Waltzing With Alan Gillett

A couple of weeks ago, on the live message board that accompanies each episode of the World’s Worst Records Radio Show, a regular listener brought my attention to the incredible Alan Gillett, and it would be remiss of me not to share what I have gleaned of him with you.

 

Hailing from Peoria, Illinois, Alan is (or possibly was) one of the three children of Cliff and Vivian Gillett. He came to fame, or infamy if you prefer, through a series of appearances on public access television, especially those he made for a talent competition (possibly Nashville Starseek) which aired in the early 90s by the Music City Television Network of Nashville, Tennessee… described by WFMU as ‘a sort of low budget American Idol for the country crowd.’ He also made an appearance, in 2000, on Chicago’s public access TV show Chic-a-Gogo.

 

Alan clearly enjoys what he does. On both shows he bounces around joyfully while he’s singing his songs, dragging the audience and the hosts with him. Interviewed on Chic-a-Gogo, Alan reveals that he sees singing as the ‘peak of self-expression’, and that ‘there’s harmony and disharmony, both, in music, and that’s what expresses humanity and human nature. We need that balance of both harmony and disharmony in order to keep life exciting. Music is an expression of that.’ I could not have put it better myself.

  

Alan Gillett issued two 45s on Frontier Records, sometime in the 1990s, Silver Threads Among The Gold backed with Blue Side of Lonesome, and the double A-side Paper Roses, coupled with Waltz Across Texas. They appear to be the only two releases on the label, so Frontier may have been his own vanity outlet. There are no address or contact details on either disc, but they were mastered by Nashville Record Productions (NPR). NPR does not operate a pressing plant, but I would guess that Gillett had his discs manufactured locally too. Apparently, he recorded an album’s worth of material which was available, direct from Alan, on CD-R. The album is reputed to include a killer version of Ave Maria.

 

Here, from his two known singles, are Silver Threads Among The Gold and Waltz Across Texas. Check out Alan’s videos, below, for his amazing performances of All Shook Up and Personality.

 

Enjoy!

 

Download Waltz HERE

Download Silver HERE