John Ciba used to have a pretty jaundiced view of Birmingham, Alabama. “Growing up in Chicago all I ever learned about was the racism and violence of the place from the civil rights era–blacks having fire hoses and dogs set loose on them,” he says. “That stuff really has stained the city in most people’s eyes. While all those negative things are part of the history of the place, there’s a real duality to the south and Birmingham in particular. So while the city was known for people like Bull Connor, it also had people like Neal Hemphill.”
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Back in 2002, Ciba turned up an odd-looking 45 at Out of the Past on the west side–a version of the 1972 Frederick Knight hit “I’ve Been Lonely for So Long” by a group called the Birmingham Rhythm Section. “It was kind of a cool grungy-looking label called Black Kat,” he says. “I knew the Frederick Knight song, which was a superclean soul song, but this version was real rough with a horrible out-of-tune voice singing.” What intrigued him was that both versions credited the same producer: Neal Hemphill. “I got a burr in my saddle to figure out who this guy was. I didn’t have any leads, so I blindly started calling record shops in Birmingham.”
Hemphill let local musicians have the run of the place during the day–he subsidized the studio with money from his plumbing business, rarely charging hourly rates but instead hoping his open-door policy would help somebody luck into a hit. He released much of the studio’s output himself, on in-house labels like Black Kat and Crown Ltd. Among the young artists who got an early break at Sound of Birmingham were guitarist Wayne Perkins, who’d go on to play with Bob Marley and the Gap Band, and future million-selling songwriters Frederick Knight and Sam Dees. “That was the early career of all those people,” says Ciba. “Hemphill gave all of them their first chance.”
Ciba met with Neal Jr. in Birmingham and sorted through his father’s things, including studio logs and about 500 reels of tape. He struck a deal with the family to license the material–they’ll get a cut of the profits after he covers the release expenses. For the past year Ciba’s been cataloging the music, mastering tracks, researching liner notes, and getting permission from the artists. “I had so much luck with people who wanted to be supportive of the project,” says Ciba. “Mainly because they wanted to honor Neal’s spirit. Through talking to everyone I came to really understand what a great and generous guy he was, and how much he’d meant to the lives and careers of so many people.”
When: Sat 8/12, 9 PM
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Flynn, courtesy of Roger Hallmark.
