Len Wade

Like other sleepy southern towns, the residents of Valparaiso, Florida had no idea what Finley Duncan had going on behind the walls of his Playground Studios. Duncan, a larger than life character, had a successful amusement company which included jukeboxes, dabbled in the record biz as early as the mid 50's recording in Muscle Shoals and Nashville sporadically releasing masters to Star Day, King, and others.

In 1969 Duncan chose Florida's Emerald Coast to start his own legacy. With the help of his industry partner Shelby Singleton, Playground Recording Studio was built (later Singleton would model his studio in Nashville after the Playground design). Duncan assembled a crack studio band similar to Muscle Shoals Rhythm section where some of the pre-Playground Minaret sides were cut.

Playground Studios Gulf coast location became a haven for local black talent, touring armory groups, and other Southern outcasts. Jim Lancaster, of the aforementioned outcasts, traveled to Duncan's studio with his high school garage band to record in 1970 before going on to American Studios with Willie Mitchell, and Johnny Vincent's Ace Records. Lancaster, a true Memphis producer/session-man, went on to record and perform with legends like Jim Dickinson, Dan Penn, Alex Chilton, and The Replacements. During a chance gig in the 80s he ended up staying in Valparaiso for a year and picked up work engineering and playing on sessions for Finley Duncan at Playground Studios. In 2005, Lancaster purchased the Playground Studios facility along with Finley's masters. While renovating the studio with plans of producing records in the spirit of if Finley Duncan, Lancaster compiled Soul Resurrection Volume 1 to finally expose the wealth of material recorded during the studio's heyday.