Music and society
Nashville record producer teaching music's impact on segregation

BY LINDA EVANS
Editor, RichmondNow

Benny Goodman, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry might not come to mind when thinking of civil rights leaders, but their lives and music had great impact on changing society’s ideas about race.

“Music did more to integrate society than the courts,” says Steve Buckingham, R’71, who is teaching a music department course on the influence of jazz, rhythm and blues, and soul music on segregation.

Buckingham, a four-time Grammy Award-winning record producer from Nashville, knows firsthand what he’s teaching. He grew up in a segregated Richmond and played guitar in integrated bands whose members couldn’t eat together or stay overnight in the same motels.

He either knows, has worked with or has a close connection to the many artists and producers he’s featuring in the class—from John Hammond (who spans the Swing era to Bruce Springsteen) to James Brown, Smokey Robinson and The Drifters, for whom Buckingham played backup during their appearance at the University in the 1960s.

“What’s most unusual and appealing about the course is that it’s being taught by someone with impeccable credentials,” says Gene Anderson, music department chair. “Steve has spent his entire career in the record industry, beginning as a session player on guitar and rising to be a renowned and successful producer.”

Students not only will hear Buckingham’s first-person accounts of the music and musicians of the civil rights era, but they also will see video from his personal collection in each class—from concert footage to news clips of race riots, demonstrations, and political interviews and speeches.

“Through the years, artists, other producers and people in the music business have given me footage and recordings, [or] . . . tipped me off as to existing footage of these artists,” he says.

He also hopes to bring special guests to some classes.

Classes proceed in chronological order from Hammond in the 1930s, to Elvis in the 1950s, the impact of Chicago (the blues, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf), soul music and Stax records, James Brown, Motown, Atlantic Records, Los Angeles in 1964 and “beach” music of the 1960s.

The artists influenced civil rights in a couple of ways, Buckingham says. Words to songs like “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke and “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield were strong commentaries on race relations in America. Additionally, the music of black artists like Motown giants Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson started attracting white teenage fans.

“I think this is essential information for anyone interested in music, its history or the sociological background of our nation,” says Buckingham.

Students are required to read from a selection of related books and write a paper. There was a waiting list to get into the class. “I raised the enrollment cap three times and students were still clamoring to get in,” says Anderson.

Amanda Cannada, ’10, was one of the first to enroll. She said she was looking forward most to hearing about Buckingham’s life experiences. “Usually in regular classes, it’s more about book learning and then applying what you’ve learned. In this class, I’m really looking forward to learning from his mistakes and achievements. Just learning from him will be an invaluable experience.” A rhetoric and communications studies major, she hopes to find a career in the music industry.

Buckingham isn’t giving up his “day” job to become a professor. He continues as senior vice president of Vanguard and Sugar Hill Records and commutes by plane to Richmond every Sunday to teach the class, returning to Nashville on Mondays.

Formerly a vice president at Columbia Records, Buckingham has 27 No. 1 singles to his credit. He has been awarded 11 platinum and 19 gold albums. The first record he produced, Alicia Bridges’ “I Love the Nightlife,” became a worldwide hit in 1978.

Among the varied artists he has produced are Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Tammy Wynette, The Chieftains, Sinéad O’Connor, Shania Twain, Ricky Van Shelton, Loretta Lynn, jazz artists Kirk Whalum and Martin Taylor, and many others. Guest artists on his projects have included Don Henley, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, Rosanne Cash, Greg Allman, Willie Nelson and Vince Gill.

Buckingham says he has been approached by other colleges to teach or lecture, but has always declined. “The course is exclusive to the University of Richmond at this time,” he says. He intends to continue teaching beyond this semester and has other ideas for bringing his contacts and knowledge of the music industry and recording artists to Richmond.

“I would eventually like to do a [television] show at the University similar to ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’, but with artists, producers and others from these genres of music.”