Moses Dillard (September 30, 1946 – July 14, 1993) – We Gotta Come Together (1972)

This socially conscious anthem featuring Peabo Bryson on lead vocals was written and produced by the unsung genius who was first discovered by Otis Redding.

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Moses Dillard was a very talented Southern soul guitarist, singer/songwriter, and producer whose band backed artists like Sam & Dave and James and Bobby Purify and later gave Peabo Bryson his start.

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Moses C. Dillard Jr. attended church with his family at the city’s branch of the United House of Prayer for All People. This small Pentecostal denomination was founded in 1919 in Wareham, Massachusetts by Charles Manuel Grace, a Cape Verdean immigrant who became known to his followers as Sweet Daddy Grace. UHOP services are centered around joyous worship music played by trombone-led brass bands.

Dillard learned trombone at a young age in church and wowed the congregation with his talent. He then took up the guitar when he was twelve years old. While playing trombone in his high school band, his multi-instrumentalist skills led to him being asked to join an R&B group that regularly played gigs throughout Tennessee. They eventually focused on their hometown and secured steady work at two local nightclubs.

By the mid-sixties they were billed as Moses Dillard and the Dynamic Showmen, and put out a pair of ultra-rare singles on Mark V, the in-house label for Mark V Studios in Greenville. The first was the superb jam “I’ll Pay The Price” (1966), b/w the heartfelt slow jam “They Don't Want Us Together,” both sides written by Dillard. The only two copies currently listed for sale on Discogs are priced at around $5,000 each.

Their second 45 was “Pretty As A Picture” (1967) b/w the breakup anthem “Go 'Way Baby,” with Dillard again penning both sides.

The regional release of their first single led to more opening gigs. According to some sources, at one of them his talents were noticed by Otis Redding, who asked him to play on recording sessions for his protégé Arthur Conley. This in turn brought Dillard to the attention of producer Don Schroeder, who at the time was producing James and Bobby Purify and had a distribution deal with Larry Uttal’s Amy/Mala/Bell Records. After relocating to Pensacola, Florida in 1968, the Dynamic Showmen became the studio band at the newly built Papa Don Schroeder Studios.

There they backed classic late sixties soul records by the Purifys, Mighty Sam McClain, and Sam & Dave. As recalled by former Showmen drummer Art Adams, “Moses had to go out with Sam and Dave and sing as Dave because Dave was drunk all the time.” But the studio venture was short-lived.

Dillard returned to Greenville and put together a new lineup of the group, now called Tex-Town Display, featuring Bill Wilson, James Ivory, James Madison, his brother Daniel Dillard, and lead singer Peabo Bryson. They self-released their debut album Now! in 1969 on Tex-Town Records. Highlights included the socially conscious anthem “We Got A Long Way To Go,” which was written by Dillard and featured him on lead vocals, and the slow jam “Bring Your Dreams To Me,” co-written by Dillard and bassist Jesse Boyce. Bryson was 17 years old at the time and sang lead on the latter cut.

They next recorded the deep soul masterpiece “I've Got To Find A Way (To Hide My Hurt)” (1970), which received enough local airplay as a promo to get picked up by Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records for distribution. With an equally stellar Part 2 on the flip, it sold 250,000 copies nationwide.

The group left Curtom after one more single and next recorded for Atlanta-based Shout Records, the label originally founded by Bert Berns before his death in 1967 and revived in the early seventies. In 1972 they released the beautiful “I Promise To Love You,” co-written by Dillard and Bryson, b/w “We Gotta Come Together,” a powerful remake of the Dillard-penned message song “We Got A Long Way To Go” from their 1969 debut LP. Both sides were produced by Dillard with Bryson on lead vocals.

In 1974, Dillard recorded a single for 1-2-3 Records under the name Moses Dillard and Lovejoy. He wrote both sides, with the early disco-flavored “Theme From Lovejoy” on the A-side, b/w the very funky jam “Good Stuff.” It was produced by Bill Lowery and recorded at his Lowery Studio in Atlanta.

The following year he released another single on 1-2-3, and again wrote both sides. The hard driving funk instrumental “What'cha See In Me” (1975) was backed with the mellower jam “Filet Of Fatback.”

Dillard teamed up with singer Lorraine Johnson during the mid-seventies to form the duo Dillard & Johnson. They cut one single in 1976 on Nashville’s Piedmont Records, the mid-tempo disco jam “Here We Go, Loving Again” which he co-wrote with Merle Higginbotham, b/w an instrumental version, both sides produced by Dillard. It was later picked up for distribution by Epic.

In 1977, Dillard put out one more single on Piedmont under his own name, billed simply as “Moses.” He co-wrote the stellar, funky jam “I Got My Mind Together” with D. Lawson, and its B-side “If You Don't Mean It, Don't Touch Me” with K. Morrison. Dillard co-produced the single with Pee Wee Taylor.

Rest in Power, Moses Dillard.

Further info:

“R&B/gospel man Moses Dillard dies in Nashville,” Cross Rhythms, October 1, 1993.

“Moses Dillard,” Local Music Scene South Carolina.

“U.H.O.P. and the Soul of Moses Dillard,” Greenville Music Preservation.

“The Soul Will Find a Way,” Black Agenda Report, March 15, 2023.

#soul #funk #MosesDillard