THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602160075
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: MANTEO, N.C. LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
ANDY GRIFFITH rarely steps out of the magic box he has so comfortably occupied the past 35 years.
But on a crisp winter morning, the Television Hall of Fame actor is in his sparsely furnished downtown Manteo office, not far from his home on the north end of Roanoke Island, and out of the box. He's dressed in a flannel shirt and blue jeans, the kind of clothes Sheriff Andy Taylor wore on fishing trips with Opie.
But the notoriously reticent Griffith is not here to talk about Opie or Aunt Bee or Barney, or any of the other Mayberryites from the classic ``Andy Griffith Show.'' And he's not here to talk about his more recent TV triumph as the sly attorney Ben Matlock.
Griffith wants to talk about his new album and the resumption of a recording career that spans 40 years. ``Precious Memories, 33 Timeless Hymns,'' advertised heavily on television the past few months, is the album, and what it is, is gospel.
``I did a gospel album about 20 years ago,'' says the 69-year-old Griffith, who discovered Roanoke Island in 1946 when he landed a part in ``The Lost Colony.'' ``I thought I'd like to try it again.''
Griffith's first try came in 1972 on an album titled ``Somebody Bigger Than You and I.'' The 11-song collection of straight-ahead gospel, produced by Billy Sherrill, featured vocals by Elvis Presley's longtime background ensemble, The Jordanaires. And although Griffith liked the record, Columbia Records didn't.
``It was my favorite recording,'' Griffith says. ``but they didn't ask me for another.''
But about a year ago, Billy Ray Hearns, the president of Sparrow Records, did.
``Joel Steiger, who was the producer of `Matlock,' knew him,'' Griffith says. ``We met in Nashville and immediately began picking out our favorite hymns.''
With producer Steve Tyrell, they pared the song list from 150 to 33.
``All three of us were amazed at how much these songs meant to us,'' Griffith says. ``We grew up in different parts of the country. It showed how far these songs have traveled.''
This past summer, Tyrell assembled a who's who of studio singers and musicians in his Los Angeles studio.
Included in the group were longtime James Taylor band bassist Leland Sklar, drummer Carlos Vega, guitarists Bob Mann, Dean Parks, Mike Landau and keyboardist David Huntsinger. Onetime Steely Dan vocalist David Palmer and Crosby, Stills and Nash sideman Mike Finnegan were among the 31-singer chorus.
Over the course of 30 days, Griffith recorded ``How Great Thou Art,'' ``In The Sweet By and By,'' ``In The Garden,'' ``I Love To Tell The Story,'' and 29 other standards, including his favorite hymn, ``Amazing Grace.''
``Every fine singer has done it in a way I admire,'' he says. ``I didn't know how I was going to do it. But it picked up its own character.''
Griffith says it was a chance to record songs he has loved all his life, songs he sang as a teen-ager in the chorus of the church his family attended in Mount Airy, N.C.
``I always loved singing in the church choir,'' he says. ``But I was never real confident in my singing.''
When he first auditioned for a Broadway show in 1952, a producer told him, ``Your voice is overly brilliant, almost painfully so.''
So Griffith put aside his musical career to focus on acting. He landed roles in several Broadway productions, including a star turn in ``No Time for Sergeants.'' Five years later, Griffith turned in a remarkable performance in his film debut in Elia Kazan's ``A Face in the Crowd.''
In 1960, he became Andy Taylor, sheriff of the magical town of Mayberry. And for eight seasons, Griffith and a brilliant group of actors, writers and directors charmed a nation with stories of love, hope and decency in a small town.
Later, Griffith played the part of Ben Matlock, another man who saw wrong and tried to right it. ``Matlock'' ended its long run last year.
``That show was over and this came along,'' Griffith says. ``It came at just the right time.''
``Precious Memories'' is available only by mail-order for now. It will hit stores in April. An ad featuring Griffith walking through the woods singing the songs started running a few months ago. The New York-based Northport Marketing handles the distribution.
``The album is doing really well,'' says Richard Hartley, president of the marketing company. ``Andy has a lot of fans.''
Griffith's TV fans may be surprised to hear his singing voice. It's a rich baritone, far removed from the slightly Southern-accented, comforting voice that Sheriff Taylor used on the front porch of his Mayberry home.
But this may be his real voice. He's always been a spiritual man. When he entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1945, it was as a pre-ministerial student. Griffith eventually graduated with a degree in music.
``This is such a kick,'' says Griffith, born and reared in Mount Airy. ``I've done something I always wanted to do.''
Maybe fellow Tar Heel Thomas Wolfe was wrong. You can go home again.
MEMO: To order the $16.98 CD (plus $3 shipping and handling costs) call
1-800-423-1200. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
In the late 1940s, Andy Griffith played Sir Walter Raleigh in ``The
Lost Colony'' in Manteo.
As the sheriff of Mayberry in ``The Andy Griffith Show.''
On the set of ``Matlock,'' a show about a sly Southern lawyer.
Color photo
by CNB