RPM's Mark Gendel, Tommy Wells, Robert White Johnson (in hat and sunglasses), Jimmy Lee Sloas, with Jerry Schilling and Carl Wilson, 1983. Photo 1 courtesy of Robert White Johnson.
“'Jerry [Schilling] said, "You need to get with Carl. You guys would really connect." So at a Beach Boys show in Nashville [pictured backstage above], I met Carl,' said Johnson. 'We just immediately connected. There was just this thing. I felt like he was family. He said, "Let’s work out some time to write together." So over the next couple of years, he would come here [to Nashville] and we would work at a studio. I had a studio that RPM had recorded some recent demos called The Castle – it literally looked like a castle — in Franklin, Tennessee. Beautiful facility, world class. They just let Carl and I go crazy.' Johnson said that the first time he sang backgrounds with Carl, it was life-changing. 'He had such power and strength in his voice. And I was like, "Man, I gotta step up to the plate." He encouraged me and we had fun doing it. It was one of those moments in your life where a light goes on and you go, "OK, I get it,"' said Johnson." - interviewed by Mike Morsch for The Vinyl Dialogues Blog (March 20, 2020) “I think the thing – outside of what an amazing human being Carl Wilson was – was his artistry, his music. Every note mattered to him when we wrote. When we would work on a song, he wanted to make sure that everything was right, all the little nuances, the melody and the phrasing. […] He was one of the most lovely humans to ever walk the Earth. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. And the fact that he was that way with all that he’d been through, with all the fame that he had experienced, there was always this humility. He was kind to everybody. And I don’t think Carl ever got the accolades that he deserved for his musical contributions, instincts and abilities. If it hadn’t been for him, the Beach Boys would have died a long time ago. He kept it together, he kept it going. He was the heartbeat, he kept it real, vocally and artistically. He was a true inspiration to me, even with his regard to his humanity. It doesn’t take me much to get teary-eyed thinking about him. I was honored to be his friend.” - Robert White Johnson, interviewed by Mike Morsch for The Vinyl Dialogues Blog (March 20, 2020) [read more from Robert White Johnson about Carl in an older post]