 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. |  |
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When I spoke to Bob Welch about his later band, the Mourning Reign, I asked him about his time with the Six Deep:
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 Bob Welch | |
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| 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 | |
Category Archives: Texas
Floyd Dakil
Updated April, 2010
Floyd Dakil formed his group in 1963 with fellow Highland Park High School friend Andy Michlin, and three sophomores of Thomas Jefferson High School: Ronny Randall on guitar, Terry Billings on bass, and Geoff West on drums. Within a year or so, Andy’s brother Laurry Michlin took over on keyboards.
In February 1964 they won a competition to become the house band at the Pit Club, a 2,500 person venue located at the Bronco Bowl in Oak Cliff. “Chuck Berry rock ‘n roll pre-Beatles – that’s how I would best describe the music we played at that time” said Floyd in a 2008 interview.
They soon released their first 45, the classic “Dance, Franny, Dance” b/w “Look What You’ve Gone and Done” on Jetstar. The label says both sides were recorded live at the Pit. Originally I thought it was likely to be a studio recording with overdubbed handclaps and applause at the beginning, but Geoff West says in his comment below that it was recorded in front of a large crowd at the Pit in the Spring of 1964: “on ‘Dance Franny Dance’ it required at least five minutes to get several hundred teenagers to clap together!”
In 2009 original member Ron Randall contacted me about the group:
Geoff’s recollections are correct. The recording of “Dance, Franny, Dance” was done live at the Pit Club. Larry Lavine was the engineer using a 4 track recorder set up in the women’s dressing room backstage. It was just one of those nights when everything came together. A great recording.
The recordings done live at the Pit survive on CDs that Geoff West made from an original, not released LP. There are eight songs, some are covers, some original. I have my copy.
Maybe, to add to the confusion, or clear things, the songs “recorded live at the Pit”, and then released on Jetstar have the name of the group as The Floyd Dakil Combo. This is correct for legal reasons. “The Pitmen” referred to the house band at the Pit Club. We were the first. The original Pitmen backed a long list of entertainers at the Pit Club, and went on to other successes around Texas. There were others, after we left the Pit Club, called the Pitmen.
The eight songs recorded at the Pit Club represent the beginnings of Dallas’s incredible garage rock scene. The songs are “Roadrunner”, “Dance, Franny, Dance”, “Look What You’ve Gone and Done”, “You Got Me Crazy”, “Concentrate on You”, “Bad Boy”, “Maybe Someday” and “Rendezvous”.
Floyd recalled that he and the producers brought the live tape into a studio and “sweetened” the two songs for the single.
“Dance, Franny, Dance” peaked as high as #4 on KLIF in May, 1964, which is not surprising given KLIF DJ Chuck Dunaway’s involvement – he’s listed as co-producer along with Bob Sanders, owner of the Knight and Spectra record labels. When the Phiadelphia-based Guyden label picked up the songs for national distribution, “Dance, Franny, Dance” hit local charts in Pennsylvania and California, leading to a brief tour of California state fairs and DJ hops that summer. Floyd noted that the Beach Boys came out with their hit “Dance, Dance, Dance” soon after (in November 1964).
Floyd Dakil went on to record three 45s on the Earth label as the Floyd Dakil Four. “Bad Boy” is the first of these, a very good rocker, produced by John Anderson. The flip is a good uptempo song “Stoppin’ Traffic” about a girl who does just that.The second Earth single combines the rockin’ “Kitty Kitty” (great guitar solo too) with a neat pop song, “It Takes a Lot of Hurt”. The third 45 on Earth has a good original, “You’re The Kind Of Girl” with “Stronger Than Dirt” on the A-side.It was a later Pitmen group who recorded a couple 45s: “Earthy”, plus “Summertime Blues” b/w “Suzi Q” (released on Earth 401).
Ron Randall:
There was another, later group, called the Floyd Dakil Four. That group was Floyd, Ronny Randall, Mike Giles (drums) and Terry Billings on bass. That group recorded the songs on the Earth label, produced by John Anderson. I have that picture somewhere.
