The Exotics

The back-up band for The Spidells, The Exotics were started in the mid-60s as a driveway combo of 4 friends from Franklin and Columbia, who continued to play for over 50 years.

History[edit | edit source]

Founded by bandleader Billy Adair in 1965, who heard a rock record played on WAGG while he was working in his father's Franklin-based furniture shop. The association with The Spidells came about in 1965 when the vocal group hired The Exotics to back them up after their own band left.

Founding member Billy Adair passed away in 2014, as an associate professor for Jazz at Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University. The band still performed for years afterwards raising funds for The Billy Adair Fund for Jazz.

Founding member, Glenn Crowell remembers working with The Spidells: “The Spidells were all really nice guys. At the time I don’t think they had a manager - the lead singer Billy Lockridge handled all the bookings with us. We played several gigs with them over about a two year period. We were very popular, particularly locally. Sell-out crowds. I can remember playing “Find Out What’s Happening”, “Pushed Out Of The Picture”, “So In Love”, “Never Let Me Go”, “Looking For A Love”, “Come Go With Me” and lots more. There were some difficult situations though because of the colour issue. Being from the south at that time it was hard to mix, even though whites loved soul music. When we were on the road, if we stopped to eat there were times where they weren’t allowed in. I remember on one occasion at a dance at BGA, The Spidells appeared on stage. After one song, the headmaster stopped their performance and made them leave. He was a racist and didn’t like their dancing. We had to continue as the band for that night, but never played there again.”

Stephen Trageser writes: "They worked their way into an elite cadre of Nashville dance bands who got steady weekend and summer work throughout the region. Adair recalls that 300 patrons was a slow night, and one backyard gig swelled to 1,500 kids, overseen by a pair of off-duty highway patrolmen. When their own band left, gifted vocal quintet The Spidells hired The Exotics to back them up. Future trumpeter Steve Smartt was in the audience at War Memorial Auditorium when the two groups smoked headline act The Standells, the Boston group who had a national hit with "Dirty Water."

"This is the best damn band I've heard, ever!" Smartt recalls thinking, and hot they were — perhaps too hot for their own good.

Like the tag "cover band" today, the designation "backup band" had a negative connotation, limiting the group's hopes of scoring their own hit. Working with the Spidells didn't open any doors, either: Nashville producers worked exclusively in country or R&B, and neither type showed any interest in The Exotics."

Billy Adair Obituary[edit | edit source]

Billy Adair, music professor

from Vanderbilt's Blair School website, dated Feb. 18, 2014, 3:34 PM:

Blair School of Music stalwart Billy Adair has died.

William “Billy” Adair, a teacher, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and backbone of the jazz program at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, has died. He was 66.

Adair, senior lecturer in jazz and director of the Big Band Program at Blair, died of cancer Feb. 18 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

His long career in the music industry included work with stars including Chet Atkins, Merle Haggard, Alabama, The Ink Spots, Greg Allman, the Oak Ridge Boys, Willie Nelson and many more.

“Billy had a deep, lasting effect on countless lives throughout the community,” said Mark Wait, dean of the Blair School of Music. “He gave of himself generously and genuinely, and he had an amazing gift for bringing people together.What a privilege it was to know him. I can’t think of a better example of a life well-lived.”

Born in Franklin, Tenn., Adair earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development. Adept at electric and acoustic bass and guitar, he recorded and toured with many country music and rock ‘n’ roll stars in the 1970s. He branched out the following decade into producing, composing and arranging music for radio, television and commercials.

In 1998, Adair became the music director and arranger for The Establishment, a 22-piece non-profit jazz orchestra. In 2002, he began teaching at Blair, where he rose to department chair of Jazz and Folk Music.

“I’m a professional touring and studio musician in Nashville, and I couldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for Bill,” said Michael Rinne, a former student of Adair. “Billy taught me that you could have all the chops in the world and it didn’t mean much.

“If you weren’t a great person, you weren’t a great musician.”

Survivors include his wife of 38 years, Beegie Adair, a jazz pianist; brother Tommy Adair; and sister-in-law Kimberly Adair; all of Franklin.

A memorial service is being planned for the spring.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Billy Adair Fund for Jazz at the Blair School of Music, c/o Gift Processing, PMB 407727, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7727.

Promotional[edit | edit source]

From the band's website:

Mention The Exotics to many Franklin, Nashville and Middle Tennessee natives who were coming of age in the ’60s and early ’70s and they immediately recall good times at high school dances, outdoor driveway “combos” at a friend’s house, summer pool parties at Willow Plunge and college fraternity and sorority events.

The original Exotics were four friends from Franklin and Columbia Tennessee, three of whom attended Battle Ground Academy. When paired with the Spidells, four Nashville soul singers who performed sets backed by the Exotics, it became a not-to-miss happening. The Exotics were known throughout the Southeast and, in addition to dances, performed shows in Neyland Stadium, Vanderbilt Stadium and even the old Sugar Bowl Stadium in New Orleans.

Three of the four original Exotics have continued the tradition following the death of guitarist Billy Adair who, along with his best friend, Glenn Crowell started the band over 55 years ago. The fun and joy of the music from this era is hard to ignore so the band continues its legacy with band members Loy Hardcastle (drums and vocals), Jeff Cook (keys, sax and vocals), Glenn Crowell (bass and lead vocals), and Marty Crum (guitar and vocals), along with Steve Smartt and Jim Williamson, who joined the Exotics horn section in the late ’60s. They have remained “best of friends” for all these years and continue to play club dates, wedding receptions, school reunions, birthday parties, anniversaries, and street festivals.