Lou Whitney: A passion for music, a passion for life

The Studio at 328 South Ave. in downtown Springfield is invisible to most passers-by. Yet it's been here 18 years. Cracks radiate across the broken glass door. The lettering on the window is simple: "Multi-track recording, 826-0600. By appointment."

Nothing here in the rough-and-tumble heart of downtown Springfield indicates the significance this nondescript recording studio has had on American music.

But there is a clue — a name written in the concrete outside the door. A bass player years ago marked the wet cement with a fingertip: LOU.

It was from this unlikely epicenter that Lou Whitney took his high-voltage passion for music and converted it into a force that fanned across America and shaped our music.

But for most of those who live in Springfield, Whitney was an unknown prophet in his hometown. He died Tuesday of kidney cancer. He was 71.

The evidence of his musical reach hangs on the wall inside his dark, musty studio: a gold record for the 1996 Wilco album "Being There."

A gold record represents over 500,000 in sales. The Chicago-based rock band, known worldwide, recorded one song in the Springfield studio. Whitney captained the control board.

Wilco founder Jeff Tweedy last week mentioned Whitney on the band's Facebook page: "He guided the way, literally and figuratively, for hundreds of aspiring musicians (myself included) with great wisdom, patience and ego-less energy, a true champion."

Tony Margherita, Wilco's longtime manager, said Friday that "Why Would You Wanna Live in This World?" was recorded in Springfield.

"He was definitely a guy that lots of people in bands and around the industry knew over the last 25 or 30 years," Margherita said. "Most people looked up to him and wanted to hang out with him because he also was just a lot of fun."

On Wednesday it wasn't Whitney, but Eric Schuchmann, 30, at the control board. He has been Whitney's assistant for 10 years. The music will continue even though the man is gone, he said.

"We are going to stay open and keep it going as long as possible," Schuchmann said.

What won't change is Whitney's focus on how to make music.

"He was sort of the defender of the song," Schuchmann said. "He wanted to make sure people got their best service. He wanted to treat the song right, to make sure the song came out in the best way."

Tom Whitlock, 60, co-owns the building. He has stopped in to pick up recording equipment he had loaned to Whitney.

Whitlock has known Whitney since 1975, when they played together in a band with Marilee Whitney, Lou Whitney's second wife.

Whitney has been married to Kay Tolliver Whitney, his third wife, for 23 years. Kay is the other co-owner of the building and owns the recording studio.

Springfield has been rich soil for songwriters and musicians since the days of the "Ozark Jubilee," Whitlock said. In the 1950s the show featured country stars performing in the Jewell Theatre in downtown Springfield. The theater no longer exists.

The show was first broadcast on ABC Radio in 1954 and was on TV from 1955 to 1960. The producer was Si Siman, who also had a music publishing business.

From those roots, Whitlock said, Whitney blossomed into a rock 'n' roller with a lifelong connection to the Ozarks and its music.

In this studio, Whitlock said, artists ranging from Wilco to Boxcar Willie (Lecil Travis Martin) were mentored by Whitney.

Whitney loved music and he loved making people laugh, Whitlock said. That joy is evident in The Morells' recording of the music video "Red's," a former hamburger joint in Springfield.

"He was one of the most fun humans ever," Whitlock said.

Collection of 'Lou-isms'

Kay Tolliver Whitney, 65, has known Whitney 42 years.

"What he really wanted to do was to make me laugh every day," she said. "He was the wittiest person."

He unleashed some of his one-liners whenever he was asked his age.

Option 1: "I'm 71 but I read at the 72-year-old level."

Option 2: "I should be 73 but I was sick for a couple of years."

Many "Lou-isms" are shared on the Facebook page of friend Yankton Sothern.

Whitney attended East Tennessee State, in Johnson City, Tennessee. His father was a lawyer. He came to Springfield in 1970 and was briefly a real estate agent for Strout Realty, said Kay Tolliver Whitney.

But it didn't last.

"He had a passion for music," she said. "And he pretty much got to do what he wanted to do for most of his life."

"Shake and Push"

Whitney played in three main bands: The Symptoms, The Morells and The Skeletons.

In terms of his own music, the 1982 album "Shake and Push" by The Morells was a breakthrough.

"That was the record that made a lot of people fans," said Dale Wiley, 42, a songwriter who first met Whitney in 1995. The album received a glowing review in Rolling Stone magazine.

But Whitney played in countless other bands, including, for example, The Rugs. His assistant in the studio, Schuchmann, is in that band.

In the recording studio, The Skeletons often played as the backup band for customers cutting records.

On hundreds —if not thousands — of recordings made at The Studio, Whitney lent his incredible bass-playing skills.

"Paul McCartney is a pretty fantastic bass player," Wiley said. "But Lou was better. Lou being in your band was a big help. He was just such a fantastic mentor."

Eric Ambel, 57, has a recording studio in Brooklyn and produces The Bottle Rockets. He recalled what it was like working with Whitney in downtown Springfield.

"The Studio having a door right on South Avenue downtown was magical, too," he said. "We'd always go out to eat. Going out to eat when you are recording can be the greatest thing in the world, and Springfield has a very entertaining variety of food available. College town, nobody worries about separate checks.

"He loved music, recording and playing," Ambel said. "He loved his family and he loved his town, Springfield. As Lou often referred to it — 'The Recording Capital of Greene County.' "

A rock cult figure

Whitney was a rock 'n' roll "cult figure," said Daniel Durchholz, a freelance writer whose work often appears in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"Among the people that know him and are aware of him, he was a huge figure. He was terrifically influential," said Durchholz, 54. "Among the general population, he remained pretty unknown. The Morells and The Skeletons, they did not sell a lot of records. But any time anyone saw them they would be instantly connected and they would come back with a friend."

Whitney is best known for his studio work, Durchholz said.

"He could bring out the best from those people — which was a real talent in and of itself," he said.

In 1981, Ben Vaughn went to see The Symptoms in South Jersey. Vaughn was 25, recently divorced, and ready to ditch his ever-souring dream of music and song writing for a life as an offset printer.

Then he met Whitney.

Whitney was interested in every aspect of Vaughn's musical life. Whitney was funny. He was encouraging. His love of music was electric. To experience it was like grabbing a live wire.

Today, Vaughn, 59, is a film and TV composer in Los Angeles. He has written for the TV shows "3rd Rock from the Sun" and "That '70s Show."

"You looked into his eyes and you saw an excited 5-year-old child," Vaughn said. "He just vibrated with positive, proactive energy about music. 'We can make this work! This is going to be great.' He was ageless.

"Lou's encouragement was like this hand reaching from the sky and saying, 'Hey you! You are really good! You need to do this!'

"It was like I had no choice. It is amazing the difference that one person can make in your life."

Whitney's speech

In August, Whitney was one of several people presented with an annual Ozzie Award, given annually in Springfield to those who "embody the pioneering creative spirit of the Southwest Missouri arts scene."

Whitney spoke humbly and graciously.

"Springfield took me in. You don't just decide to become a member of this little thing we've got going on here. They have to kind of let you in.

"It allowed me to meet and play with some of the best musicians and finest human beings I've ever met in my life," he said. He mentioned longtime bandmates: Joe Terry, Bobby Lloyd Hicks and D. Clinton Thompson.

His greatest joy, he said, was working with young musicians who had saved just enough money to see if they could make a dream come true.

"I realized real quick that for most of these people it probably could be — and probably was — the most momentous musical attempt in their life. And I got a chance to do that.

"And if you stack all those sticks up — it might mean a little something," he said.

"I accept this award with a whole lot of humility. And feeling extremely fortunate."