Mother’s Finest performs at Eddie’s Attic and the Buckhead Theatre this weekend. (Photos courtesy of the band)
The band, which has been performing since the early 1970s, plays shows in two very different venues this weekend.
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Mother’s Finest rose to international prominence nearly a half-century ago. But the self-described “funk-rock” band has an incredible history that precedes the tumultuous ’70s.
The venerable group has survived the Vietnam Era, the Nixon years, the ensuing Watergate scandal, ’70s acid rock and punk, ’80s new wave, ’90s grunge, the cultural mashup of the 2000s and the Covid-19 epidemic — and continues to rock on as the instability of the latest Trump administration unfolds.
When reminded of the act’s rare perseverance, co-founder Glenn “Doc” Murdock succinctly attributed the group’s longevity to “self-defense.”
During a lengthy phone interview with ArtsATL, the metro Atlanta resident expounded on the band’s survival. “I really do think our story is all about self-defense,” he said. “We keep puttin’ it out there, and we keep working because we want to and because we really have to! I think that’s what’s led us from one era to another for all these years.”
Murdock said the members of Mother’s Finest had thought the end was near on a few different occasions during their impressive tenure. “But pretty soon, it’s always like, ‘Well, let’s go ahead and do some new stuff anyway.’ I think we might be a glutton for it, because we just want to keep on playing. It puts food on the table, but I think the best part is, we still have fun doing it.”
Along with co-founder Joyce “Baby Jean” Kennedy, Murdock has been a working musician since the late ’60s. They met in Chicago, Murdock’s hometown. The stage antics and powerhouse vocals of Mississippi-born Kennedy quickly became the focal point of their revue-style shows.
“We worked anywhere and everywhere we could,” Murdock explained. “USO shows, club gigs, it didn’t matter to us because we just wanted to play our music.” The duo traveled the show-band circuit, crisscrossing the Midwest and East Coast. “It was a lot of hard work, low pay and high mileage!”
By the time the musicians reached Miami in early 1970, pop culture and musical tastes were changing, while harder rock and soul bands like Sly Stone and the Family Stone (Stone died earlier this week at the age of 82) were gaining popularity. “By then, I think we were becoming what we’d been sort of dreaming about. But it sure took a long time.”
With the addition of Jerry “Wyzard” Seay and Gary “Moses Mo” Moore, the core of the band began to take shape. In 1972, the band recorded a self-titled debut LP for RCA. The result was a sonic disappointment for the band. “They’d added strings and stuff. It wasn’t anything we wanted — at all. But being gluttons, we didn’t stop, we just kept on playing and writing,” laughed Murdock.
The fruits of their considerable labor ripened a few years later when producer Tom Werman (Blue Öyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Motley Crüe) saw the band play live in a club in Atlanta. Soon, they were signed to Epic, a major subsidiary of Columbia Records. The result was their second self-titled release in 1976.
“Oh man, when that album came out,” Murdock explained, “I think everything changed. We’d cut this really cool record; it was so organic, and it was just what we wanted. People were saying they thought we were gonna be bigger than Led Zeppelin at that point. But what got in the way was Boston. Our record got buried under Boston. But you know what? Like always, we just carried on anyway.”
One of the more controversial aspects of the first MF Epic release was the sarcastic “Niggizz Can’t Sang Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Murdock said it’s still one of his favorite songs from the band’s catalog.
“I like it because it has a lot of shock value,” he said. “I really went into a space to do that one. People like George Clinton and all those guys, they have a very special way to convey the meanings of that particular word. They can get away with it without being too graphic. But we did it and we were explicit. That’s from the streets of Chicago for me, you know? It was raw, it was asphalt, it was part of the world I came from. Plus, at that time, it was mostly therapy.”
Murdock said the message of the song weighed heavily on him as the ’70s progressed. “I was very apprehensive about moving south, especially when they said, ‘Let’s go to Atlanta.’ Things were so brutal then, but, by putting that song out, I think it was good for us and for our fans.”
