*BONUS EPISODE* “Better Learn To Play” E.L. McIntosh Sr.

Shell to Shore's SHELLCAST is back with a final bonus episode to close out our pilot season! This bonus episode features a special guest, Ernest Mcintosh Sr., who tells a story about his musical beginnings, choosing family over music, and how he almost joined The Drifters!

Please enjoy this episode and visit https://elmcintoshandson.com/ for more information

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey y'all, this is McKendrick Bearden, producer of the Shell to Shore Shellcast. We thought we'd end the season with Ernest McIntosh Sr.'s fabled history as a musician. Unfortunately, it wasn't included in his full episode, but it's just too good not to share. As a guitarist myself, I found his experience to be humbling and inspiring. I'm sure y'all will too. Thanks for tuning in this season, and we look forward to season two. Stay soft to y'all.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Shell to Shore collects oyster shells from restaurants, festivals, and events across the state of Georgia and recycles them on the Georgia coast, enabling natural solutions to issues like erosion, storm surge, and flooding. You can support Shell to Shore by becoming a member at shell to shore.com forward slash S2S member. Eat more oysters, save your shells, protect our coast.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of the how you got into music in the early days and some of the music that you played and where you played it.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

I started messing around with my guitar when I was about 12 years old. And my mother was living then because she died at an early age. I would get in the room and pray on that guitar. And my sisters and brothers would get upset because I was in there trying to learn. They wanted me to stop. And she said, no, let him learn. Leave him alone, you know. So I went along like that for years. And finally, when we was up on the eastern shore of Virginia doing some farm work, I never forget. It was um my godfather, Harley Young. He played guitar, the old guy.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And I learned a lot from him. So I was down there one night in the room, and we were standing in a little hut stand, you know. So I was framing all night on that thing. He hollered, Earnest! Play that thing, play, throw it away. And you know, that really hurted my feelings. And you know, I said, I got to learn how to play it. You know, so I stayed then framing I and I would start taking little lessons and I picked up a course through the mail and learned how to start according it. Mm-hmm. You know, and then I then I learned how to tune it up. And over the years I kept getting better and better. And when I was in high school, I done learned how to play then. So me and a bass player named Frankie Wilson, me and him been playing together for many a year. Me and him played since we was back, like probably 14 years old. A man yes. And when I growed up and I got into 20, I started hitting 18, 19, and I started playing with little bands. So when I hit the 20, 20, 21, I was, you know, I felt like I was big wheel in, you know. My father my brother was doing boxing, he was a professional boxer down in um Miami. Oh wow. Because Angelo Dundee was his manager and Muhammad Ali was his spine partner. Yeah, Vernon before. Yeah, Vernon McIntosh. Yeah, he fought uh Boy Forster in the early 70s.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah. But anyway, he was down, he said, you know the drifters? I said, yeah. He said, man, they need a guitar player. He called my card and he said, Man, I want you to come down there and play with him. The man called me. He said, Um, look, I'll send you a round trip plane ticket, you know, and if you don't like it, you can go back home. I turned it down because I didn't want to be separated from my family. And I thank God that I made the right decision. Yeah. Cause you know, uh, music world, you know, sometimes it calls separations. Arthur Crudep's boys. Yeah, the professional Arthur Crudeup. Yeah, you know him. While we were living in Virginia, during that time, we were doing farm work during the summer, and I became a part of them. You know what I mean? I I fell in love with being around them, you know. Arthur Crudeup, he had uh three sons. They would play the first night uh up to about 12 o'clock, and then they were introduced to Daddy.

unknown 5:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Arthur Crudep. Then he'll come in and they would back him.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

These guys was from um from Florida, and they would go up in Virginia Coast and play up there all summer. So I had a chance to sit in with the guitar player, you know, a lot. And he said, Ernest. He would come to see me with his guitar. He said, I'll teach you how to play this guitar if you set me up with your sister. I said, no, buddy. I said, that ain't gonna work. That ain't gonna work. My mama do not play. He said, man, yeah. So anyway, he would come around with that guitar and I learned how to do some of his style. Yeah. And you know, and he kept on and kept on until it got better and better. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Was Benny King in the drifters at that time? You remember? Was he did he start off in the drifters before he went solo?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Uh the um the singer. What's his name? Um the lead singer with the drifters. I thought it was Benny Storm. I never met him. I never met him, but they called me. Okay. He, you know, he called me um That's great. About 12 o'clock one night. Yeah. And you know, he wanted try to recruit you. Yeah, my brother really wanted me to play, but and you know, I'm glad I didn't do it. I think you made the right choice. Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

This shellcast was produced, edited, and engineered by McKendrick Beardon, featuring music by Chris Astria, Virginica, and the shellcasters, copy by Mary Margaret Kozart, and visual art by Michelle Dross and Tyler Leslie. Special thanks to Jordan Cutz for early organization of audio files and editing episode templates. See y'all at the shore.