DON TAPERT AND THE 2ND AVENUE BAND – 1982

Don Tapert, Vocals/Rhythm Guitar; Greg Calder, Drums; Robert Gillespie, Lead Guitar; Mike Marshal/Jim Banner, Bass Guitar

In 1980 after the breakup of the Tapert Sparling Band, Don Tapert reimagined his musical direction and headed towards the world

of rock ‘n roll, in the paths of fellow Detroiter, Bob Seger, Tom Petty and John Mellencamp. He formed the 2nd Avenue Band, named after the Cass Corridor artery that ran from Detroit’s iconic Masonic Temple thru ‘Detroit City’, to Motown’s Hitsville, USA. These two tracks, recorded at Detroit’s Eastside Cloudborn Studios, feature the bands final and most explosive lineup: Don Tapert on vocals and rhythm guitar; Greg Calder, from Tapert Sparling and Detroit Blues Bands on drums; Mike Marshall from Tapert Sparling, Mutants and Torpedoes on bass guitar; alternating with former Buzztone bassist, Jim ‘Bad Boy’ Banner; and Detroit’s most iconic rock guitarist, Robert Gillespie on lead guitar, and former Bob Dylan sideman, Bob Wilson on piano.

Tapert’s rock songwriting style meshed with Gillespie’s inventive guitar riffs, and their interplay on rhythm and lead guitars created the soul of this four-man classic rock combo, while Calder, Marshall and Banner were the heartbeat. Gillespie’s solo on ‘Memories of an Old Guitar’ rivals anything Dave Davies recorded with the Kinks and his driving rhythm riffs on ‘City of Lights’ is Keith Richards/Ron Wood tutorial. Although short lived, this group rocked Detroit’s Piper’s Alley, The Red Carpet and Alvin’s and Ann Arbor’s, Lansing’s and Grand Rapids’ Second Chance Saloons until Tapert left for New York in the Fall of 1982. They opened for Muddy Waters and jammed with Fleetwood Mac at the Joe, after opening night of their Stroh’s sponsored tour with Mic Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham joining them at the after-show party, but luckily they also recorded these two chestnuts that still rock today.

These two tracks embody Tapert’s segue to rock writing. ‘City of Lights’ recounts an inner-city teenage girl’s dreams of a better life, as she endures one of Detroit’s memorable hot and humid August nights and dreams of strolling across the Belle Isle Bridge to Grand Boulevard. ‘Memories of an Old Guitar’ is a driving rocker with its narrator speeding along Jefferson Avenue with his girl riding shotgun on a rock ‘n roll romance with ‘the engine winding out in low, Jack Flash on the radio…” and then some.

DON TAPERT - A STEP AWAY FROM HEAVEN

News & Updates

Novemeber 1, 2018

From the haunting title track of love and loss, “A Step Away From Heaven” to an ode to two generations of a family following their dreams ‘Way Out West’, to a sister’s wistful longings about her very special brother in ‘Little Man’, 

Don Tapert channels the whisky soaked country vocals of Johnny Cash, the road weary traveling bones of Waylon Jennings and the story telling prowess of Kris Kristofferson, into a uniquely Americana musical soul from a Midwestern dreamer on his long road to find his way home.

Twitter

From the haunting title track of love and loss, “A Step Away From Heaven” to an ode to two generations of a family following their dreams ‘Way Out West’, to a sister’s wistful longings about her very special brother in ‘Little Man’, 

Don Tapert channels the whisky soaked country vocals of Johnny Cash, the road weary traveling bones of Waylon Jennings and the story telling prowess of Kris Kristofferson, into a uniquely Americana musical soul from a Midwestern dreamer on his long road to find his way home.