Digital Sac-a'-Lait Productions

"World-Class Song Sculptor"

Photo 12-05 by Tory Couch

I began my musical career about the time the Beatles invaded America.  I was about fourteen and it was early 1965.  It started with a Magnatone guitar my brother Bill bought from his pal Donny Garrison.   Frankly, before that guitar entered my life, I really never considered playing the guitar.  But I picked it up and got interested immediately.  I guess I learned the instrument quickly as I found myself playing in bars at age 14.  I didn't know it then but that guitar would be a major factor in my life decisions. 

I learned from a lot of South Louisiana guitarists like Bobby Pitre Sr., Tom Guidry, Buddy Dennis, Ronny Filce, Doug Olden, and Jerry Granger.  The first band was a three piece group with two guitarists (my brother Jerry and me) and Maurice Prosperie.  The first gig was at Elmo's Bar on Bayou Black (out in the country from Houma, LA).  Our payment was a plate of spaghetti.  

Major influences for me were the Beatles, the Ventures (guitar gods of the day), Chet Atkins, Howard Roberts, and Merle Travis. 

I played in a few bands between the ages of 14 and 17 and then was asked to play in a band named "Southern Creation".  This band specialized in the "Pops and Standards" of the time.  I was playing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Satin Doll", and dozens of other standards.  I couldn't have made a better choice of bands.  

I signed a recording contract in 1969 with Paula Records- and dropped out of college.  At the time, the label had a #1 Billboard hit with John Fred and the Playboys "Judy in Disguise.”  The name of this band was the Bad Habits  (formerly known as Debbie and the Lads).  The single from the '69 session "Night Owl", was an old R & B classic from the 50's.  The "B" side was a Delaney and Bonnie tune "It's Been a Long Time Comin'".  The New Orleans icon AM radio station of the day, WTIX, picked Night Owl as "Pick hit of the week".  The song made it as "Regional breakthrough" in Billboard Magazine, which meant it got airplay in various locations around the world.  

I moved to Colorado in 1971 and worked with two really cool bar bands; Moss Point and Elijah and Company.  While there, I recorded a project album with Mitch Ryder (of Detroit Wheels fame).  I also worked in almost every ski area in the state.  This was a five year vacation for me and a very valuable life experience.

I moved back to Louisiana in 1976.  I took a little time off to begin a family and eventually joined the Country Sunshine Band.   This band won the first major "Country Starsearch" competition in 1983.  The group featured three female singers, a typical country music rhythm section and four horns (atypical for the time).  We flew to Nashville and taped a TV show playing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry as well as the Roy Acuff theater.  We shared the stage with the likes of Jerry Reed, Tammy Wynette, Mel Tillis, Roy Acuff, and other country giants of the time.  Through the mid-eighties I played on dozens of local "Swamp Pop" singles and albums as a session guitarist.   I also bought my first four track reel-to-reel semi pro recorder about this time.

In the early ‘80s through the mid '90's, I worked with a rhythm and blues band named the Blue Eyed Soul Revue.   The band cut an album with Ernie K-Doe (of "Mother-In-Law" fame).  K-doe sang on one of my songs "What’s the Deal".  The band worked at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for nine straight years performing with Percy Sledge (When a Man Loves a Woman), Jean Knight (Mr. Big Stuff), Ernie K-Doe (Mother in Law), Eddie Bo, and other New Orleans greats.  I also had the privilege of playing at the Gospel Tent at Jazz Fest with Delma Trosclair and the Heaven Seekers.  

I was chief engineer at AppleTracks Recording Studio from 1989-1995.  This is where The Deuce of Hearts "Oh What a Night", Chris Wells "Rooms With Color", Jayde Chase "Smooth Talker", Delma Trosclair and the Heaven Seekers, among others cut their albums.  I produced both "Smooth Talker" and "Rooms With Color."

In the late '90's I worked with a few local bar bands.  The Reverbs, which featured great vocals and songwriters and Kingsroe, a high powered show band well known and respected in New Orleans area.  I rejoined the Blue Eyed Soul Revue which has an extensive list of credits.  We cut the late-great Ernie K-Doe's last two songs at the infamous Mother-In-Law lounge in New Orleans.

I began my production company Digital Sac-a-Lait Productions in 2002.  The first album I produced "Been Down that Muddy Road" by Swamp Pop master Joe Barry was voted one of the top twenty albums of 2003 by the New Orleans Times Picayune and Seattle, Washington e-publication No Depression.  The release is on the Night Train International label based in New York City. 

My first solo album "Loveland" has received high praise from both the press and listeners. 

Since 2002 I've produced 33 albums worth of material and counting...

Below:  A benefit gig for Ernie K-Doe with other New Orleans legends Allen Toussaint (left) and Oliver "Who Shot the Lala" Morgan (right with umbrella)

Below:  Pershing with Ernie K-Doe at the Mother-in-Law Lounge recording his last two songs.

Below:  Pershing, BB King, and Rhonda Dupont at the New Orleans JazzFest

Below:  Pershing and Percy Sledge