The Kandy Kolored Konspiracy came from Waco, not Dallas as has been written. Despite staying on local charts for a couple months, their 45 is now a rare one. “One Million People” includes some sharp lines like:
“Well I see reality is just an imperfection of the mind, What they do, and what they say is locked in a velvet wall of time, All they have is their lies and their cotton candy alibis…”
Gary Anderson, who wrote the songs on the single, tells the band’s full story below. If anyone has a photo of the Kandy Kolored Konspiracy, please get in touch.
Gary Anderson – lead guitar Rick Connor – rhythm guitar Don Bolan – bass Jimmy Campbell – keyboards Nick Connor – drums
My name is Gary Lane Anderson, and I was the songwriter and lead singer/lead guitar for Kandy Kolored Konspiracy — one of my early bands.
I developed the band name from a combination of Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, a collection of Tom Wolfe’s essays that I was reading at the time, and a sense of the racial tension and paranoia of the times (the Konspiracy and KKK references).
I had taught myself to play guitar since age 14 and lived in the Waco, Texas, area at the time. The band’s drummer was Nick Connor, the rhythm guitar player was his brother, Rick, the bass player was Don Bolan, and the keyboard player was Jimmy Campbell, all of Waco.
At Buddy’s Teen Club, August 1969The band played constantly all over the Waco area and surrounding towns. We played for the opening of a Super Slide and a $.10 hamburger place in Waco. It was held in a huge parking lot. There were hundreds if not thousands of people there. All the local radio stations were present. This was during the time our record was out and we were a hot item in Waco. We also staged our own dances by renting a hall setting everything up ourselves. We did this at a large hall on Franklin Street in Waco owned by the YWCA. One time we drove to Dallas to open for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.
I played a white Fender Mustang through a Fender Deluxe Reverb sitting on a Bassman 212 cabinet, I no longer own any of this equipment. The rhythm guitarist played a red Fender Mustang through a Fender Bandmaster. The keyboard player used a red Farfisa organ, I don’t remember what amp he used. I don’t recall the bass player’s bass or amp. The drummer played a set of Ludwig drums, the Hollywood set in a psychedelic color. This is the same equipment we recorded with. I don’t recall what we used for a live PA.
I wrote the music and lyrics for “One Million People,” and the music for “Konspiracy “68”– the B-side instrumental, in 1966 when I was 16 years old.
Robin Brian recorded us in late 1967, just after I turned 17, at the Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas. On their website, www.robinhoodstudios.com is a picture of the recording equipment installed in 1963 and used to record our 45.
The drummer’s family had resources and arranged for the recording. The producer was Arnold Joseph “Joe” Poovey, known at the time as “Johnny Dallas,” and later as “Groovey” Joe Poovey. Joe had just produced the hit, “Heart Full of Love,” so we had high hopes for our 45. The only time I saw Joe was at the recording studio. The label was Media, and the publisher was Giant Publishing, but the only person we had any contact with was someone whose name I can’t remember, an associate of Joe’s.
The record was released in late 1967, but neither Johnny nor the label or publisher promoted it. I think we pressed 500.
When the record came to us, the credit on it was Gary Alexander, instead of Gary Anderson. Poovey’s associate said it must have been a printing mistake since he called in the information to the printer, but he never offered to correct it. I wondered later that the mistake was made on purpose to steal my copyright, in case the record took off, but at the time, I didn’t know things like copyrights existed. On the other hand, it could have just been an honest mistake. I do know that neither I nor my parents signed any contracts, so the legal handling of the project was sloppy at best, and I have not been able to determine who actually held the copyright, which would have expired around 1992 under old copyright law.
“One Million People” climbing the charts in the Waco Tribune Herald, June 9, 1968Although it was registered with BMI and played on the radio in and around Waco, Texas, and remained in the local Top Ten, as reported weekly in the Sunday newspaper for at least six weeks, as well as being Number One for several weeks, I never received a penny from them. We sold a few records in and around Waco, but the proceeds went to repay Nick’s family. I still have a couple of the singles. I also have an original psychedelic-styled poster, which was hand-painted by my girlfriend at the time, but we never had copies made of it. (Sidenote: She is now Lea Lisa Black (nee Douthit) on The Real Housewives of Miami.)
To my knowledge, nothing else ever came of the record until the A-side song got picked up by garage band web sites and placed on compilations from Germany and Australia. “One Million People” plays in rotation on several underground and garage band music stations around the world.
After high school the Kandy Kolored Konspiracy members went their separate ways. As far as I know, Nick, Rick and Don gave up music after the band broke up, and I don’t know about Jimmy.
Another player I went to high school with was playing in a band. They needed a guitar player and asked me to play. David Hall was the drummer. We had been aware of each other since elementary school because our parents took us to the same church. Playing in this new band we became friends. This band did not last long so David and I decided to form another band. This was the beginning of Warlock.
My high school friend had a girl friend named Gill. She and my friend from high school broke up and she started dating Buzz Gilleland from the band Society. On a side note, I played many years later in a band with the drummer from Society who had switched to keyboards. His name is Jesse Day. In the sixties he was known as Pucky Day. We played together in a country band called Fire Creek.
Gill got Buzz, David and I together. David knew a bass player named Mike McKissic. And Warlock was complete.
I continue to play, sing, teach and write in Austin and central Texas. To see and hear my current work and bio, please go to www.reverbnation.com/garyanderson4 or facebook.com
Gary Anderson
For more on Warlock see On the Road South. Thanks to Don Julio for transcribing the lyrics and to Mark Taylor for the label scan.
I’d been wondering if there were any great rock 45s on Ty Tex when I found The Sensors “Sen-Sa-Shun” / “Side Tracked” at Rex’s sidewalk sale this spring. As it turns out, the Sensors had four 45s on Ty Tex.
