AL SCHELL/Courier-Post
Jerry Klause, head of Treasure Records,
relaxes at Scullville Studios in Scullville,
Atlantic County.
Courier Post
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Musicians are flocking to an Atlantic County
studio to produce CDs on a new label
By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier-Post Staff
In the control room of the small studio, Christopher Dallman
listens to a track from his forthcoming debut album, Race The Light.
He shares mixing ideas with engineer-producer Mike Newman and
with Jerry Klause, the head of his label, Treasure Records.
A typical scene on a typical day in the wonderful world of pop music?
Hardly. Studio and label lie behind a ramshackle white building on
Mays Landing Road in Scullville, a back country highway a dozen
miles from the sandy beaches of Ocean City.
The only sign on the premises speaks to a former life as a car repair
shop known as ******** Garage. No wood-paneled offices decorate
the interior. No picture windows overlook downtown vistas. No banks
of studios parade along carpeted hallways. No trendy furniture; sofas,
chairs and a desk look like something bought at a rummage sale.
Dallman, a young singer-songwriter from New York by way of Milwaukee,
couldn't be happier with the atmosphere here. "They've been patient and
allowed me to do my own thing," he said. "This is a rarity in the music
business. And it's so great to get out of New York."
Race The Light will be the fourth CD from Treasure Records when it's
released this spring. Klause and company debuted with Disguise by
local singer-songwriter Patty Blee, followed with Bruce Springsteen
cohort Soozie Tyrell's White Lines and then recorded Diamond Jubilation
by legendary gospel superstars The Dixie Hummingbirds.
Along the way, the label and its studio gathered an A-list of supporting talent,
including Shelly Yakus, who has engineered or mixed recordings from rock
royalty during his 40-year career.
Yakus and others who've drifted in here refer to Scullville Studios as the
Muscle Shoals of New Jersey, a reference to the rural Alabama outpost that
spawned many a soul hit in the latter half of the 1960s.
Klause, of Linwood, fulfilled a lifelong dream with the creation of Treasure Records.
No stranger to the music industry, he spent 20 years operating OATS, one of the
major manufacturers of T-shirts for rock concerts.
"T-shirts were good to me. But it became like work, so I got out of it,"
said the 53-year-old sometime percussionist with more than a passing
resemblance to Dusty and Billy of ZZ Top.
A mid-life crisis and the sorry state of the music business drove him to
partner with Herb Birch, also known as Bubba Mac, a Somers Point restaurateur
and blues club owner, who saw a record label and studio as a neat sideline to the club.
The pair named the label after Herb's wife, Kerry Treasure, and recruited engineer
Randy Friel to design the studio.
Birch dropped out of the picture soon after to concentrate on his restaurant and Klause
purchased his share. Friel, from North Carolina, became the new partner in both studio
and label.
Pieces of the puzzle that became Treasure Records and Scullville Studios fell into
place during the making of Blee's Disguise. It began when veteran drummer-producer
Richard Crooks caught Blee's act and signed on to produce her CD. Crooks brought
along Larry Campbell and Tony Garnier as the rhythm section. Both sidemen are part
of Bob Dylan's band. Campbell, currently on tour with Dylan, never heard of Scullville.
He never heard of Blee, either.
But he and Crooks go back, including collaborating on projects with the likes of Edie Brickell.
Crooks also recruited Tyrell to sing backup. "When Soozie sings with Patty, they sound
like the Everly Sisters," Klause said.
Tyrell found the experience very comfortable. "I mentioned to Jerry if he's looking for
another artist, here I am," she said.
Several months later, Klause phoned. The collaboration led to Tyrell's first record in
a long career. She tapped Patti Scialfa, a longtime friend who performed with her
on Greenwich Village streets a quarter century ago. Scialfa brought along her husband,
a guy named Bruce Springsteen, for one recording session.
The rhythm section gathered again. "Soozie, Tony and I go back years," Campbell said.
