David Cousar doesn’t get a lot of press, and that may suit him just fine. In both his guitar playing and his way of living, he’s the master of understatement. Yet his name is perpetually on the lips of music fans and players around town, as those understated guitar lines sink in to one’s heart and mind to make a lasting impression.
Today we tip our hat to those many solo shows he’s done at Bar DKDC or B-Side, and the many shows he’s played with other bands for decades. In recent years, that band has often been Marcella & Her Lovers. The thoughts of fans and players alike are with Cousar now, as he faces one of the major health challenges of his life. As singer/songwriter Vicki Loveland explains in a new GoFundMe page focused on Cousar’s anticipated medical bills, “His leg suddenly collapsed under him, resulting in a broken femur and fractured hip. Tests have revealed that bone lesions are the cause of the fall.”
That was what was known late Tuesday evening. In the ensuing day and a half, Cousar’s condition has both improved and worsened. At first, all signs looked hopeful, with ex-wife Jane Bladon noting, “The procedure went great, the implant took about 26 minutes (very good). It was a partial replacement which was great in the fact that the ball replacement is much smaller and should give him more mobility.”
Meanwhile, musician Amy LaVere also noted yesterday, “I just got word that not only did David pull through his surgery like a champ, he’s back in his room and he’s hungry and ready for lunch.” However, LaVere shared news earlier today that is considerably less promising. “It has been concluded that David’s bone lesions were caused by cancer. David has been pretty quiet today. He did say the pain from the injury/surgery was bad today, as I imagine it is.”
Please dig deep and help out this innovative genius from a local neighborhood near you. The future of Memphis guitar playing may depend on it.
Memphis native and journeyman musician Frederick Swain Schaefer passed away at his Nashville home on February 16, at the age of 70. Though his playing never made him a household name, he was beloved by many in the Memphis and Nashville music communities, and was one of those players who made the local rock, country and soul scenes hum. Many of his colleagues will gather on Sunday, March 3 at Huey’s Midtown to pay their respects and play music in his honor.
courtesy Swain Schaefer Memorial Page
Swain Schaefer
Schaefer began his life in music with one foot in the big band era, having studied piano with Memphis bandleader and music store owner Berl Olswanger. But as a teen, he quickly jumped into the rock ‘n’ roll game, playing bass with the Scepters. By 1965, only a year after they’d formed, the group was in Royal Studios recording their first single. The A side, their version of Bobby Emmons’ “Little Girls Were Made to Love,” took off with regional DJs. As Ron Hall writes in Playing for a Piece of the Door, the single “did extremely well in the tri-state area and made the guys local celebrities.”
Musical Memorial Planned Sunday For Swain Schaefer (3)
But the B side, written by Scepters guitarist John Wulff, offers more surprises:
Musical Memorial Planned Sunday For Swain Schaefer (2)
Schaefer played with other groups from the same era, keeping his keyboard skills sharp with combos like the Memphis Blazers. His multi-instrumentalist talents culminated in his short tenure as the Box Tops’ bassist, starting in heavy touring year of 1969, when Alex Chilton and Gary Talley were the only original members left. Indeed, Schaefer was in London with the group when Chilton’s disenchantment with their management came to a head, partly due to a travesty of tour planning that left them stranded there with no gigs. Yet, as related in Holly George-Warren’s Chilton biography, when the singer announced he would leave the group while in London, Schaefer threatened “to beat him up and put him in the hospital.”
The Memphis Blazers, ca. 1967, with Swain Schaefer on organ
Such incidents notwithstanding, after the inevitable collapse of the Box Tops, Schaefer was a regular visitor to Ardent Studios, often with Chilton, in those pre-Big Star days. “Alex and I’d get loaded and go into Ardent,” Schaefer told George-Warren. “I’d play organ, and he’d play piano. He liked Scott Joplin and played a couple Joplin tunes like ‘The Entertainer’ pretty well.”
From there, Schaefer built a life around music, rubbing shoulders with a number of greats. Here’s a song he co-wrote with Dan Penn, featured on Irma Thomas’ album My Heart’s In Memphis – The Songs Of Dan Penn, released in 2000.
Musical Memorial Planned Sunday For Swain Schaefer
Indeed, Schaefer’s writing and arranging skills earned as much respect as his playing. As The Daily Memphian‘s H. Scott Prosterman writes:
Schaefer co-wrote the song “Happy Holidays” on Alabama’s double platinum 1985 “Christmas” album. Among the Memphis and Nashville musicians Schaefer worked with over the years were Delbert McClinton, Ronnie Millsap, Don Nix and Sid Selvidge. He collaborated with Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Griffin and John Paul David, and performed with Tony Joe White, Levon Helm, The Pointer Sisters, and with Ed Bruce on Austin City Limits. He was a member of the bands Wind Mill and Brother Love.
Jimmy Crosthwait, a bandmate and surviving member of Mudboy and the Neutrons, created marionette shows at Memphis’ Pink Palace Museum with Schaefer’s help. “Swain and I worked together recording the music and narration of several productions that I performed through many of those years,” Crosthwait said. “He did so without monetary compensation, and for very little recognition.”
A service was held Monday at the Church of Hope in Nashville, where Schaefer was the organist and musical director. In Memphis, a musical tribute hosted by Jimmy Crosthwait and Jimmy Newman will take place at Huey’s Midtown, on Sunday, March 3, 3-7 p.m.
Paul Taylor 
courtesy Swain Schaefer Memorial Page 