Buddy Henderson would come to be known as Bugs Henderson when he joined Mouse and the Traps. He started the Sensors in his hometown of Tyler, Texas when he was just 16.
On these two Freddy King songs, Buddy articulates every note, making these two of the better r&b instrumentals I’ve heard. “Side Tracked” has a good jazzy organ solo to boot.
Their version of “Rumble” is also cool, even if it doesn’t have the menace of Link Wray’s original. The organ provides an eerie background. Buddy gets a shimmering tone out of his guitar chords with a ferocious slicing sound towards the end of the song
I haven’t heard the flip side, a version of “Caravan”, but Not Fade Away #2 says guitarist on that side was Levi Garrett. I assume these were recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, but I could be mistaken.
The A-side of their third single, “Bat Man” is credited to Henderson and Pittman. The flip is a cover of Jack McDuff’s “Light Blues”.
TT-112 – Sen-Sa-Shun / Side Tracked TT-115 – Rumble / Caravan TT-117 – Bat Man / Light Blues TT-120 – Honest I Do (vocal) / Honest I Do (instrumental)
Thanks to Rich for the transfer of “Rumble” and to Greg Reyes for the scan of “Bat Man”. Thank you to Martin Hancock for finding the scan of “Rumble”.
Any help with this discography would be appreciated:
TT-100 – Ron Williams and the Customs – Sue Sue Baby / Empty Feeling (both by Ron Williams) TT-101 – Guy Goodwin – Roll Out the Red Carpet / Nobody Going Nowhere TT-102 – Ron Williams – I’ll Miss You So / I Guarantee You Baby (October 1961) TT-103 – ? TT-104 – The Antons – Larry’s Tune (Larry Stanley) / Green Eyes (1962) (N8OW-2631/2) TT-105 – Zeroes – Flossie Mae / Twisting With Crazee Babee TT-106 – Ron Williams – Wine, Wine, Wine / So Long, My Love (Ron Williams) TT-107 – The Tonettes – Gee Baby (J. Joseph, A. Tyler) / Friendship Ring (late 1962) (NO9W-2713/4) TT-108 – Guy Goodwin – Wheels a Hummin’ / You’re Right I Will TT-7599 – Ron Williams – If I Could Stay Away From You (Ron Williams) / On Top of Old Smokey (also released on Imperial 5729)
The above feature an early label design with outline of state of Texas and roses. See Rockin’ Country Style for more info.
Releases below have a simpler design with Ty Tex at the top:
TT-110 – Donnie Carl – Love and Learn / Do the Wiggle Wobble (D. Kight) TT-111 – Guy Goodwin- Where Sweethearts Never Part / ? (1962) TT-112 – The Sensors featuring Buddy Henderson – Sen-Sa-Shun / The Sensors – Side Tracked TT-113 – Donnie Carl with the Donnells – It Happened to Me Parts 1 & 2 TT-114 – Joe Baby and the Donnells – Little Sally Walker (Doing the Camel Walk) (D. Kight) / I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town TT-115 – The Sensors – Rumble TT-116 – Guy Goodwin – A Taste Of Her Loving / ?? TT-117 – The Sensors – Bat Man – supposed to be scarce. TT-118 – Donnie Carl – You’ve Got It / Getting Over You (both by D. Kight, December 1964) TT-119 – Donnie Carl – Heart Attack / If You Want It That Way TT-120 – The Sensors – Honest I Do (vocal) / Honest I Do (instrumental) TT-121 – Linda Burns – And That Reminds Me / The Reason Why (October 1965) TT-122 – The Derbys – A Different Woman Every Day (Taylor-Gadson-Darnell) / The Crow TT-123 – Ron Williams and the Trebles – So Fine / Let’s Stop Wasting Time (Ron Williams) TT-124 – Ron Williams – Please Come Back / I’m Sending You A Pencil TT-125 – One Eyed Jacks – Hang It Up (Robert Leslie Allen) / Down On My Knees TT-126 – Larry Mack – Last Day of the Dragon (Larry Stanley) / Can’t You See Me Crying TT-127 – The Revolvers – Like Me / When You Were Mine TT-128 – The Revolvers – Good Lovin’ Woman / Land of 1,000 Dances (June 1967) TT-129 – Dana Black and the Revolvers – As Tears Go By b/w The Revolvers – Your Love’s for Me TT-130 – Floyd Jones – My Mother’s Prayer / Hero’s Welcome Home TT-131 – Stan Gorman and the Revolvers – I Love Lovin’ You / Green Unicycle
Many of the later releases show “A product of Eula Anton” on the label. At least some of these records were cut at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler.
Donnie Carl is Donnie Carlton Kight, a soul singer. He wrote most of his songs, sometimes with Mike Goodrich.
Ronny Williams’ Gold Standard sleeve could this be the same person recording for Ty Tex as far back as 1961?
Ron Williams
Ron Williams wrote most of the songs he recorded, here are some other 45s he cut:
Pastel 404, “Poor Little Lamb” / “Hey! Little Pearl” – the A-side is excellent garage. I don’t have the record, but have short clips of both sides here. Arvel Stricklin played lead guitar and Hammond organ on both tracks (source). Pastel Records owned by Maj. Bill Smith.
Vee Jay 675 “Angel Girl” / She Ran Away” (1965)
Austin A-321, “Big Boy Pete” / “Runaway” (despite its name, Austin Records was a Ft. Worth based label. I haven’t heard this one)
Le Cam LC 331 – Ron Williams with Major Bill’s Texans – “Lady Diana” / “Somewhere Between”
A release by Ronny Williams “Move Up a Little Closer Baby” on the Gold Standard label may also be his – but once I saw the photo of him on the sleeve I decided it’s not possible, do you agree? The flip is sung by his brother Larry Williams, “When You Grow Tired Of Him”.
