Support Wayne Perkins' Musical Legacy

Oh, baby,

I get by with a little help from my friends

All I need is my buddies

Get by with a little help from my friends

Oh oh, I'm gonna keep on trying

Get by with a little help from my friends...

Yeah, like John, Paul, George and Ringo sang, and Joe Cocker wailed, we all need a little help from our friends from time to time, and this is for a great musical cause at a special giving time of year, Christmas, 2024. That is: Finally building a definitive web archive, timeline, discography, and book on the life and times of singer-songwriter and guitar slinger Wayne Perkins, complete with a CD of never-before-heard cuts on original songs recorded in studios from Muscle Shoals, to Memphis to California. He's one of those rare musical talents to come out of a place like the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama, who played in the big leagues of Rock 'n' Roll in its heyday and beyond.

But this story is a little like the plight of a great football star who takes a hit and suffers a bum knee, like maybe old Joe "Willy" Namath back in the early days of pro football. One who doesn't necessarily retire "in the money." That happens to musicians too sometimes. Many Americans now may relate to having a hard time leaving the house to interact with the public, to perform in crowds. I just happen to be free, available, and on the scene of a story and willing to help some close friends who I've followed for years in the music business, back to the 1970s and the Crossroads days, when Alabama Power Band smoked up the stage. Some will remember me as Cowboy, my childhood nickname carried over into rock and roll, hat and all.

All proceeds go to pay expenses related to building this record to benefit the named artist in any way possible toward obtaining the recognition he deserves for his family's contribution to American music, beginning with the Hall of Fame in his home state, Sweet Home Alabama. The state song Perkins played on stage with Lynyrd Skynyrd after it became a Top 10 hit at Rickwood Field on the Fourth of July, 1975. Not many people realize that. Well, he's a bit down on his luck these days, and he's not alone. Many of us find ourselves facing difficulties as we age in these trying, changing times like Bob Dylan sang about so long ago. The changes just keep on getting scarier.

An initial estimate of expenses needed for building this infrastructure to be ready when the documentary film "Nobody Knows Me" comes out next year on Alabama Public Television comes to $10,000. There will also need to be funds raised to keep the archive up once it's in place. We are working on a detailed budget plan and will keep donors aware of expenses in regular UPDATE reports.

An initial $500 is needed to pay for a new domain name and dedicated server on an annual basis for a Wayne Perkins website that can remain up for years to come. A draft website is already up using a FREE Weebly Add-On set up with Host Monster, on a server that is already paid for this year. To make the site fully functional on all platforms, inclduding mobile platforms like all brands of phones, and give it its own dedicated server to preserve the archive, Weebly wants its cut of the money. The ease of use and maintenance time saved with their in house security system makes it worth it.

Wayne-Perkins.com

Website

Also, in running down what's needed from the Library of Congress, they want $200 an hour with a minimum of 2 hours so at least $400 to track down and provide a complete title list of all the songs already copyrighted under Wayne Perkins' name. Only a few of his songs are listed in the public search archive, those published on albums like Mendo Hotel. These are boxes of demo tapes copyrighted with songs in groups that reside in storage in Washington, D..C.., I was told in an email response after they performed an initial search at my request. They have to be physically inspected to provide the record needed to provide a comprehensive title list. The plan is to archive much of Wayne's song library, sound files with lyrics, for other artists to potentially pick up and cover something, which could generate some revenue for him and his estate in the form of royalties. But we need to make sure everything is copyrighted.

We will handle that service in lieu of a legal fee along with building the website and maintaining it, creating videos from original songs and housing them in one place on YouTube, including transcribing the lyrics, creating and maintaining a new official Wayne Perkins Fan Group on Facebook, along with other promotional activities as his temporary acting agent and archive producer.

In addition to YouTube, we are also exploring publishing some of Wayne's songs on platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, etc. All those will involve fees. A detailed estimate is in the works and this fundraiser will be updated to reflect that.

This project might also serve as the beginning of generating a small retirement account for other aging musicians, artists, writers, etc. - a dream I've had for a very long time. A MoJo Road Media Fund you might say. It would also be nice to find a place for a writers retreat. All funds will be managed through the Locust Fork Publishing LLC business bank account for now. You might notice a shift in focus as we begin outlining a new dream on a redesigned YouTube page for a new direction home, as Bob Dylan sang.

MoJo Road Media Creations

Please help us out on this project if it appeals to your heart, as I know it does to friends who know Wayne Perkins, and to those his music has touched.

Glynn Cowboy Wilson

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and all the rest.

Happy New Year to all

(I'm going to try to get a family photo of the Perkins family at Christmas)