Ohio Express

By the end of 1969, Buddah (now Buddha) Records' star teeny-bopper group, Ohio Express, notoriously famous for its top 40 radio hits Yummy Yummy Yummy and Chewy, Chewy, was ready for a serious musical change. In mid-'69, core Ohio Express members Tim Corwin, Dale Powers, and Doug Grassell came to Austin to relax, to check out its music scene -- which was rapidly gaining national attention -- and quite literally to "regroup". Buddah had just released what became the group's final hit single. Ironically, that single, Sausalito, hadn't even been recorded by Corwin, Powers, and Grassell, but, instead, by studio musicians and future members of 10cc. Nonetheless, the single was credited to Ohio Express by Buddah, perhaps only to capitalize on the recognition value of the group's name. Frustrated, the new direction the trio had in mind was a type of rock-jazz fusion, a logical progression from the power rock that they had pioneered as one of the more imaginative pop-rock bands catering to a trendy teen and pre-teen audience.

The Ohio Express work tape box

Sonobeat owners Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) seemed to bump into the trio all over Austin, including at the Vulcan Gas Company, and eventually were formally introduced. Hoping to produce a hit single with a nationally-established name-brand group, Bill Sr. offered "free" recording sessions and helped enlist additional Austin musicians to round out the group while in the studio. The resulting sessions, produced by Bill and Rim and engineered by Rim, were "magical" according to Rim, but the group was still under contract to Buddah and, as it turned out, none of the tracks could be released by Sonobeat. But the group didn't want to offer its "new sound" to Buddah, either, and elected to leave the Sonobeat tracks "in the vaults", which is unfortunate, because their new sound was a solid commercial experiment blending a little pop jazz with a strong base of power rock while leaving childish bubblegum lyrics behind.

In March 1970, Rim created mono trial mixes from the 4-track session tapes of the group's original songs Sweet Genie, Beauty So Deep, and Greyhound Shuffle. The sound bites we offer demonstrate the interesting and mature musical direction the Ohio Express took in their Sonobeat sessions.

Fast Cotton

Fast Cotton master tape box

In 1969, the Sweetarts, who had enjoyed a multi-year run as one of Austin's premiere frat bands and who recorded Sonobeat's first release in '67, morphed into Fast Cotton. Core Sweetarts members Ernie Gammage (vocals), Dwight Dow (drums), Tom Van Zandt (keyboards), and Pat Whitefield (bass) were joined by Johnny Richardson (guitar, formerly of the Georgetown Medical Band), Misty Browning (vocals), and Cato T. Walker (tenor sax). By the time Sonobeat owner/producer Bill Josey Sr. recorded Fast Cotton in late 1970, Danny Galindo, formerly of the 13th Floor Elevators, had replaced Pat Whitefield on bass. The addition of Johnny, Misty, and Cato had thickened up the old Sweetarts sound (which was real good by any standard) and permitted Fast Cotton to shift its focus from top 40-style frat rock to rhythm and blues and more experimental original material. Fast Cotton was named after a greyhound racing dog Dwight saw at a track in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Fast Cotton in Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio

Fast Cotton recorded five songs at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in Northwest Austin. All were solid, tight performances of original material. The only complete mixes in the Sonobeat archives are monaural trial mixes made from the original 4-track session tapes. Bill and Ernie appear to have selected two songs for final mix down in stereo as a Sonobeat single release shortly before Fast Cotton unexpectedly broke up and Ernie moved to England in December '70. Without a band to support the release, Bill was forced to shelve the tapes.

There are very few photos of the interior of Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio. Some of the best are of the Fast Cotton sessions, which were preserved by brothers Ernie and Phil Gammage and appear at the Sweetarts retrospective web site.

Danny Galindo passed away in 2001. Pat Whitefield left Fast Cotton to work with Austin's developing jazz scene, eventually joining the Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 2001, Pat reunited with Tom Van Zandt and Misty Browning to form Austin rhythm and blues/pop band Smokehouse, which then became the Leghounds when Misty departed. Ernie Gammage went on to record with Base, a studio band that recorded with Sonobeat in '72 and '73. Ernie's current band, the NewMatics, is based in Austin.

