{"id":460601,"date":"2026-10-08T23:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T23:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/460601\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T23:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T23:36:11","slug":"the-gentlemens-its-a-cryn-shame-gets-a-vinyl-reissue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/460601\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gentlemen\u2019s \u2018It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame\u2019 gets a vinyl reissue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From left to right: Tommy Turner, Mike Kelley, Tim Justice (kneeling), Bruce Bland and Seab Meador. Cover art courtesy of Mark Prellberg.<\/p>\n

The Gentlemen\u2019s It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame<\/a> has recently been rereleased through Boy Wonder Records.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Gentlemen was \u201ca rock \u2018n\u2019 roll combo\u201d that formed in our neighborhood in the \u201960s, and has built a following over the decades for their work.<\/p>\n

Tim Justice,<\/a> former Oak Cliff resident and founding drummer of the group, said what started it all was The Beatles American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were just blown away,\u201d Justice said, who was 14 at the time. \u201cEvery kid my age was glued to the television, and it was just like \u2018Wow. I want to be them.\u2019 And I said that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that performance, he said all the kids went out and wanted equipment to start their own band. Justice did the same and the group that formed that same year.<\/p>\n

The group was co-founded by Justice and Seab Meador on lead guitar and vocals. Justice spoke highly of Meador, describing him as \u201ca prodigy guitar player.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were many interactions of the band, including Mike Kelley, Lonnie Taylor, Jimmie Randall, Bruce Bland, Tommy Turner, and Jimmie Vaughan (brother of Stevie Ray Vaughn)<\/a> at different points.<\/p>\n

The first couple years The Gentlemen had gigs at local venues, including The Box, LouAnn\u2019s, Panther A-Go-Go, and The Studio Club. They also opened for Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, James Brown, The Beau Brummels and had one TV appearance on KTVT.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt led to lots of parties and things going on, and then the next thing that you do is try to get a record deal,\u201d Justice said. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggie. That\u2019s the home run, and so we were thrilled when somebody, (label manager) of Vandan Records Tom Brown, showed up and said, \u2018I\u2019d like to record you guys.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gentlemen, then made up of Bland, Justice, Kelley, Meador, and Turner, recorded It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame and You Can\u2019t Be True for the label in November 1966 at Summit Sound Studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other song got some airplay, but nobody paid too much attention to It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame until they did, and once they heard it, it really took off,\u201d Justice said. \u201cWe sold I think 2,000 records that Tom Brown did, and which at the time (we) just locally distributed everything, and he got some accolades in some of the publications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice said the group was really thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were doing well, and the song was doing well,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then we went over to Tom Brown\u2019s house one day to talk to him, and there was an empty house with no furniture. Apparently, unbeknownst to us, this was his sort of last hurrah.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group disbanded in 1968, shortly after Meador officially left. Justice said you could tell Meador \u201chad stardom in his eyes.\u201d He went on to join The Hurricanes and The Werewolves.<\/p>\n

Years later, Justice decided to look up Meador, who died of a brain tumor in 1980, to see if there was anything on his passing online.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so I look and it says something about \u2018Seab Meador passed away of It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame fame,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Cry\u2019n Shame fame, what fame would that be?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Justice discovered the following his former group had built, specifically that the record itself had \u201cbecome one that people sort of coveted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a few records floating around, and the collectors would buy it online and on eBay, and so one sold for $400,\u201d he said. \u201cAnother one sold for $600, $800. One sold for $5,500, and I was like, \u2018What in the good god is this all about?\u2019 It just was about the song that everybody liked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Boy Wonder Records\u2019 black pressing of It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame, with the booklet on the history of The Gentlemen. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Roughly sixty years after recording the song, Mark Prellberg of Boy Wonder Records released a 7-inch, 45 rpm vinyl with two versions of It\u2019s A Cry\u2019n Shame.<\/p>\n

The record comes with a booklet on the history of The Gentlemen and is available in a black and limited translucent green pressing. The translucent green pressing also includes a full-color postcard of The Gentlemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful. It has a book, and it\u2019s really professionally done \u2026\u201d Justice said. \u201cSo you know that\u2019s really a nice tribute, and there\u2019s several others that are in the works.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those interested in finding their own copy of the Boy Wonder Records release, they can reach out to Prellberg at wrathandwroll@att.net<\/a>, purchase on Discogs<\/a>, or from two U.S. spots: Goner Records,<\/a> which is based in Memphis, or Get Hip Records,<\/a> located in Pittsburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From left to right: Tommy Turner, Mike Kelley, Tim Justice (kneeling), Bruce Bland and Seab Meador. Cover art…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[157496,157497,102,104,103,157498,157499,17442,157500,157501,157502,157503,157504,157505,157506],"class_list":["post-460601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-boy-wonder-records","tag-bruce-bland","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-its-a-cryn-shame","tag-jimmie-randall","tag-jimmie-vaughan","tag-lonnie-taylor","tag-mike-kelley","tag-seab-meador","tag-stevie-ray-vaughn","tag-the-gentlemen","tag-tim-justice","tag-tommy-turner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}