Mastin and Brewer

Mastin and Brewer, Spring 1966. L-R: Tom Mastin, Billy Mundi, Michael Brewer and Jim Fielder. Unknown lady.
Mastin and Brewer, Spring 1966. L-R: Tom Mastin, Billy Mundi, Michael Brewer and Jim Fielder. Unknown lady.

Following the overnight success of “Mr Tambourine Man”, a generation of folk musicians abandoned the traditional form to follow The Byrds’ lead and merge folk with rock elements. One of the most promising outfits was the little known, and decidely short-lived Mastin & Brewer, formed in the spring of 1966 by aspiring singer/songwriters Tom Mastin and Michael Brewer (b. 14 April 1944, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US).

Both had been active on the nation’s folk circuit since the early ‘60s and had met at the Blind Owl coffeehouse in Kent, Ohio in 1964. With the folk scene on its last legs, the duo, abetted by Mastin’s friend and fellow singer/songwriter Dave McIntosh, decided to head out to San Francisco the following year to check out the emerging West Coast scene. Following a brief spell in the city, Mastin and Brewer, parted company with McIntosh and travelled to Los Angeles to visit some old folk friends working with New Christy Minstrel Randy Sparks and manager Barry Friedman (later better known as Frazier Mohawk). While there, they recorded a three-song demo comprising original compositions “Bound To Fall”, “Need You” and “Sideswiped”. Suitably impressed by the quality of the songs, Friedman (who had produced the recordings) took the recordings to Columbia Records, which immediately expressed an interest in signing the duo.

With a recording deal in the can, Friedman hastily organised a support band, so that they could take the songs out on the road, and duly drafted in ex-Skip Battin Group member Billy Mundi (25 September 1942, San Francisco, California, US) and former Tim Buckley bass player Jim Fielder (b. James Thomas Fielder, 4 October 1947, Denton, Texas, US).

During this period, the newly formed band rehearsed in an apartment on Fountain Avenue, sharing the accomodation with like-minded souls Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, then in the process of forming Buffalo Springfield with Friedman’s assistance. Shortly afterwards, Mastin & Brewer and Buffalo Springfield ventured out on the road together as support acts for The Byrds and The Dillards on a six-date tour of southern California.

Mastin & Brewer also played at the Ash Grove and the Whisky-A-Go Go on a few occasions, during which time, they went under the rather unusual name of The Elesian Senate.

Sadly, the group’s initial promise was shattered by internal problems; Mastin reportedly flipped out on a few occasions, and ultimately walked out of the group during sessions for the band’s debut album. With the group’s future uncertain, Mundi moved on to rival folk-rockers The Lamp of Childhood leaving Brewer to soldier on (abetted by Fielder when he wasn’t doing sessions for Tim Buckley or filling in for Bruce Palmer in The Buffalo Springfield) until late 1966.

Amid all this activity Elektra Records released Tim Buckley’s eponymous debut album (featuring contributions from both Jim Fielder and Billy Mundi) and when Mastin failed to turn up for a show at the Whisky-A-Go Go, Fielder decided to take up the offer to rejoin Mundi in Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention.

Brewer and Brewer Columbia 45 Need YouWith the group in tatters, Brewer recruited his brother Keith to replace Mastin (who later committed suicide) and the duo, abetted by Barry Friedman readied the Mastin & Brewer single “Need You” c/w “Rainbow” (45 4-43977) for release, with Keith Brewer overdubbing his vocals over Mastin’s. Columbia duly released the single, albeit in limited numbers, as Brewer & Brewer that autumn, but it failed to attract much interest.

Early in the new year, the duo began work on a new batch of material, including “Love, Love”, and for a brief period called themselves Chief Waldo and The Potted Mum, although they never performed or recorded under this name.

By the summer, Keith had moved on and Mike found work as a songwriter at Good Sam Music, an affiliation of A&M Records. He was soon joined by another old friend from the Blind Owl coffeehouse, Tom Shipley, who had just arrived in Los Angeles in search of work and together they forge a new partnership, Brewer & Shipley.