Larry Mack
One of the best vocals that I’ve heard on the label is Larry Mack’s “Last Day of the Dragon”. Songwriting credit goes to Larry Stanley. This is a track I’d definitely like to know more about. I don’t own it yet and haven’t heard the flip.
Thanks to Martin Hancock, Steve Munger and DrunkenHobo for their additions to this discography and the scans seen here. Thank you to Janis Hellard for the scan of Ty Tex TT 114, Joe Baby and the Donnells.
The Other Half at the Greenville Country Club, from left: David Heath, Alex Bauknight, T A Tredway and Carroll Grant. Not pictured: Phil Sudderth.
It’s not often I hear unreleased songs that catch my attention as these two by the Other Half, a quintet from Greenville, Texas, about fifty miles NE of Dallas. “Severance Call” has excellent harmonies over a solid rhythm, fast bass runs, and a good guitar break without effects. “Lost Everything” is even better, as Phil Sudderth sings in as rough and gravely a voice as I’ve ever heard over staccato guitar chords.
Bassist and vocalist T A Tredway sent in the photos, music and story of the band:
We started The Other Half in Greenville, TX in 1965. T A Tredway (bass guitar, vocals), David Heath (lead guitar, vocals), Carroll Grant (rhythm guitar, vocals), Phil Sudderth (lead vocals, tambourine) and Alex Bauknight on drums.
I had been to a band practice and really didn’t know anyone in the band (don’t think they ever played a gig). Started talking to some people in the band and was asked to come back to listen to the next practice session so I agreed. I was not a musician, just fooled around with a six string with a little folk music. Come to find out at the next practice the band decided to break up. I started talking with David and Phil and said why don’t we just start our own band, half kidding … but we started thinking seriously about it. I was 24 at the time.
David (age 17) was the drummer and Phil (age 18) sang but there was a young kid, Alex (age 14), who wanted to play drums so David decided he would play guitar and we would look for a lead guitar player. After a short time not being able to find a lead suited to what we wanted to do, David decided to play lead and we decided on Carroll (age 21) who had been to a couple of practices would fit right in.
David is the tall lanky kid playing the Gibson hollow body and Carroll is playing the Fender to the right in the pics. I was playing a metalic blue Mossrite Ventures bass all the time in the band. David and Carroll changed to a sunburst Gibson 335 and a Gibson cherry red 330E, respectfully, with Super Beatles and I had a Vox Bassman amp with two speaker cabinets. We had four Vox line speakers run through a 50 watt Bogen amp for our speaker system.
Phil Sudderth, David Heath, T A Tredway and Carroll Grant; hidden is drummer Alex Bauknight
We were really in to The Rolling Stones because Phil sounded just like Jagger. We all loved and performed almost every song on their first 3 albums, “Round and Round,” “Little Red Rooster,” “You Can’t Catch Me,” “Route 66” etc.
We started getting jobs playing sorority and fraternity parties from ETSU in Commerce, renting our own halls in Greenville, and playing any benefits when we could. Through word of mouth, sororities at SMU heard about us and we started getting offers to play for them.
I think while playing one of those parties some one recommended we check on this club at Lovers and Greenville called Louann’s. So we went there, auditioned and got to play there shortly after. Louann’s had been a big band venue and decided to change to rock and roll. Then she asked us if we would consider being the house band during the summer of ’66 and later asked if we would continue to be the house band in ’67 which we also agreed to do. It was a great experience. We played Buffalo Springfield, Yardbirds, Beatles, The Who, Mamas and Papas, The Byrds, Sam and Dave, just about anything during those years but the Stones music was our mainstay. More than one person told us that we sounded better in person than The Stones sounded in person.
In ’66 I think it was we recorded two sides at Robin Hood Brian’s in Tyler, TX. I wrote the songs along with Phil and David. They always got great response when we played them live. We had some acetates done at Seller’s studio in Dallas and I still have one of the 45s. They got a lot of play on KGVl in Greenvile and quite a bit of play by Ron Chapman at KLIF in Dallas.
In ’67 Phil joined the army under suspicious circumstances and we were left without a lead singer. We found another guy from Greenville, Matt Tapp who sang with us for a while but it never was the same. We broke up late in ’67 and I haven’t seen or heard from anyone since then until a few weeks ago I got an email from Carroll who now lives in Sandy, Utah. It sure has been great talking about the fun we had in the 60’s with The Other Half.
T A Tredway
Update, December 2010
T A sent in a live set by the Other Half, recorded on reel to reel during a dance at the Greenville Country Club during the mid-60s. The set leans heavily on the Rolling Stones: four originals plus “Around and Around” and “Cry to Me”, and the rest are by the Beatles, Kinks, Animals and Them, along with some US hits like “Little Latin Lupe Lu” and “Mustang Sally”. I’m including a few here:
Ellis Starkey wrote in about two Shreveport-based bands he played drums and sang with, The Back Alley and The Rogue Show. The Back Alley didn’t release any records at the time, but I hope some unreleased tapes surface so we can hear what they sounded like. Here are the bands’ stories in Ellis’s own words:
The Back Alley
In 1966 “The Back Alley” was formed with Ellis Starkey – drummer, vocalist; John Barlish – guitar, vocalist; Bob “Fist” Raley – Hammond organ, trumpet; Kenneth Nealy – trumpet, vocalist; and Gary Rhineheart – bass, vocalist.
We rehearsed where ever we could, sometimes in Mr. Barlish’s barber shop, sometimes the Musician’s Union Hall, sometimes at Fist’s house, sometimes a laundromat, but most of our practice came from OTJT- on the job training!
