Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ
August 15, 1986
WMMR-FM
01 Pierre Robert & Cyndy Drue - WMMR-FM Intro
02 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Welcome To My World
03 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Workout
04 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Crazy Mixed Up World
05 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Tonight's The Night
06 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - I'm Home
07 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Do You Still Believe In Me
08 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - I'm Not Your Man
09 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Roadside
10 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Million Pretty Girls
11 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Walkin' On The Water
12 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Satisfaction Guaranteed
13 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Possibilities
14 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Yeah Yeah Daddy
15 Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers - Demolition Derby
16 Pierre Robert - WMMR-FM Outro
Another fabulous tape from the Sam Eliot's Mustache collection.
Once again, we run into the geographic limitations of rock 'n' roll... and the limits of your humble narrator's knowledge.
Tommy Conwell escaped my attention completely in the 1980s and early 90's. I was introduced to him through a music blog back around 2010. So, I was late to the party. Everything I'm about to tell you comes from Internet research... and the Internet is a cesspool of nonsense.
On Newspapers.com, I found that Conwell started out as the guitarist in Rocket 88 down in Ocean City, Maryland in 1981. He jumped over to the Imports (who changed their name to Radio Carolyn). Radio Carolyn put out a 45, "Punish Me With Passion," but I'm not sure if Conwell is on that record or not.
By July '84 he had moved back up to Philadelphia and was lead singer for the Young Rebels. By the end of the year, formed Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers.
They released an LP in 1984 on local (Ardmore, PA) Antenna Records, eventually selling 70,000 copies. A deal with major label Columbia was next, with "Rumble" released in 1988 and "Guitar Trouble" in 1990.
Singles "I'm Not Your Man" hit #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "If We Never Meet Again" rose to #48.
His brother was Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Joe Conwell.
The major label support broke him out of the Philadelphia club scene, and he did a national tour, playing the Roxy in Hollywood, and several shows in the Bay Area. (the Stone, the Kennel Club) in October - December 1988. He was on national TV on the Arsenio Hall Show in January 1989.
Two albums were all Columbia put out; they chose to leave his third album in the can and didn't release it.
Conwell drove a cab for a while, went back to school, and by 1998, he was a third-grade teacher who performs music when his schedule allows, and hosted a Sunday night radio show on WYSP-FM.
He was good, and with better touring support, he might have been able to build a national fan base and been Philadelphia's answer to Greg Kihn...who also, by the way...ended up as a disc jockey.
In my research, I found a lot of articles about Conwell. I've included them in a separate text file from the articles about this specific concert. Read them all, as there may be a pop quiz later next week.
Also...I want to note that I didn't find anything written about him in the Bay Area papers. There are ads for the club dates, but no one reviewed the shows. Compared to the huge amount of coverage in the northeast...and getting concert reviews in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston...San Francisco was not paying attention.
