by Josh Belcher, Freelance Writer
With 50 years experience and more hits than Mike Tyson, Exile is bringing their brand of awesome harmonies and contributions to country music to the Franklin Theatre Thursday, Sept 4th. The show is scheduled for September 4th and is a DVD/Album release party and benefit for (SAFPAW) pronounced “Safe Paw”— the Southern Alliance for People and Animal Welfare which is a non-profit organization in middle Tennessee that helps the homeless community face the daily challenges of living in poverty with their pets. For more information about SAFPAW, please visit www.safpaw.com.
The band itself will be playing new music as well as their hit catalog that has 11 number one singles and a host of top 10 hits that include “I Don’t Want To Be A Memory,” “Give Me One More Chance,” “She’s A Miracle,” “Crazy For Your Love,” “Hang On To Your Heart,” “I Could Get Used To You,” “It’ll Be Me,” “She’s Too Good To be True” and “I Can’t Get Close Enough.”
Together since the 60’s, Exile has three gold albums, two greatest hits CD’s, several multi-platinum singles and over a dozen award nominations from The Academy of Country Music (ACM) as well as the Country Music Association (CMA). And the band shows no signs of stopping. Exile still has the harmonies and pure magic that proves the band will always stand the test of time.
We spoke with Exile’s keyboard player Marlon Hargis:
WS: Tell us about the upcoming show in Franklin?
MH: The show is actually a CD release concert. Last year we recorded a live CD at the Franklin Theatre. The first time the album will be available will be at the show in Franklin. We also shot a DVD of the show and the live performance of that will be available around the holidays and will be available on our website.
WS: Tell us more about SAFPAWS?
MH: It is an animal rescue mission that Sonny Lemaire and I became aware of a couple of years ago when we went to Tracy Lawrence’s turkey fry down at the rescue mission in Nashville every year. We got to talking to a couple of ladies about this charity and it actually brought to our attention something I had never thought about is—that a lot of homeless people won’t go to the mission or other shelters because they can’t take their pets with them. Therefore, they will stay out in the cold and in the heat along with their pets. SAFPAW’s primary mission is to go out every day in all conditions to go into the camps and shelters and under bridges and make sure that those people and their animals have shelter and food and water and so forth, and the also rescue pets that have been abandoned or abused. It is a local organization that not many people know about that could use our help. Most of the time the people running the organization pay for expenses out of their own pockets.
WS: You guys have been together for 50 years, that is a long time for a band to stay active, could you comment?
MH: It is true and we are a bunch of old guys. We have been together since 1963; it is actually a little over 50 years and we are lucky that we are all still around, and able to tour and in good health and the band has actually gone through several member changes throughout the years but the five guys here now are the guys that played on all the records during the 70’s and 80’s and you will actually get to come see and hear the guys who played on all the records from when we recorded all of our hits.
WS: Marlon, you have a really awesome mustache…just curious do you participate in MOVEMBER aka No Shave November?
MH: (Laughs) No I wasn’t even aware of it actually. I will have to look that up.
WS: Your song “Kiss You All Over” is featured in the movie Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler. How did you feel when you first discovered that?
MH: That was hilarious. Actually we didn’t know about it until the movie came out. The interesting thing is that through that movie, a lot of the younger generations know about the band and the song just because of that movie. Actually, that song has been in a number of movies. It was in a movie called “Man on the Moon” that Jim Carry starred in and the movie “Wild Hogs” and another movie recently called “Zoo Keeper”. I mean let’s face it, it is not one of the deepest songs ever written but it is one of those songs that just kind of stays around. Frankly, I never get tired of playing it. I bet I have played it over a thousand times but it is a fun song, and usually the song we close the show with and everyone is on their feet and singing along. You know it has gone through three to four generations and that is a great thing and a luck thing and we are really grateful to have that.