We played soul music. In October 1968 we played a black club in Shreveport, La., called The Hollywood Palace. We were the first white band to ever play there. The billed us as “The Back Alley – the Blue-eyed Soul Brothers”. We had a packed house! When we started playing no one danced. We had a light show, strobes, black lights, and flashing color lights. I had the strobes turned on the crowd and during the next song the dance filled up! They loved the strobe lights. John played the guitar behind his head, his back, and with his teeth! He was one of the best soul-type singers around. We also performed at the Afro-American Scene, on Texas Street, Shreveport.
The Tau Kappa Epsilon, at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. “adopted” the band and we were able to play all of their dances. They had the BEST “weekend” parties at a private camp on Lake ‘O the Pines, in East Texas. We would bring our camping and fishing gear along with a ski boat and stay all weekend. What a life!
Fist, the organ player, on guitar; Ellis on drums and John, the guitar player on organ at LSU, Baton RougeThe Back AlleyEllis Starkey on drums
Whenever we needed a date to fill our calendar, I would call Charlie Winn,”The Working Girl’s Friend”, he owned the Bayou Club in Shreveport. We played there alternating with Eddie G. & the Jive Five [who recorded 45s like “Losin’ Boy”, “Go Go Train” and “Soul Feelin'” as Eddy “G” Giles.]
Eddie G, his drummer was nicknamed “Caveman”…he was a tall, big man. One night a fight broke out and one guy told Caveman, “You better watch it…I know karate”. Caveman snarled and said, “I know “ka-38”. Caveman won without a punch!
Eddie G. had a black girl that was his go go dancer, “China Doll”. The night we played the Afro-American Scene, Eddie G. and all his entourage came to see us play. About the 3rd set Eddie sent China Doll up on the bandstand and she started dancing with us. After several songs she flipped off her top. It landed on Gary the bass player…he cracked up when he realized what had happened. He turned every shade of red!
“The Back Alley” performed at fraternity and sorority parties at all of the surrounding colleges in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi until 1969. The Back Alley recorded several original songs but didn’t put anything out, we basically played gigs.
The Rogue Show, 1974
The Rogue Show
Dino and Gordo
In April 1969, I received a call from Jerry Hawkins, President of Musicians Local 116 in Shreveport. He said a full-time band needed a drummer and for me to go play with them. I told him that I didn’t feel I was good enough to play with them. He said yes you are…get on out to the club. The band was The Rogue Show and they were in their third year playing at the Shindig. Very rehearsed.
When we started we sounded like we had been together forever…on the first break Dino Zimmerman, guitar player, came over to me, put his arm around my neck and said you are our new drummer. My band The Back Alley had a gig at La. Tech the next night. David Shelton, another drummer, came in and said he wasn’t playng in his band anymore, so I called John Barlish and set it up for David to play with them.
The Rogue Show was Larry Gordy bass guitar, vocalist; Dino Zimmerman guitar, vocalist; David Rowe organ, vocalist; and Ellis Starkey drummer, vocalist.
David and Ellis
Another reason the band was so good was because we kept the same four members for the five years the band was together. We played six nights a week and rehearsed twice a week, learning at least two new songs a week for the duration of our band.
When I joined the Rogue Show they had been playing at the same club, The Shindig, for three years. I handled all the bookings in my other bands so I started booking college and high school jobs. We left The Shindig and started playing one nighters, we never did go back to the Shindig. That summer I booked the Bayou Club so we could stay rehearsed and learn new songs for the upcoming “fall school season” Sept. – December.
On October 30, 1969, The Rogue Show opened for the Grassroots at Stephen F. Austin College, in Nacogdoches, Texas. We played 30 minutes before they started. They played 30 minutes and then took a 20 minute break. The Rogue Show played those 20 minutes. Then the Grassroots got back up and played for 45 minutes. It was a big night, it was a pillow and blanket concert in the gym. The place was packed. I signed 5 contracts for school dances before I could pack up my drums!
In February, 1970, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition were booked to play SFA. I contacted the lady that had booked us with the Grassroots. She said that we would not be hired because we were too good! She said we don’t want to make concert bands mad by having a local group show them up. First time I ever lost a job for being too good! We ended up playing just about every dance over the next couple years but we never opened for anybody again!
Dale Hawkins (co-writer and singer of Susie Q) came out to hear us perform. He was working for Bell Records at that time. That next week he had us in the studio at Steve Wright’s in Tyler, Texas. Dale said he would shop it around and let us know.
Robin Hood Brians, studio owner, Tyler TX
Jerry Hawkins (Dale’s brother and president of Musicians Local 116) called us and said he wanted to take us to the studio. We went to Robin Hood’s and recorded several songs. Jerry said he would shop it around and let us know.
Jerry called about a week after that and wanted to have a meeting with the band. He told us he had two labels interested, Paula Records and RCA, Nashville. WOW!!! We all talked it over and asked whatever questions we could come up with. It came down to how many cents we received per record sold. Paula Records offered 5 cents and RCA offered 2 cents. Well needless to say went with the higher figure . Major mistake! Knowing what I know now, we should have gone with the major label regardless.
We signed a four record deal over two years. The releases were:
1) Make Me Over Again / Nadine 2) Come Back Baby / Can’t Judge a Book 3) Gretta / Put On Some Love
The “Make Me Over Again” record label shows the writer as Roman Gorky. Ro from David Rowe, man from Dino Zimmerman, Gor from Larry Gordy, and ky (misspelled) key from Ellis Starkey.
Gretta was released one week when it was a “Newcomer Pick of the Week” in Cash Box, Billboard, and Record World, the week of March 25, 1972. The next week no one would play the song, seemed like someone was trying to kill it. In a couple of days Jerry Hawkins resigned as our producer and said that from now on we would have to go through Gene Kent at Paula. I called Gene and set up a meeting.
