Why Jerry Lawson & Talk of The Town & The Persuasions are not Doo Wop

Obviously there are more important issues that need attention in this world than the one I am about to share here. Having noted that, I strongly believe that Jerry’s history is worthy of being correctly documented based on the facts. As is anyone's of course.

It was brought to our attention this week that Jerry Lawson & Talk of The Town along with The Persuasions were recently nominated in the ACA community for best Doo Wop group. We thank all who were responsible for the nomination. It always feels good to be appreciated! This is not the first time. In fact the Persuasions were nominated and won 2 awards in the Doo Wop category several years ago and Jerry has these framed and hanging in our home on his "Wall of Fame".

However Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town as well as The Persuasions are not Doo Wop groups. And it is our mission to correct the wrong that was established in the press by an uneducated journalist back in 1971 and has been perpetuated ever since.
You may wonder why we care. Well it's just that nobody wants their history, their intention, their purpose, their life long dedication to be misunderstood or mistakenly documented. Would you wonder why Sinatra would not want to be categorized as a rapper, or The Beatles would not want to be called Acid Rock or an author of non-fiction would not want to be placed among fiction writers? Or more to the point would Rockapella or The House Jacks allow themselves to be categorized as Doo Wop groups? Of course not. Because they are Contemporary! The Persuasions and JL/TOTT are also Contemporary. They sing everything including The Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead etc. But their roots are Soul, Gospel & R&B.For those of you who don't know this the Doo Wop era was specific to the 1950s and 1960s. The Persuasions didn’t begin recording until the 70s. Doo Wop was considered “Oldies” by the time Jerry came along. Jerry never even heard of Doo Wop music before moving North. Of course once he did hear this style of vocal group singing he had great respect for the Doo Wop artists but his own musical inspiration came from a time and place long before he was introduced to Doo Wop.

Jerry grew up in the South and spent the summers of his childhood in Philadelphia. In his hometown of Apopka, Florida his Uncle Book owned a juke joint called The Two Spot. Jerry's mom cooked the fried fish and Jerry cleaned up the empty beer bottles and swept the floors. While cleaning up the juke joint the juke box was playing Brook Benton, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Roy Hamilton and many other great crooners, Gospel groups and R&B legends.
I believe that the majority of Doo Wop groups were from the Northeastern Seaboard. Jerry didn’t even know one Doo Wop song. In addition to the artists mentioned above he was listening to David Ruffin, The Four Tops, The Spinners, Nancy Wilson, Candy Staton, Little Richard, John Denver, The Oakridge Boys, Bob Dylan, CSNY and too many more to mention here.

I ask you to consider this. Jerry says, it comes down to the ignorance of mostly Caucasian people who seem to think that if you’re African American and singing A Cappella then you are a Doo Wop group. That is not a racist statement it is simply his observation. The journalists (the Caucasian journalists) got it wrong in 1971 when Jerry & the Persuasions were still in their 20s. So they certainly were not an “Oldies” group. The Doo Woppers were already in their 40’s and appropriately known as “Oldies” by the early 70's. Doo Wop was specifically of another era while The Persuasions were performing the music of their day. Be it Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, The Temptations, Paul Simon, The Beatles, CSNY, and too many more to mention.

Jerry Lawson is a Soul Singer, an R & B singer, a Pop singer who is no less Contemporary than Rockapella or the House Jacks. The only difference is that Jerry doesn’t use beat boxing. Which does not exclude any group from being Contemporary.
His act is phenomenally diverse and among the thousands of songs in his repertoire there may be 3 Doo Wop standards. He has always performed and recorded the music of the day in addition to the music that inspired him from childhood on. Because he sings Country music does that make him a Country Singer?

If The House Jacks or Rockapella were singing The Dixie Chicks, Duffy, Shania Twain, , Billy Joel, Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, Sam Cooke, Brook Benton, Randy Newman, Shirley Temple etc would they be considered Doo Wop? No of course not, yet these are songs from Jerry's shows and last CD. So you see there is no logical reason, no musical justification, facts or evidence to support categorizing them as Doo Wop. It's just wrong.

And if you are still not convinced we encourage you to write to us at mail@jerrylawson.biz so that we may hear your explanation and perhaps help to further clarify.

As frustrating as it is to try to get the media to correct it, it is abundantly more frustrating when our comrades in the A Cappella community get it wrong! It’s embarrassing. Therefore we are practically begging all of you in the A Cappella community to take responsibility and unite with us on this mission to educate from within.

It's bad enough how many A Cappella groups don't know who opened the doors for them. Even our new friends from The Sing Off ( Street Corner Symphony) took their name from Jerry's album title but had never heard of The Persuasions. Also the much lauded winners of The Sing Off, Nota and Committed never heard of The Persuasions. Then there are those who have heard of them but never heard them. We can't begin to understand how one strives to be excellent at any art form but does not have any interest in researching the history of those who came before them. But don't get me started. That's a whole other subject.

And if you don't know just ask Deke or Sean Altman who alone was out there Preserving the DYING Art of A Cappella before Sweet Honey in The Rock, The Bobs, Rockapella, The House Jacks & C.A.S.A. came along. Who was the only A Cappella group signed to major labels and touring the world with major artists, appearing on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show and too many more to mention when A Cappella was written off as nothing more than a "Novelty" act.So it is our intention to see to it that a new category is established even if Jerry's work is never nominated again. The category is not about award nominations it is about setting the record straight. It's about manifesting awareness. So how about Soul? We are forever grateful to Don Gooding and Mike Mendyke who have already come on board. They both added A Cappella Soul to their sites. We believe it's time for the big daddy of the A Cappella world C.A.S.A. and the ACA community to come on board and help inform the community and properly label Jerry's lifetime of musical contributions. The Persuasions and Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town are
A Cappella Soul.

We respectfully ask the ACA community to help us establish this appropriate category and who knows, maybe one day, perhaps long after we're gone, another African American Soul group will emerge and take their rightful place within the
A Cappella community. Maybe they'll even know who The Persuasions are.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Julie & Jerry