Tom Van Zandt session tape box

On the heels of the Fast Cotton sessions (see entry immediately above), Sonobeat owner/producer Bill Josey Sr. recorded three demo songs written and performed by Fast Cotton keyboardist Tom Van Zandt, who also was a member of Fast Cotton's predecessor band, the Sweetarts. Tom's sessions were recorded in November 1970 at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studios with the sole purpose being to circulate a demo tape of Tom's original tunes to A&R executives at the major record labels. Bill Sr. annotated the "target" artists who he believed would be interested in each of Tom's three songs: the first untitled tune was aimed for the Carpenters, the second (also untitled) for Segio [sic] Mendez and Brazil 66, and the third, On a Locust Summer Day, for Bobby Gentry, famous for her 1967 matter-of-fact story-song Ode to Billie Joe.

Tom played and sang all three songs, and he played electic piano on all three plus acoustic guitar on On a Locust Summer Day. If you're familiar with Ode to Billie Joe, you'll understand Bill Sr.'s choice of Bobby Gentry for Summer Day. The minimalist instrumentation make Tom's songs all the more interesting as there's nothing to distract the listener from the melody and message of each.

Interestingly, the Van Zandt session notes are taped to the back of a box Bill Sr. previously had used to house Fast Cotton session masters. There appear to be no 2-track mix-downs of the original 4-track session tapes, so we've taken the liberty of mixing two of Tom's tunes according to Bill's instructions on the tape box.

Wildfire

California trio Wildfire came to Austin in 1969 by invitation to play a private concert at the popular Hill on The Moon venue at City Park on Lake Austin. The group found Austin so appealing that they decided to stay indefinitely. By the late '60s, Austin had become a lifestyle magnet attracting progressive bands from across the U.S., but, like most groups that made the trek to Central Texas during the '60s and '70s, Wildfire never broke into the big time as did acts like Freddie King, the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Allman Brothers, and ZZ Top, with whom Wildfire shared the stage in their Texas performances. Nonetheless, the hard rock trio played all Austin's great venues, including the iconic Armadillo World Headquarters, as well as other venues through the state. Although Wildfire didn't become a nationally-known band, they made a remarkable impression in Texas and to this day are the subject of great affection and admiration on fan blogs and Internet message boards.

Wildfire on stage in Austin, Texas

From '69 until '72, when the band broke up, Wildfire made Austin its home three quarters of the year, during the University of Texas' fall and spring semesters, and returned to Southern California during the summers. After laying down partial tracks at the Beach Boys' recording studios in summer '70 -- Wildfire guitarist Randy Love is Beach Boy Mike Love's cousin -- the trio returned to Austin and eventually ended up at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studios toward the end of the year. There they cut a demo of original material. Sonobeat owner Bill Josey Sr. produced and engineered Wildfire's 8-song album in what was almost certainly the first of Sonobeat's "work for hire" sessions -- those in which Sonobeat simply provided studio and engineering time in exchange for hourly fees. Since Wildfire paid for the sessions, it owned its master tapes and self-released the resulting album, which has come to be known as Smokin. The album, following the style of Sonobeat's classic demo LPs, was released in a plain white jacket bearing hand numbered stickers. The album's initial pressing (band members recollect variously from 100 to 1,000 copies) rapidly sold out, and today an ultrarare copy of one of those original vinyl pressings has become a "must have" for devoted collectors. A bootleg of the album circulated a in the '90s, made from a cassette tape copy of the original masters. Sadly, the master tapes were lost years ago and there isn't a "protection" dub in the Sonobeat archives. Happily, in 2006, the band released a CD of the album re-mastered from an open reel copy of the master tape that Barbara Light Lacy, the band's long-time friend and present producer, had held onto for more than 35 years.

Band members recall that when they cruised around Austin with producer Bill Josey, he was always on the lookout for a 7-11, where he would stop in for a Mars Bar.

Wildfire was (and is again, because the group reunited in 2005 with its original members) Donny Martin (drums), Randy Love (guitar and vocals), and Danny Jamison (bass and lead vocals).

The band's retrospective web site, www.wildfire-smokin.com, features lyrics and sound clips from all 8 songs on the highly prized Smokin album along with other interesting tidbits about the band and its members. Wildfire's site also offers the remastered album for purchase on CD. We can assure you that where there's smoke, there's fire.

Next: 1971