The 1927 Eola Hotel (Natchez, Mississippi) Available Spring 2027 or possibly earlier. When the the Eola Hotel opened in Natchez, Mississippi, Natchez was a small, but historically important river city overlooking the Mississippi River, approximately sixty miles south of Vicksburg. It was a town rich in history, but basically a brief stop on Highway 61 South further southeast. It had its beautiful antebellum architecture, and rich history, but generally speaking it wasn’t a destination for the public. The annual spring (and now fall) pilgrimages wouldn’t start for another four years. There were however, people from further south, and elsewhere who came to Natchez on business, so the construction of a new, and luxurious hotel was welcome, and perhaps long overdue. Although there were hotels to the south and north of Natchez, the Eola was a welcome addition to this beautiful Mississippi river city. When t.he Great Depression hit nationwide in 1929, Isadore Levy who’d built the hotel and named it after his daughter basically lost everything. A group off local individuals came to the rescue. Clarence Eyerich, Sr. became the new manager and eventually ended up owning the hotel. His family owned the hotel for three generations. Eventually the hotel was closed in 1974, seemingly for good. By this time in the south, and elsewhere, there were new, more modern and convenient hotels and motels available. Hotels like the King Edward in Jackson, Mississippi, the Memphis Peabody, and other once famous hotels were no longer grand, or yet historic, but just old. Things looked bleak for the once famous Eola. This book by Scott Faragher and Katherine Harrington who wrote books on the 1925 Peabody in Memphis, and the 1924 Arlington in Hot Springs, traces the hotel’s long, interesting, and often up and down history, from its 1927 opening to its present status and hopeful third resurrection.
from-1970s, changed hands more than once, was refurbished and updated by Sherman Construction Company in nearby McComb, Mississippi, and reopened in 1982. Eventually it closed for good
Come to London by Peter Sullivan with Scott Faragher (Available Autumn 2026 ) I met Peter Sullivan 35 years ago through a mutual friend, and we worked on several projects together in the late 1980s, and again in 1995. Peter Sullivan stumbled into the music business at the beginning of what become known musically as `The British Invasion.’ He answered an ad in a London newspaper paper and quickly became a successful record promoter for one of the UK’s biggest record labels. Based upon his success in that field he campaigned for a job as a record producer which he was given, forcing his way into record production at just the right time.
He was assigned as a paid intern to an already highly successful old school producer who basically didn’t want to fool with him, and Peter ended up at Abby Road’s stereo studio as it was being constructed, learning the new technology from the beginning. At this point everything was still being released in mono only. Eventually Peter was allowed in the studio to record one of the acts he’d discovered. It was a make or break project for Peter, and if he cost the record company money, he might get one more chance and then his time as a record producer would be over once and for all.
Of the few songs that Peter was permitted to record initially, he selected the song `Shakin’ All Over’ as the band’s most likely release as a single record, but still the song needed some sort of introduction and Peter started messing around with the guitar and came up with the song’s classic guitar intro, one of the most enduring in rock music. When the song was finished Peter took it to his boss who approved the recording and asked Peter what the singer looked like, since he would be the band’s frontman, and the face which would be presented to the public. Well, Peter hemmed and hawed a bit and told him that the lead singer had one eye which wasn’t in sync with his other one, giving him the appearance of a madman. They didn’t want to hurt his feelings but had to do something about that eye. With that in mind, Peter told the band they needed some sort of gimmick to put them on top. It was decided that the lead singer should put a patch over his eye, and Peter’s wife Joy named the band `Terry & the Pirates.’ In the decades which have passed since that original record was released in the UK, it has been recorded by dozens of artists, and remains even now, one of the most recognizable songs in rock history.
Based upon Peter’s success with this and other fledgling projects, he discovered singer Tom Jones and subsequently produced every record he had from It's Not Unusual' to She’s a Lady’ and everything in between including the theme for the James Bond film, `Thunderball,’ which many understandably consider to be the singer’s greatest work. He also produced many of the early hits of Englebert Humperdink, Lulu, and subsequently every hit of female vocalist Kathy Kirby, the highest paid performer in England, out earning even the Beatles. Tired of working as a salaried staff Producer for EMI, Peter, and Beatles’ producer George Martin, along with two associates, formed A.I.R. the first independent record production company in the UK.
Eventually Peter Sullivan and George Martin both moved to Los Angeles, before ultimately moving to Nashville, a city he’d come to love while visiting in search of new songs for Tom Jones to record, one of which was the hit `Green, Green Grass of Home.’ These recollections of Peter Sullivan provide a behind the scenes look at the transitional period from the big band era of WW II into the British Invasion of the 1960s, the advent of stereo recording, and beyond.
The Nashville I knew. Scott Faragher (available spring 2027) In 1984, famous Nashville attorney Jack Norman, Sr. wrote a book about his recollections of the Nashville he remembered. By the time I was growing up in my native Nashville, much had changed. The people who viewed the `hillbilly’ singers as something they hoped would go away if you didn’t feed it as late music publishing magnate Buddy Killen observed, eventually changed their tune with the initial success of the Opryland theme park, and the wider national acceptance of country music as legitimate.’ Much of the significant architecture has been lost in the last half century, along with many landmarks as well as businesses native Nashvillian thought would last forever.
The Nashville I remember began in the 1950s and continues through today as Nashville changed from basically a small town to a city of international significance. While each successive generation creates its own memories, I invite you to come with me on a delightful trip to the Nashville I remember.