30-track double album launched ‘underground’
by Preshias Harris
Not many bands can claim a history going back fifty-five years with five original members from the 1980s still touring today. One of those rare bands is Exile who have scored chart hits in both the pop and country genres.
On Saturday, July 13, I spent the afternoon underground with Exile. The band was celebrating the release of their new album, The Garage Tapes, in The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee. It was sweltering hot and humid outside but refreshingly cool inside the Caverns as Exile took the stage to answer questions during the sound check prior to the show.
The Garage Tapes is a 30-track double album consisting of tracks that have remained largely unheard since they were recorded between 1979 and 1982. In answer to my question, Exile’s J.P. Pennington said the tracks were originally just demos (demonstration recordings) of songs that were recorded at LEMCO Studios in Lexington, KY.
“Cecil Jones, the owner of LEMCO was a big fan of ours,” said J.P. “So that’s how it sort of came about. In exchange for us working as session musicians, he’d give us studio time. We’d go in there almost every night for weeks, months.” Continue reading “Garage Tapes: Exile releases long-lost demo treasures”