Said Tyrell, "Larry played in one of my first bands, Soozie and High In The Saddle, a
country band. Then when I found out Shelly was mixing, it was like one surprise after another."
Yakus, who met Klause through a now defunct band, K-Floor, also mixed Blee's album.
His resume is stunning: John Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Through The Night,"
Don Henley's "End Of the Innocence," Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth,"
Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen," Tom Petty's "Here Comes My Girl" and U2's
"When Love Comes To Town," to drop a few names.
When the closure of Tongue and Groove studios in Philadelphia put him out of a job,
Yakus agreed to make Scullville his first choice for studio time if Klause would buy the
equipment to upgrade the technology. Oh, and he would put gold and platinum records
on the wall to spruce up the premises.
"I said to Jerry, `If I bring in clients without deals and run out of money, you'll help them
a day or two to finish the album,' " Yakus said.
Tyrell, who worked on Springsteen's The Rising album and toured with him in support,
senses the poetry in the incongruity of the place. "It's a lovely way to work. It puts you
more in touch with the music. There were very few distractions," she said.
By the time Tyrell completed White Lines, Klause and Campbell had become close friends.
"I wanted to have Larry produce a record for me," Klause said.
The record turned out to be Diamond Jubilation. Campbell got The Band's Garth Hudson
and Levon Helm to play, along with Dr. John. And Dylan contributed a song, "City Of Gold."
Klause's father, Harry, hooked up Jerry with the Hummingbirds through longtime lead singer
Ira Tucker when the two shared a hospital room in Philadelphia. Tucker, 79, has been a
part of the Philadelphia-based Hummingbirds for 65 years.
"They got a nice sound in the studio, quite a rhythm section," Tucker said.
Amen, Campbell added. "That was one of the most fulfilling projects I've ever been involved
in and the Scullville scene had a lot to do with that. It's a simple place but very conducive to music."
Klause has no illusions about the odds of making it big as an independent record label in an
era of declining music sales. "If I do it to drive a Porsche as a motivation, I'm kidding myself,
even if we get lucky. This is a labor of love. We don't need to sell a million records."
Good data are nonexistent on the number of independent labels, but starting a record company
is easy enough with today's technology, said Clay Pasternack, chairman for the Association of
Independent Music. "You can start one with $500 in your pocket. That's why so many people do it."
Success is another matter. Getting airplay in these days of rigid programming and limited
ownership by radio stations is far from easy. "A lot of commercial stations are unwilling to
take chances on things they don't already know," said Jeff Raspe, music director for public
radio station WBJB-FM in Lincroft, Monmouth County.
Public radio has been kinder to independent efforts. Raspe has played tracks from
Diamond Jubilation. Klause cut a deal with Rounder Records to release the CD, which
helped get the word out. "Rounder has the wherewithal to follow up on things. It's one thing
to send a record to 400 stations, but quite another to make sure it gets to the right person
and is listened to."
WXPN-FM in Philadelphia put the Hummingbirds in regular rotation locally and secured
airtime for national broadcasts, including an appearance on David Dye's World Cafe.
White Lines got some play on the Specialty Show and Tyrell appeared on the Women's
Music Hour, said Bruce Warren, assistant general manager for programming.
"The sad truth is that commercial radio almost completely ignores indie labels. Public
radio is more open because they're able to take more risks. It takes a lot of resources
to break through the noise," Warren said.
No matter. Both Tyrell and the Dixie Hummingbirds are committed to additional albums
for Treasure. When he returns from touring with Dylan, Campbell may record a lullaby
project with banjo player Tony Trischka. "And Jerry has things he keeps throwing at me
to check out."
Yakus is working with Mike Newman to mix a new album by Mavis Staples.
"We're heading back toward real music and Treasure Records is in the middle of that.
I would not be involved if it were any other way," he said.
Reach William H. Sokolic at (609)823-9159 or wsokolic@courierpostonline.com