The Soul Division
Montgomery, Alabama
1964-68



Our lynks:

Photos:
Soul Division

Our Reboot on Facebook:
Soul Division Reboot 2016

Our new site:
The Soul Train Returns

The band 1968:
  • Bill Weaver on lead guitar
  • Woody Lamar on organ
  • Dickie Boswell on bass
  • Tony James on drums
  • Warner Britton on vocals
  • Andy Morris on alto sax
  • Jerry Skaggs on tenor sax
  • Peter Blaise on trumpet
You will now be redirected to The Soul Train Returns...2/2/16


Click here to hear part of the 1967 Battle Of The Bands Medley

and click the song links from The Last Soul Train in 1968 below,

and then click on a thumbnail image to see the full picture.


With great sorrow and respect, we must inform you that
Andy Morris passed over on December 02, 2007 following a full family and professional life as a renown cardiologist in Birmingham. He loved, and was loved by, many in Alabama.

Thanks Andy, for being the soulful and continuous background music of my life.

Karen said "Gotta have Soul", and you did....

Dickie Boswell

An Obituary is posted in The Birmingham News.


The Cradle of the Confederacy and hometown of Hank Williams was transformed during the 1960's with government intervention and civil unrest, and then the whole country climaxed in an unpopular war far, far away. The children growing up in the capital city were caught in the middle of more than they could comprehend, but the mixing of old south and new folk from the Air Force bases in town stirred the pot to a new enlightenment. We were special brewed and blended, and could have been really mixed up.

In the beginning for one group of teenagers it was surf music and Fender guitars for kids playing the Ventures Pipeline and Beach Boys music. Then Roy Orbison played Pretty Woman and a garage band was born playing the early Rolling Stones and Animal classics like Can't Get No Satisfaction and House of the Rising Sun, and the Kingsmens Louie Louie. We fell into place and taught ourselves how to copy whatever we wanted to. We "entertained" the neighborhood till they complained too much, then we went indoors to our parents living rooms and garages. Eventually we got a gig, and then various booking agents. Steve Overby changed our name from The Missing Lynks to The Soul Division. John Broadway booked us all over the State in National Guard Armories and at High School Proms. We managed ourselves, learned a lot from most of our mistakes, and stayed out of trouble most of the time.

At the Dairy Delite on Carter Hill Road one night the juke box someone played : Shotgun by Jr Walker and The All Stars and the flip side Cleo's Mood. I was hooked. Woody had a new album called Solid Gold Soul featuring Otis Redding and my hook was set deeper. We learned some of his songs like Mr Pitiful, I've Been Loving You Too Long and Respect then Wilson Pickett with In the Midnite Hour and Eddie Floyd's Knock on Wood.  Hold On I'm Coming said Sam and Dave. So did we.

Stevie Winwood said Gimme Some Luvin while the Rascals shouted Good Lovin and the Animals played We Gotta Get Out of this Place and Don't Let me Be Misunderstood. The Stones sang Time Is On My Side and As Tears Go By. So did we.

By then it was becoming obvious that a couple of guitars and some loaner drums were not enough. Andy Morris joined up playing his clarinet and we talked him into getting a sax, while Bill and I got new guitars and amplifiers. Woody traded in his guitar and got a Farfisa Organ and amp, Tony got a real drum set, and Warner a PA system. We had a big sound for a bunch of kids.

We won our first of two consecutive City Battle of the Bands and we appeared on local TV several times. We won the State Battle of Bands and were sent to Boston for a National Battle of the Bands. We practiced all summer at the Paper warehouse and the South Y. I can still recall getting ready for a gig downtown Montgomery at the Paramount Theater and hearing for the first time Buffalo Springfield on the radio playing For What Its Worth, but we never played it or the Hendrix tunes. The Beatles were going big but we were a Stones kind of band. They said the blues and black artists were worth listening to, and we were smack dab in the middle of it listening to WAPX radio.

Later in life I found this was a John Mayall kind of band we were digging into with that British invasion of our own roots.

We played a lot at the South YMCA next to Floyd School, at the Coffee House. We played in Mobile and in Decatur. We played at Lanier for some dances and we were in the Senior Class Play. Jerry joined in on sax, and at the end Peter was there on trumpet. We were hot playing rythym and blues from Memphis. And our school mates loved it. Arlam Carr did several intermissions for us doing his Bill Cosby routines. In some small way I believe we helped integrate ourselves more comfortably than we would have without this. We even played at The Laicos Club where Bobby Moore and the Rhythym Aces were regular performers. We loved to play their Hey Mr D.J. instrumental with Andy's shoutgun sax blazing away to our cool zone. And we played those wild fraternity parties in Tuscaloosa and Auburn.

But this had to come to an end when High School was over. We were tracking off in all directions to different colleges so we had one big final blowout called The Last Soul Train, and had a dinner to go with it at Antonio's on the Southern By-Pass. People still talked about that night even ten years later. We had a great ad for the combination dinner/dance in the school paper, and Dale Callaham took the great photos at Union Station.

We took another round at it for the big 20 Year Sidney Lanier Reunion in 1988 and played both Friday and Saturday night dances. Didn't do too badly at all and had a good time, especially the rehearsals at the lake. My Mother put on a big garden party to start off the week for us, and it was a treat to see the so many of our kids!

The Last Soul Train was a remarkable send-off in concept and execution. My 12 year old brother Wiely Boswell worked the reel-to-reel tape recorder that Bill Weaver had. Most of the night is on tape, for better or worse. Wiely also brought all of his sound system up from Orlando for the reunion party in 1988 and it was a truckload! He certainly has come a long way, as we all have in life. We, the class of 1968, lauched ourselves very well, and brought along many more on the train!

My heartfelt thanks to all who listened and cheered us onward,
Dickie Boswell
Bass Player

Listen and dance to some songs from The Last Soul Train on May 29 of 1968... simply click on a hyperlink to stream a *.wav file. These are large files so if you have a slow connection they may stream in segments while the buffering catches up. Simply press "play" when the download completes, or just "Save Shortcut as..." and save it to your computer for replay through your preferred audio program such as MS Windows Media Player. Young Wiely Boswell was the recording engineer, and he was only 12 back then......funny to think of it but this may have been the first time any of us had seen and used a reel to reel tape recorder. We hope to post more later.

Always remember, Ya Gotta Have Soul !



And TWENTY years later (1988) we had The Sidney Lanier Reunion with The Soul Division playing a set both Friday and Saturday Nights. Here are some MP3 audio files to keep your blood flowing.....


SD Reunion 1988 SD Reunion 1988
SD Reunion 1988 SD Reunion 1988

The Soul Division ...1964 -1968


Battle of the Bands Cover

The SD

Boston BOB

The Lynks

SD Card

SD Card 2

SD New Years

SD in Advertiser

Bye Bye Birdie

Last Soul Train

LST Ticket

SD 1

SD 11

SD 13

SD 2

SD 3

SD 5

SD 6

SD LST

SD LST

SD LST

SD Card

Rogues card

Rockin Gibraltars card


For more information please contact :
www.thesouldivision.com
Last Updated : January 03, 2008, January 14, 2016, and February 02, 2016
© Copyright 2007 by the band.
The Soul Division™ , and The Last Soul Train™, these recordings, and associated images are Trademark protected 2007 by the band. All rights reserved.
Enjoy!