Roger Hawkins – Photo Copyright, Tommy Wright
MUSCLE SHOALS – Without a clue, this reporter, as a young musician / songwriter, and carrying a armload of song ideas and with a few tunes in his head that he’d been struggling with, walks into the wide front door of a nondescript building on Jackson Highway in 1969. The place didn’t look all that fantastic, and consequently, mainly because of an almost complete lack of knowledge of just who he was about to meet, didn’t grasp the magnitude (not of the venue, but of the musicians who resided there) of what he was entering into. The little studio, with jute fabric up on the ceiling and some weathered carpeting seemed busier than it’s furnishings would project. “I’m Steve, and I think I’m supposed to see a guy named Barry or Jimmy?” “Well, I’m Terry Woodford, and you are actually supposed to see me. I’ll show you around.”
Terry would later take me around back, down to the basement to his office to discuss joining the writing stable, but first he wanted me to meet a few of the people inside the studio. So we walked in, and up in the “front office” was Jimmy on the phone. He gave me a wave of the hand. I didn’t have a clue. Then we walked inside the heavy soundproof door into a new world. Just a kid, I didn’t realize at the time that everybody there had already worked on some of the biggest hit records in the world, it was so laid-back. There was Barry, big Barry sitting at his keyboard. David was picking out a riff on his bass guitar, sitting on his wooden stool, back toward the control room and somebody in the drum booth working out a few licks. I received a polite, “Hey man,” kind of thing from Beckett and Hood, and since I couldn’t speak to the drummer, I got a head-nod. The drummer, was Roger Hawkins, who, as I later found out, was one of the most gracious, generous members of the Swampers. In the couple of years that I toiled there, trying to come up with something special, I learned that Roger was the real heart and soul of the studio. He was a kind, soft spoken prince of a fellow.
Roger died yesterday. And even though, since my return to The Shoals from a career in Broadcasting, I hadn’t had much contact with Roger, I felt a great sense of loss. and a realization that a true giant of the music scene wasn’t here any more. Not only was Roger Hawkins a great drummer, but he was a good man. and the world has lost somebody quite special.
Hawkins, due in large part to years of health problems, hasn’t been seen much around The Shoals. But he kept in contact with his friends and loved-ones, particularly David Hood. So his presence was always around.
Back in 2014, when rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member, Dewey “Spooner” Oldham, got his Star over at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, Hawkins made one of his rare public appearances. Rode up to the event with Hood, in David’s vintage black Porsche. His presence practically stole the show, and everybody there, it seemed, wanted to say “Hi” and get the picture taken with him. And we were lucky enough to be there with our cameras.
Here are a few of the photos of Roger and friends…
Photos Copyright, Steve and Sheri Wiggins
Top Photo Copyright, Tommy Wright
