do you got?” and I said, “Well, I played a Bo Diddley rhythm on this one…” He started playing along and my engineer said, “That’s good! Keep going.” He played on eight or nine songs that day.

So it was all pretty spontaneous?
Well, the tracks were, but not necessarily the songs. Jon and I did the same thing we did Fire It Up. We’d write every Tuesday – two or three tracks. Once Roger had all the lyrics, the guys came together for one or two days and we got every track. When we cut ’em, it was just titles until Roger started singing. Then it came to life. It’s about things you feel in life.

Which guitars did you use?
I mostly used the custom-made Peavey they built for my 75th birthday nine years ago – the one I ran over three or four years ago.

You drove over it?
Yeah, I was backing out of a parking spot when I felt a bump. I thought, “Oh, no! I didn’t run over the guitar, did I? But yeah, I did. I figured when I unzipped the case I’d find nothing but toothpicks, but lo and behold, the tire had just pushed the controls in. I took the back off and hammered it back to level, then plugged it in. It played perfectly. My engineer later told me it sounded like it always did, so I took it down the road again with the Blues Brothers. The only thing I changed was one of the knobs.

Which amplifier did you use?
It’s a Victoria, hand-made in Chicago. It’s a lot like my Fender The Twin, which is what I like to use on the road.

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Billy Gibbons

Crop’s Side Man

Like virtually every other guitarist, Billy Gibbons first heard Steve Cropper playing “Green Onions” on an AM radio in 1962. An aspiring 13-year-old, that tune and Cropper’s work backing an array of Stax singers throughout the ’60s were elemental in his musical edification.

In the heyday of making records that jolted a range of artists into international prominence, like so many, I was magnetized with what Steve was doing with his guitar and production sounds,” Gibbons recalls today.

But until Cropper’s new album, Friendlytown, they’d never been heard together on an audio recording. Gibbons was gung-ho to talk about how it happened.

What was your reaction when Jon Tiven hit you up at Trader Joe’s?
When Jon whispered the name “Steve Cropper,” needless to say, I got fired up!

How did you and Steve first meet?
There was a fateful encounter in Memphis, at the infamous Molly’s La Casita, down Madison Avenue between John Fry’s Ardent Records and Steve’s Trans-Maximus Studios. From that point forward, it has remained our mutual admiration of the mystique of guitars, guitars, and more guitars.

You share a lot of similarities and vibe.
There exists a mutual awareness of the challenge maintaining impact through simplicity. It might be fair to say Steve wrote the book on economy while staying focused on ferociousness.

He’s so low-key while also being a legend.
Yeah, man – legendarily low-keyed with an up-front passion for tastefulness and tone. When seeing what is possible with the straightforwardness of a bare-naked Fender slab-body straight into a Fender tweed… better stand back for the attack.

Do you have a favorite Cropper song or album?
There are a wealth of tracks aimed at the faves list. The stand-alone starter that got things rolling, of course, is the all-time winner, “Green Onions.” And not to be missed is the B-side sleeper, “Behave Yourself,” where Steve injects a walk-down interlude that empirically states “R&B.” Gotta squeeze in “Chinese Checkers”; the rhythm chops in stanza three are Cropper at his most-wicked.

What was it like to work with Steve in the studio?
One word when working aside Steve is “acceleration.” The adrenaline works overtime, which is ironically balanced when creating laid-back guitar figures. The title track, current to this behind-the-scenes view with Friendlytown, slips a bluesy six-string smoothness throughout, which paves the way for absorbing the record’s feel.

How did you sort guitars and amps for your contributions?
Knowing Steve’s prowess playing stridently Cropper-like on just about anything, we waited for his arrival in order to spy out which axe of his would be favored for session ignition. Lo and behold, Steve – in fine fashion – strolled in, had a look around, and of course grabbed the studio’s classic 1960 Fender Esquire! Pearly Gates (Gibbons’ ’59 Les Paul Standard) was immediately put into service as a complementary tonal companion. Steve also held his twin-pickup Peavey for extra sass. Fender and Magnatone amplification made the collection of sounds blend together handily.

How did you work out guitar parts?
We positioned a sizable studio corner to allow that elusive element of providing a sense of space for everybody to enjoy a slice within each song. Steve’s direction was invaluable, indicating moments within each arrangement where a slight sonic stab might be enough while still leaving room for everyone on the session. Brian May’s injection dug in right, keeping the three-lane avenue wide open.

Did you get to interact with Brian?
Not face to face, but it was quite obvious we both were enamored with the opportunity to keep the invitation front and center. Ain’t no doubt the joint enthusiasm accompanied the performances to a satisfying sense of Steve-approved style.

Did the experience have special meaning to you?
It kinda tops it off in soothing the soul.

Is there a way to describe Steve’s importance to guitar music?
If ya’ need further reassurance of the depths of Steve’s importance, just take it from the well-known shout-out in the Sam and Dave hit, “Soul Man”: “Play it, Steve!” says it all.

For Crop, every day is just another day in Groovesville.

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This article originally appeared in VG’s October 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.