Indiana musicians recall Chuck Berry’s singular style

Despite Chuck Berry's reputation for being stubborn and strict toward fellow musicians, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer found a kindred soul in Indianapolis keyboard player Michael "Bone" Read.

Read, a member of contemporary party act the Doo! Band as well as 1970s rock band Roadmaster, played more than one show with Berry in Indiana, including a 1990 date at Klipsch Music Center.

Berry, who died March 18 at age 90, performed with "pick-up" backing musicians — a bass player, drummer and keyboard player hired by local concert promoters — for much of his touring career. This unorthodox approach accompanied Berry's rules such as cash payment in advance and the use of a Mercedes-Benz car he drove himself.

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At Klipsch, known then as Deer Creek Music Center, Berry met Read and bass player Toby Myers shortly before showtime.

Myers, a former band mate of Read's in Roadmaster and part of John Mellencamp's band from 1982 to 1998, had assembled a list of songs in anticipation of the gig, Read said.

When the musicians asked Berry for a specific plan for the show, he managed to be both vague and succinct: “Well, we’re going to be playing Chuck Berry songs."

An IndyStar review of the 1990 performance singled out Read's contributions: "(Berry) seemed especially taken with Read, who displayed unexpected versatility."

Read said the man responsible for "Maybellene," "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Johnny B. Goode" wanted "simple rock 'n' roll solos."

"He came over and got next to me," Read said of Berry. "He nodded and looked down at the keys, ‘Keep going.’ He gave me two or three areas to just go at it. It was a blast."

Read apparently fared better than one of Berry's top acolytes: Keith Richards. Across decades, Berry banished Richards from one stage for playing too loud, punched Richards in the face for touching a guitar and argued with Richards about who should lead the band during the filming of 1987 documentary "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll."

Bass player Myers recalled Berry's stern side.

“He was all business,” Myers said. “He had a comment of, ‘If it’s not right, you will get this look.’”

Read, who also accompanied Berry during a 1998 show at the Indiana Roof Ballroom, considers Berry to be a founding father of the art form.

“The music is the basis of everything that every band has done," Read said. "If you can’t play Chuck Berry songs, you really don’t have any business being onstage.”

Within a week of the Klipsch Music Center show, Berry made headlines when authorities seized videotapes, hashish, marijuana, three weapons and $130,000 in a raid at the musician's Missouri home.

He eventually paid more than $1 million to dozens of women who claimed they had been secretly videotaped using the bathroom at a restaurant Berry owned.

More than three decades earlier, Berry's music captivated Art Adams, a Kentucky native who moved to Indianapolis as a teenager.

Adams, who continues to play rockabilly music in the United States and Europe at age 82, recorded landmark single "Rock Crazy Baby" in 1959.

"The first rockabilly song that I ever sang was 'Maybellene,'" said Adams, recalling being underage when he performed Berry's classic in a country music bar on South Meridian Street.

For a 2005 album titled "Rockin' My Way Around," Adams paid tribute to Berry with a song titled "I Wanna Hear It Again." The song written by fellow Indianapolis rockabilly musician Ronnie Haig includes the line, "Chuck Berry was king."

“He had licks that when you heard Chuck Berry you immediately knew it was Chuck Berry,” said Adams, whose June itinerary includes appearances at the Road Rocket Rumble at the Clarion Waterfront Hotel and the Screamin' Festival in Barcelona, Spain.

Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.