Gene Kent and I have never gotten along and things didn’t improve this time. There was a time he wanted to be our manager and wanted us to pay him 25%. We said No. I guess this is how he got us back. He said he would handle our selections of songs from now on. I reminded him that we had 1 more release according to our contract. He said OK, but I want you to pick out one of our music tracks of the Uniques and y’all decide on who you want to sing over the track. I said do you mean for one of us to sing over a music bed already recorded by the Uniques? He said that’s it exactly what I mean, like a smart ass. I told him we would not do that and to stick the “Biggest little record shop” up his ass! They sent us a release of contract by mail.
Meanwhile, we were making more money that we ever had. We went to the Orbit Lounge in Bossier City, playing 6 nights per week. In the contract, I stated that we could be off at the club as long as we had a replacement band. I booked the colleges and high schools. We stayed there 2 years and 2 months. When we played at the schools we told everyone to come out and see us whenever they came home. We had big crowds all around.
We played at Hawks Lounge in Shreveport, La. for 8 months. We held the attendance record there with 975 customers paying cover charge of $1.00 per person.
Ellis Starkey
In 1973 we went to the Landmark Club in west Shreveport. We had the same type contract as with the Orbit but at twice the price. We played the Landmark through December 1974. We continued to book all of the best college and high school dances. We performed in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. After five strong years of playing almost every night the Rogue Show hung it up on New Year’s 1975.
Ellis Starkey, 2008
Update: I’m very sad to report that Ellis Starkey passed away on June 1, 2009.
The Rogue Show’s first single, on N-Joy RecordsFor more Rogue Show photos, memorabilia and music, check out their videos of Come Back Baby and Can’t Judge a Book and Make Me Over Again. Special thanks to Ellis for sending in the history and photos of his bands.
The Rogue Show had a 45 prior to Ellis joining the band, “Look to Me” (Larry Jefferson) / “Little Lonely Summer Girl”. It seems to have been the last release on the N-Joy Records label. If anyone has sound clips of this record, please contact me.
I’m very sad to report that Cecil Cotten passed away on Friday, April 4, in Winnsboro, TX, at the age of 62.
Cecil was lead singer of the Briks, one of the great bands to come out of Dallas in the 1960s. He composed the lyrics for many of their songs, including “Foolish Baby”, “It’s Your Choice”, and “Can You See Me”. His singing on “It’s Your Choice” shows a maturity that no other vocal from the era matches, and he was only about 20 years old at the time.
When the Briks broke up, Cecil played for a short time in Texas with three members of the Chessmen: Jimmie Vaughan, Tommy Carter and Billy Etheridge, plus Sammy Piazza on drums. They were managed by Jimmy Rabbit and recorded some songs at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler which have never been released.
In 1969 he moved to San Francisco and started Benny, Cecil & the Snakes with Benny Roe, Keith Ferguson, Steve Karnavas and Steve Davis. The Snakes played house parties for the publishers of Zap Comix, the Rip Off Press.
In recent years Cecil and former Briks bandmate Mike Neal recorded a CD of blues-inspired songs as The Pickin’ Cotten Band.
It’s one of my great regrets that I never met Cecil, and his music will always mean a great deal to me.
The Spectres formed at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, and then based themselves in Monroe, which is about halfway between Shreveport, LA and Jackson, Mississippi. Band members included Daniel Gilbert on lead guitar, Jim Steele on vocals, Sidney Boone on keyboards and vocals and Woodie Bardin on keyboards.
Their repertoire leaned heavily on soul songs, and they often played at the Dynasty in West Monroe.
Monroe was also the base for the N-Joy label, run by Rocky Robbins. Both sides of the Spectres 45 were written by Ron Gray and J.L. Carraway. Gray did A&R for the label and had his own group, the Countdowns, with whom he released three earlier 45s on the N-Joy label, some of which I hope to feature soon. I’d be interested to know why he had the Spectres record these songs instead of his own group.
“No Good, No Where World” has a neat keyboard riff, and a heavy beat. It’s well produced with a nice pop sensibility, while “High Stepper” is a bit of a throwaway, maybe closer to their live sound. My copy of the record has some serious Katrina/Rita water damage on the labels.
Jim Steele contacted me and also sent in the two songs from the later 45:
The writers Ron & Jerry were disc jockeys in Sherveport where we cut those two sides on N-joy at Sound on Sound Studios, which burned down many years ago. Other band members besides Daniel, Sidney, and Woodard were Terry Montgomery on bass – his brother the late Vince Mongomery played bass in the very popular band from Mississippi, The Gants, and our crazy drummer Billy Bass…he’s still crazy after all these years.
You’re right about “High Stepper” it should have been thrown away! The lyrics were handed to me as I was singing them. Sidney did the harmony. He did all the soul stuff. The band even changed to gold jackets for that part of the show. I sang on the Brit Invasion and pop stuff. Unfortuately Sidney died years ago..a very talented man. We all miss him.
For some reason Daniel didn’t play guitar on Stepper, Bobby Stampley, who played in The Uniques with his brother Joe played on it. We cut two more sides in the the fall of 66.
I got drafted in the Army in Aug of that year, but came home on leave and we went to Robin Hood Brians studio in Texas to record two songs that Daniel had written. “I Cried” and “Psychodelic Situation”. Their new singer also sang, but I forgot his name. They came out on Paula, Stan Lewis’ label in Shreveport. I recently found “I Cried” on an Aussie compilation, Wyld Sydes Vol5. Did you get your royalities Daniel? Since I got out of the Army, I’ve played in a few bands and worked in radio. I currently DJ at Classic Hits LA105.3 in Monroe, Louisiana.
“Psychodelic Situation” is not very mind-bending, but it’s a solid song, and “I Cried” is even better. Both sides were produced by Rocky Robin. Thank you Jim for your comments and for sending in these two songs.
July 1966, Crown Room, King Edward Hotel, Beaumont
Beaumont’s Six Deep formed in 1966, combining local country and r&b influences with contemporary folk and British Invasion sounds. Their only 45 on the De-Lynn label is one of my favorite Texas records of all time.
