From the Desk of CLASSICKONG
Good morning, music lovers, and welcome to another trip through the records, musicians, memories, and moments that made music history.
Before we turn the first record over this morning, CLASSICKONG and everyone here at WTSG-DB sends our thanks to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces—past and present. Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and for standing watch so the rest of us can enjoy mornings like this one. 🇺🇸❤️
We’re also celebrating Labor Day weekend, and as you’ll discover before today’s record stops spinning, that turns out to fit our September 6 stories better than we ever expected.
Today we’ve got George Harrison calling in a friend named Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix taking a stage for what nobody knew would be the final time, the earliest recorded chapter of Judas Priest, Glen Campbell riding “Rhinestone Cowboy” to No. 1, and one of the great piano players in rock history.
We’ve also got Outlaw country, Southern rock and one of the greatest funk, R&B and pop bands ever assembled.
Fill the coffee cup, turn up the speakers, and let’s get into it.
George Harrison Calls in Eric Clapton
On September 6, 1968, the Beatles were working at EMI Studios in London on a George Harrison composition called “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
And George had an idea.
He brought his friend Eric Clapton to the session.
That was a bigger deal than it might sound today. The Beatles generally existed inside their own musical world, and Clapton wasn’t initially comfortable with the idea of appearing on a Beatles record.
George persuaded him.
Good thing he did.
Clapton played the song’s famous lead guitar part, creating one of the most recognizable guest appearances in the Beatles catalog.
There’s another wonderful part of the story. The sessions for what became The Beatles—better known as the White Album—had become increasingly tense. Harrison later recalled that bringing Clapton into the room changed everyone’s behavior. With a guest present, everybody suddenly seemed to be on their best behavior.
Sometimes you don’t need a therapist.
You just need Eric Clapton sitting in the studio. 😂🎸
The result speaks for itself. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” became one of Harrison’s defining Beatles compositions, with Clapton adding a guitar voice that somehow sounds completely at home while remaining unmistakably his own.
Jimi Hendrix — The Final Stage
Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970)
On September 6, 1970, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Open Air Love & Peace Festival on the German island of Fehmarn.
Nobody standing there could have known what history was unfolding.
It became Hendrix’s final official concert performance.
Just twelve days later, on September 18, Jimi Hendrix was gone at only 27 years old.
Conditions surrounding the festival were difficult. Weather had caused delays, and the atmosphere surrounding the event was anything but peaceful at times.
But Jimi played.
And when we look back at that stage today, we’re looking at the final concert given by a musician who fundamentally changed what people believed an electric guitar could do.
At WTSG-DB, we’ve talked before about another part of Hendrix’s life that CLASSICKONG believes deserves remembering:
Jimi Hendrix was also a United States Army veteran. 🇺🇸
Before the psychedelic clothes, before Monterey, before Woodstock, and before the Stratocaster seemed almost like an extension of his body, there was James Marshall Hendrix, a young man who served with the 101st Airborne Division.
On September 6, 1970, nobody knew they were hearing his final concert.
More than half a century later, we’re still listening.
❤️🎸
Judas Priest — Before the Metal Gods Ruled the World
Now we’re gonna turn this thing UP. 🤘
September 6, 1974 is associated with the release of Judas Priest’s debut album, Rocka Rolla, including its U.S. release.
And if your idea of Judas Priest begins with British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith or Painkiller, going back to Rocka Rolla can be a fascinating experience.
This is Judas Priest before Judas Priest had completely discovered Judas Priest.
Produced by Rodger Bain, whose résumé already included early Black Sabbath and Budgie, Rocka Rolla contains blues, hard rock and progressive elements alongside glimpses of the heavier band that would eventually emerge.
The original album included songs such as “One for the Road,” “Rocka Rolla,” “Cheater,” “Never Satisfied,” “Run of the Mill,” “Dying to Meet You” and “Caviar and Meths.”
“Run of the Mill” is especially interesting when heard with the benefit of hindsight. You can hear a young band stretching out musically rather than following the tighter heavy-metal formula Priest would eventually help define.
Guitarist Glenn Tipton had only recently joined the group. Alongside K.K. Downing, the pieces of what would become one of heavy metal’s defining twin-guitar partnerships were falling into place.
CLASSICKONG’s Judas Priest Road Map
If you’re new to Priest and want to hear the transformation for yourself, here’s a road worth traveling:
Rocka Rolla — 1974
Sad Wings of Destiny — 1976
Stained Class — 1978
Killing Machine / Hell Bent for Leather — 1978/1979
British Steel — 1980
Point of Entry — 1981
Screaming for Vengeance — 1982
Defenders of the Faith — 1984
Turbo — 1986
Painkiller — 1990
And if you’re building a Priest playlist, try “Victim of Changes,” “The Ripper,” “Beyond the Realms of Death,” “Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” “Heading Out to the Highway,” “Electric Eye,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” “The Sentinel,” “Turbo Lover” and “Painkiller.”
