The Penetraters

The Penetraters were from Traverse City, Michigan, about a two hour drive north of Grand Rapids, where they cut this 45 at the Great Lakes Recording Studio. This is one of the earliest garage releases on the Fenton label, which catered to bands looking to finance their own records.

“What Went Wrong” was comped on the Fenton box, Scream Loud, but the ballad flip “Cross the River of Love” was left off. I like its mellow Ricky Nelson “Lonesome Town” kind of style. Both songs were written by William Soapman.

Supposedly the Penetraters members also worked as a polka band called the Jaguars.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.