“Girl It’s Over” has a cutting quality to the vocals and guitars that epitomizes the best in garage music. “I Must Go” is a gentle song with a fine harmonies and a succinct, Byrds-like solo.
Original members were guitarist Ken Hitchcock, bassist Bob Welch, David Bishop on lead guitar, Roger Koshkin on keyboards, and Bill Donley on drums. Soon after forming, Dave Everett replaced Bishop and Paul Box replaced Roger Koshkin. Jim Keriotis joined, playing guitar and sharing vocal duties with Ken Hitchcock.
In Beaumont the band played gigs at the Rose Room in the Hotel Beaumont, the King Edward Hotel’s Crown Room, and the Red Carpet Lounge on Gladys St. and opened for bigger acts like the Moving Sidewalks, SJ & the Crossroads, the Cambridge Lads, the Basic Things, the Barons, the Critters and the Clique. They toured around east Texas and across the state line, playing teen clubs like the Box in Tyler and the Puppy Pen in Louisiana.
On Thanksgiving, 1966, their manager, Jack Crossley, set up a recording session at Robin Hood Brians Studio. One source for this story, Mike Dugo’s long interview with David Everett and Ken Hitchcock, contains a detailed account of their recording session that I recommend. Ken Hitchcock wrote “Girl It’s Over” and co-wrote “I Must Go” with Bob Welch.
When I spoke to Bob Welch about his later band, the Mourning Reign, I asked him about his time with the Six Deep:
As to my reflections on Six Deep. Now, that was something. As the interview with Ken and David states, Southeast Texas has always been particularly rich in musical talent and somewhat unique – it was/is oil country, Beaumont being the site of the Spindletop gusher in the early 1900’s that – the area of interest lies along the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana and is populated by an interesting and often dangerous mix of southern rednecks, dirt poor blacks, a small but growing number of Mexicans, and Cajuns of various ethnic blends. The Cajun influence on the music in that area is stronger than you might imagine, primarily because anyone who could manage to lay a dollar bill on the bar without using a stool to do so could get a drink in Louisiana. Hence, just across the river were bars and nightclubs that were like flames on a candle for Texas teens eager to explore those mysteries. Several of those clubs, LouAnn’s, the Big Oaks, and others became meccas for the big name R&B acts of that time and so the music was always hot.
If you’re at all familiar with Cajun cuisine, you know that a staple of that diet is gumbo – a rich stew made by browning flour in oil until it reaches the color of deep walnut, using that to saute’ aromatic vegetables (onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper) and adding lots of water to form the base – then throwing anything and everything else available into the pot to give it character – fish, fowl, sausages, roadkill, whatever – then fortifying it with spices designed to clear the sinuses and thickening it with okra and filet, a fine powder made from grinding dried sassafrass leaves. Gumbo is often ladled over rice and best washed down with liberal amounts of beer. This dish along with jambalaya, or dirty rice, is soul food at its finest and is not a bad metaphor for the music in the region. So, we had heavy influences of swing, hillbilly country, blues, zydeco (which at that time was just called coon-ass), swirling all around us. We spiced all that up with folk music lyricism and rocking backbeats and got Six Deep.
Bob Welch
Ken and David are still two of my dearest friends.. our time as bandmates was too brief, but the friendships have endured, in part due to the intensity of the experience we had together and the joy we shared performing and drafting on the magic that was the mid-60’s. We were average musicians at best, but more than adequate to do respectable covers of a wide range of styles that were popular plus creative enough to put our own mark on tunes in a way that pleased the audiences wherever we played. Not many bands at the time were confident in or capable of doing original material worth beans… we’d often announce them as being cuts off a new album from so and so (name your favorite band)… just to see what would happen… more often than not… we’d get requests for replays…Looking back on it, and even comparing to today’s bands, the Six Deep was blessed with strong vocalists and performers that could get a crowd on its feet. Ken was just out there, way ahead of the times in terms of freneticism. He really shone on material from the Stones, Yardbirds, or the uptempo Beatles songs. The other thing a little off-beat he would do was male-sung adaptations of female tunes… Dusty Springfield, Skeeter Davis, etc…, no one else was doing that. Jim Keriotis was our R&B singer… holy moly was he a monster on Otis Redding, Mitch Ryder, James Brown, anything of that ilk… the women all loved Jimmy… he was typically the most busy after the shows. Together we were able to do all the harmonies, so Byrds, Hollies, Springfield, etc., were all in the repertoire. We had it all… it was a great little band.
Probably the high point for the band was getting to play at a small festival in Houston on same venue as Mothers of Invention, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, and other name acts of that time. While we were just a fill-in act, it was an incredible opportunity for a bunch of fresh punks from Beaumont.
Jack Crossley made tapes of the band live and in rehearsal, but no one knows his whereabouts. After the band broke up in 1967 Bob Welch and David Everett formed Mourning Sun, while Ken Hitchcock went on to the short-lived 1984 Revolutionary War Band.Read more about the Mourning Sun on Garage Hangover here. Also check out Six Deep’s website and the aforementioned interview by Mike Dugo. Thanks to Ken Hitchcock for the scan of the band’s business card, and to Bob Welch for his time in talking about the band. Thanks also to Gyro1966 for the transfer of “I Must Go”.
January, 1967, top: Jim Keriotis, bottom from left to right: Bobby Welch, David Everett, Bill Donley, Ken Hitchcock, Roger Koshkin
“David Everett in foreground, Bill Donley behind him, Lackey against the tree… and me with the ginger hair” – Bob Welch
The Morning Sun formed when the Beaumont, Texas group the Six Deep broke up in 1967. From the Six Deep were Bob Welch bass, David Everett guitar and Bill Donley drums, and with them were Don Lackey lead guitar and Jeff Griffin on keyboards.