Listen chronologically and you can actually hear the band evolving.
Rocka Rolla isn’t Screaming for Vengeance.
It isn’t supposed to be.
It’s the sound of the road toward that band.
Every giant has a first step.
For Judas Priest on record, this was it.
🤘🔥
Glen Campbell — Much More Than the Rhinestone Cowboy
Glen Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017)
On September 6, 1975, Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” began a two-week stay at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
And what a record.
Written by Larry Weiss, “Rhinestone Cowboy” became one of Campbell’s signature recordings and one of those songs that crossed musical boundaries almost effortlessly.
Country listeners knew it.
Pop listeners knew it.
Your parents knew it.
Your grandparents knew it.
And chances are pretty good that if you were anywhere near a radio in 1975, you knew it. 😂
But if all you know about Glen Campbell is “Rhinestone Cowboy,” you’ve only scratched the surface.
Because Glen Campbell was a monster musician.
Before millions knew his face, Glen was one of the great Los Angeles session players associated with the legendary group of musicians known as the Wrecking Crew.
And Glen could flat-out PLAY GUITAR.
We’re talking about a genuine guitar gunslinger whose session work connected him with an extraordinary range of artists and records. He worked sessions involving everyone from Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley to the Beach Boys, the Righteous Brothers, Merle Haggard, Lou Rawls and many more.
Then came Glen Campbell the star.
“Gentle on My Mind.”
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix.”
“Wichita Lineman.”
“Galveston.”
“Rhinestone Cowboy.”
“Southern Nights.”
And that’s still only part of the story.
One Last Record
Near the end of his life came Adiós, Glen Campbell’s final studio album.
Glen knew the road was getting short.
The album was recorded after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, with longtime friend and producer Carl Jackson helping Glen record songs he loved and had wanted to preserve.
That knowledge makes listening to Adiós a profoundly different experience.
This isn’t an artist thinking about the next tour, the next album cycle or another decade of records.
It’s a man leaving behind a final musical statement.
Among the album’s performances is “A Thing Called Love,” written by Jerry Reed, with its beautiful acknowledgement of love as one of God’s greatest gifts.
Throughout Glen’s later recordings, his faith was never far away. He also recorded songs including “Waiting on the Comin’ of My Lord” and “Amazing Grace.”
There was “Rhinestone Cowboy,” yes.
But Glen Campbell’s legacy is so much bigger than one enormous hit.
Singer. Entertainer. Session ace. Guitar gunslinger. Man of faith.
And one extraordinary body of work.
LEGEND. ❤️🎸
Nicky Hopkins — The Piano You Already Know
Nicky Hopkins (February 24, 1944 – September 6, 1994)
On September 6, 1994, music lost Nicky Hopkins at only 50 years old.
His name may not immediately register with every casual music listener.
His piano probably does.
Hopkins became one of rock music’s great session musicians, appearing alongside a who’s who of artists including the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, Jeff Beck, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, John Lennon, George Harrison and many others.
But rather than simply telling you that Nicky Hopkins played with famous people, let’s put some music behind the name.
You’ve Heard Nicky Hopkins
The Rolling Stones — “She’s a Rainbow”
Listen to that gorgeous piano. That’s Nicky Hopkins.
The Rolling Stones — “Sympathy for the Devil”
Hopkins is part of the musical machinery behind one of the Stones’ most famous recordings.
John Lennon — “Jealous Guy”
That beautiful main piano part? Nicky Hopkins.
He also played on Lennon’s “Crippled Inside” and “Oh My Love.”
And then there’s The Who’s landmark 1971 album, Who’s Next.
Hopkins plays piano on “Getting in Tune” and “The Song Is Over.”
Listen to the beginning of “Getting in Tune” with Nicky specifically in mind. The piano helps establish the song before Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon gradually turn it into something much bigger.
Once you know who’s sitting at that piano, you start hearing the record differently.
That’s the beauty of discovering a musician like Nicky Hopkins.
Suddenly you find yourself pulling records off the shelf and saying:
“WAIT…THAT’S HIM TOO?” 😂🎹
Session musicians sometimes occupy a strange place in music history.
Their playing becomes famous while their names don’t.
That’s why we talk about them here.
Nicky Hopkins didn’t need to stand at the front of the stage.
Just listen for the piano.
You’ll find him.
🎹❤️
David Allan Coe — Outlaw to the Bone
David Allan Coe (September 6, 1939 – April 29, 2026)
Born on this day in Akron, Ohio, David Allan Coe became one of country music’s most unmistakable—and complicated—Outlaw figures.
Coe’s road to Nashville was anything but conventional.
