CAPE NATIVE RETURNS FIRST ALBUM, `SATURN BLUES'

He's jammed with Steve Winwood and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Tony Spinner has also toured with the Pat Travers band and has recorded songs on compact discs such as "Fit For A. King" and "Hats Off to Stevie Ray".

Not bad for someone who was once a teen-age recluse never quite able to "fit in" with his peers at Cape Central High School.

Once he cut his professional teeth on a battered Fender Stratocaster guitar called "Vern," Spinner knew there was no turning back.

Interestingly enough, however, the aforementioned musicians can't quite stretch Spinner's appreciative smile like one member of the Memphis-based band "The Famous Unknowns".

"Jerry Moss is my favorite guitar player," confided Spinner during a telephone interview. "I remember one night he made me feel so good just listening to his music my jaws were sore from smiling so much."

Added Spinner: "He doesn't force his music on you. He just plays what he likes, all original stuff, and lets the music work its way into your heart and soul. That's the mark of a good musician."

Spinner, a native of Cape Girardeau who now resides in Jonesboro, Ark., has generated a few smiles and definitive marks of his own. He just recorded his first album, "Saturn Blues," on the independent Shrapnel label.

Interestingly enough, Jerry Moss' name is nowhere to be found on the album. Just who is Jerry Moss?

"I know, he's somebody you've never heard of, but Jerry has more talent than I or a lot of other people have and has yet to be discovered," said Spinner, who left Cape Girardeau in 1983 to "make a comfortable living" as a professional musician.

"Some people are making it because their stuff has been packaged in a certain way to sell. It doesn't necessarily mean it's better than what somebody else is doing. The band is supported because people just don't know any better."

Spinner has vowed to produce his own kind of music with as few compromises as possible.

"It hasn't been easy, and in some ways I think I've had to pay my dues a few times over, but now things seem be falling into place," said Spinner. "The biggest break I got early on was the support my parents gave me," he said. "I never would have been able to explore music as much as I wanted without their help."

Tony's parents, Louis and Irene Spinner, still reside in Cape Girardeau.

Spinner embarked on his music career 17 years ago playing with a band at the now defunct bar called Wild Bob's.

"I played with a band called White River at Wild Bob's Saloon on Main Street in Cape," recalled Spinner. "Doug Adams, who was the leader of the band, didn't even know I could sing at the time. I just kept pestering him to let me sing. One night the girl who was doing most of the singing got sick and couldn't make it on stage. So they let me sing. After a month or two they just dropped the girl from the band and let me take over most of the singing."

Saturn Blues is a 10-song original album Spinner describes as "kind of a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix."

"I like to write songs that do more than just complain about the way things are with no answers or solutions," said Spinner.

Players on the album include Spinner on vocals and guitar, Aynsley Dunbar on drums and John Onder on bass. The album is available at Camelot Records and The Record Store in Cape Girardeau.

"I remember I kept telling Don from The Record Store that I'd have something out and people said it would never happen," said Spinner. "You keep working at something long enough and I figure something's bound to happen in your favor," he mused.

"There are a lot of people who are better than me who haven't even gotten the chance to show what they can do. There are a lot of talented musicians in Cape who deserve a break. I'm trying to help out as much as I can, but sometimes it just seems like you have to be in the right spot at the right time."

Spinner made his first album with a known label through the effort of Mike Varney.

"Mike Varney has really come through for me," said Spinner. "I pestered him for a month. He encouraged me to send him a tape, which I did. When he finally got it, he said, `Yeah, I got your tape ... it was real good ... now don't call me anymore.'"

Spinner has been able to branch out on his own with the Tony Spinner Project band. The group frequently played Memphis and managed to strike up a production deal in 1988 with Polygram Records. This came about through the efforts of Eli Ball of the Warehouse studio.

The band's name changed to White River Monster to make it easier to promote. After four years of trying to attract major labels in New York, Jonesboro and Memphis, and traveling the Mid-South, no deal was forthcoming. The band played its last engagement on Beale Street during Crossroads '92.

"It's taken me awhile to get my first album recorded," said Spinner. "Actually I recorded five before this one, but they weren't very good. In fact, I listen to them now and get embarrassed. I'm almost glad nobody wanted to take a chance on them."

Now, however, Spinner has something that could bring him more success than he's ever known as a musician.

"The record has only been out for three weeks, so it's really too early to tell how well it's going to do," said Spinner. "I've heard you need to give it three months before you know whether or not it's a success."

Asked what he would consider a success, Spinner replied,"The main goal of the band is survival, so I can eat. Making a living and having some fun are still important to me.

"I want to be able to write original songs and still be myself. I could never be an Elvis or anything. I now realize how Elvis couldn't even be Elvis after awhile. Pedestals are lonely places when all you want to do is make music that pleases you and hopefully somebody out there."