One reason this 45 is interesting is each side was recorded by separate groups with no members in common! The a-side, an excellent hippie pop-psych song “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods”, was written by Bob Welch, and produced by the lead guitarist Don Lackey at Lowland Studios.
The harder-edged “Dark Hair” was written by Jack Grochmal and produced by Freddie Piro at Valley Recording Studios. Both Grochmal and Piro were based in California, where they ran Mama Jo’s Studio (Jack was an engineer there). I feel that both sides compliment each other and sound like they could almost be the same band.
The first release was on the Salmar label from Beaumont, listing Lowland Studios on both sides. The National General release is supposed to have better fidelity than the Salmar, but I don’t have the Salmar to compare.
I recently spoke to bassist Bob Welch, who provided me with the photo of the band and a fascinating history of the band:
The band was actually named “Mourning Sun” – when the 45 was pressed by National General, they screwed it up, but oh well, at least we got a release outside of our region.
The lineup of the band was myself on bass, Don Lackey and David Everett on guitars, and Bill Donley on drums. Everett, Donley, and I were remnants of Six Deep. Lackey joined us after returning to Beaumont from a year’s gigging out in LA where he and Jack Grochmal worked in clubs in the South Bay area and also did session work with Freddie Piro at National General, the then nascent label of Universal. Jack followed Don back to Beaumont, sat in on a few gigs and recording sessions with us and was instrumental in getting Piro to release the song.
Unlike Six Deep which was a showy, high-energy, no-holds-barred band, Mourning Sun was much more sedate and serious on stage. We did a lot of covers but not verbatim… sort of like a Vanilla Fudge… in a way, we were a bit more experimental and a lot more into the LA sound… that was the Lackey influence. Six Deep would have never done a song like “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods”. The song came about from the title of a poem written by another good friend of mine, Bob Hanson – the title is the only thing in common, but that’s where it originated.
We originally recorded a cut of “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” at Robin Hood Bryan’s in Tyler (where Six Deep recorded)… that cut was much nicer in terms of sonic quality. However, the guy that funded that session absconded with the master as well as another tune titled “Tuesday Woman”… and we never saw or found him again. So, when the opportunity came up with Freddie Piro, we quickly re-cut the song at Lowland. That’s the one you have… “Dark Hair”, the B side, was written and performed by Jack Grochmal in LA… in the haste to get the deal done with Piro, Jack agreed to put his tune (which Freddie had produced) on the flip.
Lowland Studios was in Pt. Neches, Texas – a small community located between Beaumont and Pt. Arthur. It was owned by Mickey Rouse, who played bass in several R&B (i.e., soul with horn sections) bands – bands with names like The Boogie Kings, Counts of Soul, The Rhythm Aces, etc.. It was just down the street from another important landmark, that being Volpi Music – an old line musical instruments store, it’s where everyone went to get their guitars, amps, etc. – the Volpi’s were an elderly couple who “adopted” all us misfits and gave us better deals than we deserved on our gear.
The studio business was primarily for jingles and demo recording but the space was also large enough for rental as a rehearsal hall. Mickey had 2, 4, and 8 track machines with a 24 channel board that he’d cobbled together, a full set of Neumann mics, a drum isolation booth, a vocal room, some old spring reverb units, nothing fancy… it hissed and sputtered along… wasn’t the quietest room you’d hope for, but it gave us a great place to try stuff out while lending him a hand on jingle production. He was good about doing that for local musicians and bands… allowing us to cut tracks there in exchange for services on jingles and as session players on more serious stuff he was doing with the R&B crowd.
We were very fortunate to have access to the facility and the comraderie and mentoring with Mickey. On occasion, one or both of the Winters brothers or members of their bands would drop in for a jam when they were in town… that was always a treat. We recorded quite a few songs and demos there, nothing though that was ever released other than locally. Mickey closed the studio and went on to have a nice career in accounting, owned his own firm, sold it a few years back and went sailing with his wife. Incredibly nice guy that always treated musicians right, but didn’t tolerate nonsense.
The tune “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” charted mostly in the Southeast, it was a big hit in the Ft. Lauderdale market and got some air play up and down the Florida coast and into the Carolinas. We had several additional tunes in the can as they say. The label wanted us to go on tour to promote “Walk in the Woods” but we were in no position to do so at the time as we all needed to maintain student status to stay out of the draft. So, they dropped it and us, and the record sank into obscurity and the band broke up shortly afterwards.
We had several follow up songs recorded, including one titled “Where’s Love Gone Today” – a very Hollies-like tune – but as I related earlier, it fell by the wayside when we opted out of any touring/promo commitments. Things sort of went their way then as folks were moving out of the area and heading off in different directions. I stayed around for another year, gigging with a local band called Kirk Williams and the Daytrippers, a nice cover band, but with little of the innovation and creative spirit of Six Deep, et.al. I graduated from college and moved to Houston where I started a career in the semiconductor industry. Fast-forwarding a lot, I recently “retired” from Intel Corporation and live in the Sacramento area.
Jack went on to have a successful 25+ yr career in the recording industry as an engineer/session player/vocal arranger in Nashville. He’s really about the only guy I know from that time in our circle who managed to stay the course and make a living in the music biz.
We can only hope those early recordings of “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” and “Tuesday Woman” from Robin Hood Brians studio turn up eventually.
In 2010, the Lowland recording of “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods” was reissued from an original tape on the LP and CD Local Customs: Lone Star Lowlands, a compilation of various acts that recorded at Lowland Studios. Also included are an unreleased Mourning Sun song, “Where’s Love Gone Today” and three by Bobby Welch, “Benshaw Glenn”, “Yellow River” and “Laughing Girl”.
Thank you to Bob Welch for the detailed history and photo of the band.
Thanks also to Borja for the scans of the Salmar 45.