Much of his youth and early adulthood was spent in reform institutions and prisons. After his release, he eventually made his way to Nashville and began building a musical career that drew upon country, blues and an image that fit naturally alongside the emerging Outlaw movement.
And CLASSICKONG has always had a soft spot for the Outlaws. ❤️🤠
Coe wasn’t interested in sounding polished around the edges.
That was rather the point.
For newcomers, here’s a good place to start exploring his music:
“You Never Even Called Me by My Name”
“Longhaired Redneck”
“Willie, Waylon and Me”
“The Ride”
“Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile”
“She Used to Love Me a Lot”
“Jack Daniel’s, If You Please”
But don’t stop with David Allan Coe the performer.
Remember David Allan Coe the songwriter.
He wrote “Take This Job and Shove It,” which became a signature No. 1 country hit for Johnny Paycheck.
He also wrote “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone),” which became a No. 1 country hit for Tanya Tucker.
That’s part of the Outlaw country story, too.
Waylon Jennings. Willie Nelson. Johnny Paycheck. David Allan Coe.
Different personalities and different stories, but all associated with a period when a group of artists decided country music didn’t always need to ask Nashville for permission.
Turn up the steel guitar.
🤠🎸
Banner Thomas — Holding Down Molly Hatchet
Banner Thomas (September 6, 1954 – April 10, 2017)
Born on this day in Savannah, Georgia, Banner Thomas was the original bassist for Molly Hatchet during one of the great periods of Southern rock.
And around here, you don’t have to explain why Molly Hatchet matters. 🤘
Thomas played on the band’s self-titled 1978 debut, Molly Hatchet, and the monster that followed in 1979, Flirtin’ with Disaster.
That means his bass is sitting underneath some absolutely classic Southern-rock firepower.
The early Molly Hatchet lineup combined hard rock, blues and Southern swagger with that unmistakable multi-guitar attack. And beneath all those guitars, somebody had to hold the foundation together.
Banner Thomas helped do exactly that.
CLASSICKONG has some personal mileage with Flirtin’ with Disaster, too.
There are records you discover sitting quietly with headphones.
And then there are records associated with cars, open windows, loud cassette players and being young.
Molly Hatchet belongs in that second category. 😂❤️🤘
Happy birthday, Banner.
Claydes Charles Smith — Kool & the Gang Were Musicians
Claydes Charles Smith (September 6, 1948 – June 20, 2006)
Born on this day in Jersey City, New Jersey, Claydes Charles Smith was a founding member and lead guitarist of Kool & the Gang.
And let’s establish something right now:
Kool & the Gang were never simply some manufactured disco group.
These guys were musicians.
Smith himself was introduced to jazz guitar by his father when he was young.
That’s where this story begins.
Not with disco.
Not with MTV.
Not with a record executive manufacturing a group to chase whatever happened to be popular that year.
Jazz musicians.
From those roots came funk, soul, R&B, dance music and eventually an extraordinary run of crossover pop success.
Claydes wasn’t simply along for the ride, either.
He wrote “Joanna” and “Take My Heart,” and shared writing credit on records including “Celebration,” “Hollywood Swinging” and “Jungle Boogie.”
That’s some résumé.
Follow the Kool & the Gang Journey
If you’ve only heard the big ’80s hits, go backward and listen to how this band developed.
The jazz and funk foundations:
Kool and the Gang — 1969
Wild and Peaceful — 1973
Featuring “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.”
Light of Worlds — 1974
Home to the magnificent “Summer Madness.”
Then came another chapter.
The J.T. Taylor era and crossover explosion:
Ladies’ Night — 1979
Celebrate! — 1980
Featuring the worldwide monster “Celebration.”
Something Special — 1981
Featuring “Get Down on It.”
And then the ’80s machine really started rolling.
In the Heart — 1983
Featuring “Joanna.”
Emergency — 1984
Featuring “Fresh,” “Misled” and “Cherish.”
Think about the musical distance between:
“Jungle Boogie.”
“Hollywood Swinging.”
“Summer Madness.”
“Ladies’ Night.”
“Celebration.”
“Get Down on It.”
“Joanna.”
“Fresh.”
“Cherish.”
That’s not a band stumbling onto one fashionable sound.
That’s a band that evolved.
By the time CLASSICKONG entered the United States Air Force in 1987, it’s hard to overstate just how huge Kool & the Gang had been throughout that era.
Their records were part of the soundtrack.
And one of those records became considerably more personal.
“Cherish” is my wife and I’s song. ❤️
After all these years, those opening notes don’t merely bring back an era or remind me of a great band.
They remind me of us.
That’s one of the gifts music sometimes gives us.
A song written and recorded by people you’ve never met travels thousands of miles, enters your life and becomes attached to someone you love.
Then it isn’t merely their song anymore.
It’s yours, too.
