Sam L Williams: Celebrating Uncredited Studio Musicians of the 60s

Silhouettes JB Podcast

Sam L. Williams, host of the Millennial Throwback Machine podcast, is committed to finding the unsung heroes behind classic American records: the studio musicians, arrangers, sound engineers, and more, who never got credit for their work.

Sam and Gia met at the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons start ceremony at the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

In this episode, Sam joins us from his home in sunny California to give us names of musicians who helped define the sound of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons in the 60s, based on two sources:

1. Studio Stories- How New York Records Were Made. A book by David Simons
2. His interview with Charlie Calello!

Some musicians include:

● George Devins, percussionist

● Al Gorgoni, guitar

● Buddy Saltzman, drums

● Lou Morrow, bass

● Stan Free, keyboard

● Charlie Mason, lyricist

For all our music theory cats, we also broke down every instrument in “Let’s Hang On,” the original Four Seasons record and a cover by The Manhattan Transfer (with Frankie Valli on vocals).

Sam is a singer-songwriter and arranger himself, and we discussed how The Four Seasons influenced his music.

Follow Sam @iheartholdies, check out his podcast (You’ll need the premium version for his Charlie Calello episode!), listen to his music, and join his crowdfund for his new EP.

Listen to The Millennial Throwback Machine (Free): https://open.spotify.com/show/1CF2MjYpOLQzp8yMWYqUIw?si=hXfxYgjETJaEhnouMu315w

Listen to the Millennial Throwback Machine (Premium): https://open.spotify.com/show/4o8IaUZBEMf7VgbyUPrkKy?si=AnwQ16UsQtqVOmsv8W3WGQhttps://open.spotify.com/show/4o8IaUZBEMf7VgbyUPrkKy?si=AnwQ16UsQtqVOmsv8W3WGQ

Listen to Sam’s most recent album, “An Old Soul:”
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/samlwilliams/an-old-soul-with-new--remiagined-things

Support his new EP, “The Past, The Present & My Imagination:” https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-past-the-present-my-imagination-ep?attribution_id=sl:62f7c953-d910-4413-8e88-5a28391946ac&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Buy Sam’s merch here: https://www.cafepress.com/merchandise83

This episode was recorded on Saturday June 22, 2024.

We do not own the rights to any music. All music is meant for research and educational purchases.