This is actually the very first record released on the Ronn label, a subsidiary of Jewel, based in Shreveport, Louisiana. “Nothing You Do” is fine garage-soul, and though there are horns, the vocals, keyboards and driving rhythm remind me of the Music Machine more than anything else. It was written by Roger Barnes and produced by Gene Kent and Don Logan.
Barnes usually wrote soul or funk music, and in fact, the In-Crowd may be the only white artists in the whole Ronn catalog. A good version of “Midnight Hour” is on the flip.
I’m pleased to say I’ve been in touch with Steve Tuminello, the drummer for the In Crowd, so I’ll let him tell the In-Crowd story in his own words:
I was 17 years old when we cut that record at Robin “Hood” Brians studios in Tyler, Texas. Band members on the record were:
James Gordon – Vocalist Roger Barnes – Keyboard and Vocals Steve Tuminello – Drums Drake Lee – Guitar and Bass Richard Meeks – Guitar and Bass (He is on the fuzz tone lead guitar solo) Jimmy Lloyd – Tenor Saxophone Wallace Dingee – Trumpet Pat Anders – Lead Trumpet
Don Logan and Gene Kent were our managers and promoters of the shows we played. They called them dances, but the kids back then would stand in front of the band and “sweat” the band as they called it. It was kind of like playing a small concert because the halls we played would hold around a 1000 people.
Gene Kent and Don Logan were the top DJ’s in Shreveport, Louisiana at AM 710 KEEL Radio in the 1960’s. Don Logan also was a record executive with Jewel/Paula/Ronn Records. Stan Lewis founder of Jewel/Paula/Ronn records.
I remember Don Logan telling us we had to change the name of the band because we broke the Billboard top 100 (This was late 1966 and the first year Billboard had this designation) and we were being sued by a band named the In Crowd in California. I suggested we change the name to the Inn Crowd. I had the name painted on my bass drum and this was an easy fix. I believe the song hovered around the 10 or 11 mark on the regional charts, as I recall. I didn’t even know we were played outside of Ark-La-Tex.
We became local celebrities and the attendance to our shows increased dramatically. We were just a bunch of high school kids but we were booking for a large amount of money for those times. We used to make a $100 per night each and in today’s dollars that would be around $500 per night.
Roger Barnes and Drake Lee are still in Shreveport and I’m not sure about the rest of the band members. I have often thought a reunion would be a lot of fun. As you mentioned we were a blue eyed soul 8 piece horn band playing R & B covers. “Nothing You Do” was not really our style but was fitting for the AM radio waves in late 1966.
My Uncle, A.J. Tuminello, who taught me to play the drums at age 5, was the original drummer on Dale Hawkins’ Suzie Q, and was involved in the origination of the tune. He was not available on the date of recording so Stan Lewis had his younger brother Ron Lewis fill in for my Uncle in the studio. Ron Lewis is the namesake for Ronn Records.
“Nothing You Do” reached #19 on KEEL in Shreveport in January of ’67.This In-Crowd has nothing to do with the many other In/Inn Crowds around in the ’60s, including the Inn Crowd that featured Hal Ellis (of John Fred’s band), that had three 45s for the Montel – Michelle label.
Despite having recorded at Robin Hood Brians studio, they were also not the In Crowd with Jim Glaves and Bobby Rambo on guitar that released a 45 on Abnak and became the backing band for Jon and Robin.
Wally Dingee and some other members continued the band with Bill Wray on vocals, eventually renaming it to Bill Wray and the Showband Royale. They had a 45 called “For Our Friends” on the Readie label that I haven’t heard.
Thanks to Steve Tuminello for his history of the band and the news articles, and to Wally Dingee for the poster and stills from the Super 8 film of the band.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
My name is Gary Lane Anderson, and I was the songwriter and lead singer/lead guitar for Kandy Kolored Konspiracy — one of my early bands.
I’d been wondering if there were any great rock 45s on Ty Tex when I found The Sensors “Sen-Sa-Shun” / “Side Tracked” at Rex’s sidewalk sale this spring. As it turns out, the Sensors had four 45s on Ty Tex.
I haven’t heard the flip side, a version of “Caravan”, but Not Fade Away #2 says guitarist on that side was Levi Garrett. I assume these were recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, but I could be mistaken.
The Spectres formed at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, and then based themselves in Monroe, which is about halfway between Shreveport, LA and Jackson, Mississippi. Band members included Daniel Gilbert on lead guitar, Jim Steele on vocals, Sidney Boone on keyboards and vocals and Woodie Bardin on keyboards.
“No Good, No Where World” has a neat keyboard riff, and a heavy beat. It’s well produced with a nice pop sensibility, while “High Stepper” is a bit of a throwaway, maybe closer to their live sound. My copy of the record has some serious Katrina/Rita water damage on the labels.
Unlike Six Deep which was a showy, high-energy, no-holds-barred band, Mourning Sun was much more sedate and serious on stage. We did a lot of covers but not verbatim… sort of like a Vanilla Fudge… in a way, we were a bit more experimental and a lot more into the LA sound… that was the Lackey influence. Six Deep would have never done a song like “Let’s Take a Walk in the Woods”. The song came about from the title of a poem written by another good friend of mine, Bob Hanson – the title is the only thing in common, but that’s where it originated.
Lowland Studios was in Pt. Neches, Texas – a small community located between Beaumont and Pt. Arthur. It was owned by Mickey Rouse, who played bass in several R&B (i.e., soul with horn sections) bands – bands with names like The Boogie Kings, Counts of Soul, The Rhythm Aces, etc.. It was just down the street from another important landmark, that being Volpi Music – an old line musical instruments store, it’s where everyone went to get their guitars, amps, etc. – the Volpi’s were an elderly couple who “adopted” all us misfits and gave us better deals than we deserved on our gear.