“I actually enjoyed when people would ask for it,” he chuckled. “I mean, white guys would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, when you gonna sing that song, man?’ I’d say, ‘Oh yeah? Well, what song is that?’ Then it would establish a dialogue.”
By the time Another Mother Further arrived in 1977, Mother’s Finest were laying down the law that they were not an R&B band. “They tried to label us as that, and even [Epic labelmates] Earth, Wind and Fire were disappointed we didn’t fit into that mold. But we were very comfortable with the whole ‘rock music’ thing. That’s where we came from, and we weren’t about to change at that point.”
To drive the point home, Murdock and company came up with one of their biggest hits. “Piece Of The Rock” became a staple of hard rock radio playlists, including at Atlanta’s 96 Rock.
“We needed to say that we wanted a piece of that rock ‘n’ roll,” he continued. “Because every now and then, we had been denied that access.” He said the band rose to the challenge.
“Back then, you were either rock or funk or R&B. You had to choose. We didn’t want to choose. We loved all those genres, and we’d played all those things. We actually still do, but that song sort of became an anthem to say we wanted to just be seen as ourselves. It became a bit of a rally cry.”
The band’s combat tactic worked, and the same album skillfully featured the more straightforward soul track, “Baby Love.”
“That was a song that people could sort of tolerate on both sides of the fence,” said Murdock. “But, again, it has elements of funk, R&B and rock, too. And I must say, 96 Rock were big supporters of us. They’d play the whole album, all the way through. Then those songs took us — not just all over the States, but to Europe and then all over the world.”
European audiences continue to be amenable to the band’s mind-set. “We’ll go over there three times this year because the audiences there still get it. They judge you by the music, and there’s no sort of racial thing. It’s just, is it good or is it bad? I think the real reason why we got popular over there in the first place is because they understood what real funk is about. It’s a total acceptance of what we’re doing.”
Acceptance continues to fuel the band. “The great thing about it all is, we still wouldn’t have changed our ways — and even now, we still won’t change the way we do things. I don’t know if it’s because we are just hardheaded or what.”
This week, Atlanta fans have two rare opportunities to see the band’s incendiary live show at two decidedly different venues. The MF one-two punch starts at the normally staid listening room at Eddie’s Attic on Friday and continues to the big stage at the Buckhead Theatre on Saturday night.
At Eddie’s, the band will be flanked by the venue’s iconic banners that warn listeners to stay quiet and pay attention. Does this mean Mother’s Finest is planning to lower their volume and deliver an intimate acoustic set?
“Hell no,” replied Murdock. “We can’t do that! It’s embarrassing, man. We’ve tried it, but the best we can do is try to play just a little bit quieter. That’s about it. We even tried it with acoustic instruments, and that didn’t work either. So the Eddie’s show is pretty much the same real rock show as the Buckhead Theatre. It might be even more intense because everyone is right up there with us in that room.”
Murdock said both shows will feature him and Joyce Kennedy on vocals, joined by Jerry “Wyzard” Seay (bass), Gary “Moses Mo” Moore and John “Red Devil” Hayes (guitars) — and his son Dion Derek Murdock on drums.
“Sometimes Dion is a pain in the ass, and sometimes he’s one of the heaviest drummers we’ve ever had,” concluded Murdock. “He’s carrying it on, just like the rest of us. He learned it all by being there — but, then, so did we! We’re still here and we’re all more than ready to rock.”
Where & When
Mother’s Finest. 9 p.m. Friday, June 13, $56.18-$68.70, Eddie’s Attic, 515-B N. McDonough St., Decatur. 404-377-4976, eddiesattic.com; and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 14, $37-$123, Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Road NW, Atlanta. 404- 843-2825, thebuckheadtheatre.com.
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Lee Valentine Smith is an Atlanta-born artist, writer and musician. Currently a regular contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his work has been syndicated internationally. He has appeared at Music Midtown, on CBS Radio and on Air America. He also served as art director, consultant and archivist for projects with ’80s hitmakers The Go-Go’s.
