Once again, Sheppard could relate.
I felt like a fish out of water, he says.
I knew why I was there; they wanted to show their diversity with the label.
T.G. Sheppard gave Motown’s country label its first hit with “Devil in the Bottle.“Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
And I was honored to be there.
But Sheppards spotlight moment atMotown 25was a reminder of one of the weirdest chapters in the legendary labels history.
He felt very, very positive about country music and where it was going.
For one thing, all of the artists on Melodyland the soon-to-be-contentious name of Motowns country label were white.
FOR THE FUTURE HEAD OF MOTOWN, the dream of infiltrating Nashville dated back to the early Fifties.
Why Didn’t Nashville?
As respectable as some of those records were, though, none made a dent.
But they were jumping at something they werent familiar with.
But Gordys dreams didnt end there.
(The Congregation also sang behind Sammy Davis Jr. on his hit version of The Candy Man.)
That year, Motown announced its first all-country label, Melodyland.
Man, thats a hit.
Thinking shepherd could work, they added T.G.
for The German or, possibly, The Good and T.G.
Motowns conquest of country was finally coming into sight.
Motown wasnt interested in Boones gospel recordings, but country was another matter, and Boone was game.
His first single for Melodyland, Candy Lips, was, for him, a slightly risque romp.
Ilovedit, he says of its vaguely naughty lyrics.
I didnt want to cross over the line, and, you know, become a different person.
The song wasnt a hit, but Boone was now a cowboy-hat-wearing country act.
I said, No, Dad, the younger Strunk recalls.
And he goes, Its when a song rises at a certain rate on the chart.
When the sales department told me, T.G.
Sheppard is Number One!
I was thrilled, Gordy says.
Since it was our first Number One on the country chart, I said, Great.
You got a follow-up?
I could hardly believe it, Gordy says.
We were lucky enough to have not one, but two records go to Number One on theBillboardcountry chart.
The label soon moved to a larger space in Nashville.
On the top floor of a building, Sheppard recalls.
But the Palomino party would turn out to be the last for Melodyland.
Im going to compare him to Donald Trump, says Boone, who was friendly with Wilkerson.
Sandy hair, tall and well built, very energetic.
An upbeat, cheerful, kind of a guy.
Wilkerson and his church were, to say the least, unconventional.
But people sincerely believed it.
But Motowns legal head refused to comply, insisting that Motown had registered the name in August 1975.
It wasnt merely the name that Wilkerson wanted to protect.
(The church also claimed Tryin to Beat the Morning Home was about adultery, which it wasnt.)
Curb, who was still working with Gordy, didnt see such content as a problem.
If you take those things out of country music, you wont have any country songs, he says.
He wanted to protect that name.
Motown had no choice but to comply.
He had used Hitsville; thats what they used to call Motown back in the day.
Unfortunately for Motown, what looked like a fresh start turned into an accelerated coda.
Strunks The Biggest Parakeets in Town was another casualty and not the novelty hit Motown had hoped for.
Says Joel Strunk, It was absolutely shot down by the religious right.
Finally, in 1977, Hitsville and Motowns foray into the Nashville scene came to an abrupt end.
I got a call one day that the label was folding, Sheppard recalls.
It was really starting to pay off for them.
Boone was similarly confused.
The name debacle was bad enough, but the labels financial bottom line wasnt pretty, either.
Well, Motown was used to selling millions.
The scale of success was not what they had been used to.
Sheppard was a relatively big star, but it was pretty small potatoes as far as Motown was concerned.
But every so often, Gordys ill-fated shot at country music makes a surprise encore.
He said my fathers name, Strunk says.
Im like, Thats my father on this huge anniversary show of Motown, and they still recognized him.