Working on fresh material at Leon Russell’s house, the duo also recorded “Love, Love” and Mike Brewer’s “Truly Right”, written about Tom Mastin. The latter song was also recorded by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, while The Byrds recorded an instrumental version of “Bound To Fall” for their album ‘The Notorious Byrd Brothers’, but it was not used. Group member Chris Hillman later revived the song in Steve Stills’s Manassas.

Thanks to Mike Brewer for additional additional information on the group’s career, to Billy Mundi for use of the Mastin & Brewer photograph and to Carny Corbett for information on the Brewer and Brewer single.

Copyright © Nick Warburton. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, without prior permission from the author.

To contact the author, email: Warchive@aol.com

 

9 thoughts on “Mastin and Brewer”

  1. Right around this time Columbia released Brewer’s “Feeling Down”, by the Black Sheep (Columbia 43974 — you can see how close the two numbers are). What was the connection, if any, with the Black Sheep?

  2. I didn’t know that the Black Sheep covered Feelin’ Down. I would love to hear it. I know the Poor covered it later along with Tom Shipley’ s Time and Changes

  3. Interesting to read M&B headed out to San Francisco for the mid-60s folk scene. I was listening to Jefferson Airplane’s “How Do You Feel?” on 45 the other night and noticed for the first time it’s credited to Tom Mastin.

  4. Hi Nick! Matthew Greenwald here; I did the liners in the Collectors Choioce Rhinocerous stuff, etc (of which you were a huge help). I hope you are well; please shoot me an email so that we can chat. I’m interested in finding out how Jefferson Airplane were presented with “How Do You Feel” and Mastin song on their ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ album….looking forward, Matthew

  5. I assume the friends that Tom and Mike went to see in Los Angeles, the ones who were working with Randy Sparks were most likely Maffitt & Davies, as they all show up as part of Randy Sparks Associates, Inc. roster in the March 19, 1966 edition of Billboard’s Music on Campus special.

    Sparks roster was listed as the Back Porch Majority – with Mike Crowley, Karen Brian, Mike Clough, Ellen Whalen, emcee Denny Brooks, Linda Carey and Kin Vassy; The New Society, comedian George McKelvey, Maffit & Davies, Tom Mastin & Mike Brewer, The Luther Rakestraw Ledbetter Music & Drama Society, Fats Johnson and The Texas Twosome – Boomer & Travis.

    Mastin also went on to join a last ditch effort to keep the Peppermint Trolley Co. name alive after the whole band quit in early 1969.
    The group’s producer Dan Dalton, himself a former member of Randy Sparks’ Back Porch Majority, decided to follow the Randy Sparks formula, which was simple, you could simply replace everyone.

    Dalton owned the rights to the Peppermint Trolley Company name, and rebuilt the band with former Dot solo artist Bob Cheevers, Dave McIntosh, Tom Mastin, Terry Smith and another member whose name is lost to time.
    They recorded the group’s last single, before they too quit in 1969, leaving Dalton to record the original Brady Bunch theme with his wife and other acts in his stable.

  6. Randy Sparks once posted an online article about how he was at the Troubadour to see Tim Buckley, and claims that Buckley publicly blamed him for the split of Mastin & Brewer. I don’t recall exactly where I found the piece, nor can I find it now, but he did mention how he recalled Mastin & Brewer split, which in part indicates that he though the Columbia deal fell through, which of course didn’t, but I’ll post the relevant portion.

    Randy Sparks – “Barry [Friedman] had worked for me back then, and I had put him in charge of a couple of wannabees from Cleveland, Tom Mastin and Michael Brewer. I had Barry record them in our own studio, then arranged for an audition at my label, Columbia. Columbia offered them a contract through my company, and a paranoid Friedman, fearing that I would somehow swoop-in and become their producer in his place, began urging them not to sign-on. Columbia, not wanting to deal with an unhappy act, then withdrew the offer, all of this happening without my knowledge or participation in any manner.
    I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that we seemed to have a deal, then we didn’t. Tom Mastin then disappeared, and Michael Brewer hooked up with Tom Shipley, who had been hired to make pizzas at Ledbetter’s, my pop-folk nitery on Westwood Blvd.”

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