So today, happy birthday and much respect to the late Claydes Charles Smith—and to an extraordinary group of musicians called Kool & the Gang.
❤️🎸
More September 6 Birthdays
A few more musicians born on this day include Pål Waaktaar-Savoy of a-ha, country singer Mark Chesnutt, William DuVall of Alice in Chains, singer CeCe Peniston, and the late Dolores O’Riordan (September 6, 1971 – January 15, 2018) of the Cranberries.
That’s quite a musical neighborhood for one birthday.
National Read a Book Day
September 6 is also National Read a Book Day, and CLASSICKONG can certainly get behind this one. 📚
Put the phone down for a little while, find a comfortable chair, and open a good book.
And since we’re talking music today, why not grab a biography about an artist you love? Read the story behind a favorite band, learn how a classic album was made, or discover a musician whose name you’ve seen a hundred times but whose story you’ve never really known.
That’s one of the things I love about music history. There’s always another story waiting to be discovered.
One book leads to another artist. One artist leads to another record. One record sends you down another rabbit hole—and before you know it, you’ve discovered music you might otherwise have never heard.
So today, read something that teaches you something.
You never know where the next page might take you. ❤️📚🎶
Final Spin
On this Labor Day weekend, maybe there’s a common thread running through more of today’s stories than we first realized.
It’s the work.
Before Glen Campbell became the Rhinestone Cowboy, he was a working guitarist—the kind of player who could walk into a studio, sit down among some of the finest musicians in Los Angeles, and deliver exactly what the song needed.
Nicky Hopkins spent much of his career sitting at a piano behind somebody else’s name. Millions of people heard his work without necessarily knowing the name of the man playing it.
Claydes Charles Smith and Kool & the Gang didn’t simply stumble onto a sound. They spent years growing from jazz musicians into funk pioneers, R&B stars and eventually one of the biggest crossover bands in the world.
And the Judas Priest of Rocka Rolla wasn’t yet the Judas Priest that would give us British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance and Painkiller.
They had to become that band.
That’s worth remembering.
Greatness isn’t always something you’re handed. More often, it’s something you build.
You practice when nobody is watching.
You play the little rooms.
You take the session.
You write another song.
You make another record.
You learn from yesterday and come back tomorrow a little better than you were before.
And that lesson reaches far beyond music.
It’s the mechanic who fixes the car correctly when nobody would know whether he cut a corner.
The nurse who helps calm a frightened patient.
The factory worker who takes pride in what leaves their station.
The teacher who stays after class.
And the musician who gives the same heart to 30 people that he’d give to 30,000.
That’s Labor Day. 🇺🇸
My Dad, Jerry Glore, taught me something about work without ever having to sit me down and explain it.
Dad took every gig he could string together.
Big rooms.
Little rooms.
Whatever came along.
And no matter what it paid, Dad gave them everything he had.
He understood something I’ve come to appreciate even more as I’ve gotten older.
Somewhere in that room might be somebody who needed that song that night.
Maybe they’d had a hard day.
Maybe life hadn’t been especially kind to them.
For a few minutes, Dad had an opportunity to make their world a little better.
So he played.
My Dad worked incredibly hard throughout his life.
And what an amazing man he was. ❤️
That’s something I understand better today than I did when I was young:
The worth of your work isn’t always measured by what you receive for doing it. Sometimes it’s measured by what you leave behind.
Dad left behind a lot of music.
But more importantly, he left behind people whose days were a little better because Jerry Glore showed up and gave them everything he had.
And maybe that’s today’s moral of the story.
Whatever your job is…
Whatever your craft is…
Whatever gift you’ve been given…
Give it your best.
Because you never know who needs what you have to give.
Sometimes the work you do today becomes somebody else’s memory tomorrow.
Sometimes a piano part survives for generations.
Sometimes a guitar player becomes a legend.
Sometimes a nurse helps somebody feel a little less afraid.
Sometimes a musician playing a small room makes a stranger forget their troubles for three minutes.
And sometimes a song called “Cherish” becomes part of the story of a husband and wife. ❤️
That’s the beautiful thing about honest work.
We don’t always know how far its effects will travel.
So on this Labor Day weekend, here’s to the musicians who did the work—and to all the working men and women who keep this country moving every single day.
Whatever your craft may be, take pride in doing it well.
Because today’s work just might become tomorrow’s legacy.
Until next time, keep listening, keep remembering, and keep supporting the musicians who gave our lives a soundtrack.
This is CLASSICKONG for WTSG Digital Broadcasting.
Great Music. Great Radio. Great Community.
❤️🤘🦍🎙️🇺🇸
Listen to Today’s Broadcast
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References
Jimi Hendrix — Live at the Isle of Fehmarn
Judas Priest — Official Website
Glen Campbell — Official Website
John Lennon — Official Website
Kool & the Gang — Official Website