“Earth” was a term coined by John Anderson, our manager/producer to describe the sound we had with the Floyd Dakil Four. I had added a Fender VI Bass Guitar to the instrument mix, along with my Stratocaster. So we had two bass instruments on some recordings and live performances. Terry Billings on Fender Precision bass, Ronny Randall on Fender VI bass. It was/is a hard driving click-bass/surf/rock sound done an octave lower to the Stratocaster. Add Terry’s Precision bass, and Mike’s drums and that was the foundation of the sound called Earth. “Earth” was written in huge letters on the back of that Fender VI bass. Ron Chapman commented on how full the live sound was at the “Sump’n Else” Studio at Northpark. I continued to perform with Floyd at all kinds of venues until I decided to go to college, get a day job. We continue to be friends today. We participated in a concert about 18 months ago at the Lakewood Theater on Greenville Ave. The concert was dubbed “The Legends of Rock and Roll,” produced by Kenny Daniels. We did a “Reunited” performance live at the Stoneleigh in 2005.
After the Earth 45s, Floyd kept the band together while earning a B.A. from Texas Tech. In 1968 he had a solo 45 “Merry Christmas Baby” / “One Day” on Pompeii. Sometime after that Floyd became the guitarist for one of his idols, Louis Prima, and remained for several years until Prima’s ill health curtailed his touring.
In the late ’80s he started a band with Larry Randall, and this group’s songs were featured in a 1991 movie, Love Hurts with a brief cameo by the group.
In 2009 Floyd was one of the featured acts at the Ponderosa Stomp at SXSW in Austin. I’ve heard a tape of the show and it’s one of the better sets from that night. Floyd played “Dance Franny Dance”, “Look What You’ve Gone and Done”, “Bad Boy” and “Stopping Traffic”, as well as “Nadine”.
This year Floyd’s friend Phil York released an official new CD Rolling Dynamite, collecting some of his early singles and a number of previously unreleased tracks. I just received the copy I ordered, and can provide an overview:
Included are both sides of the Jetstar 45 and both sides of the first Earth 45 (“Bad Boy” and “Stoppin’ Traffic”, though “Bad Boy” on the CD is an alternate with a shorter intro and piano solo [‘take it Andy!’] instead of the ringing guitar break on the 45). Also included are “Kitty Kitty”, the A-side to the second Earth 45; “You’re the Kind of Girl”, the flip from his third Earth 45; and his Pompeii single, “Merry Christmas Baby”. Everything else on it was never released on vinyl that I know of, though five of the unreleased tracks did appear on a CD collection in the mid-90s.
It’s hard to know when the unreleased tracks were cut, as the notes only include a general reminiscence by Floyd and no recording specifics, nor is the CD sequenced strictly by recording date. Of the unreleased tracks the two highlights are definitely the title song, “Rollin’ Dynamite” (a cover of Scotty McKay’s first single, written by Joann Owen) and “Shiver”. Other early songs include “Cold As Ice” and “Sweet Little Anna” and a ballad “Pretty Girl”. “She Bops a Lot” may have been a later song done as a throwback to his earlier style, it’s hard to tell.
A few tracks sound like they could be from late-’60s or early ’70s sessions, including “I Know”, “Turn to the Night” and “Here I Am”, all excellent songs in a gentler style. “Good Times and Rock and Roll” sounds like a 70s track, at least in it’s nostalgic look at the early rock scene. The rest are definitely from the late ’80s or ’90s and range from country to zydeco to “Old Time Rock & Roller”.
Details on recording personnel and dates would be useful for fanatics like myself, but overall I would consider this an excellent retrospective of Floyd’s work, with all of his essential songs presented in excellent sound quality.
I had been looking forward to hearing him play in Brooklyn, New York this summer, but I’m very sorry to report that Floyd passed away on Saturday, April 24, 2010.
Sources include photos from the bigd60s group and a long interview with Floyd Dakil by WFMU’s Michael Shelley from May 10, 2008.
The Mourning Sun (aka Morning Sun)
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.
The Brym-Stonz Ltd. of Angleton “You’ll Be Mine”
An underrated 45, the Brym-Stonz Ltd cut the excellent “You’ll Be Mine” on the Custom label sometime in late 1967 or ’68.
Although I thought it was recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, TX, like other Custom 45s by Billy McKnight and the Reddlemen, Les Roberts states that it was recorded in Custom owner Curtis Kirk’s garage.
“You’ll Be Mine” is fine, moody garage, with a prominent bass line and some unusual chording on guitar and organ. It was written by Dwayne Sanders, while the psychedelic ballad on the flip, “Times Gone By” was written by Leslie Roberts.
Members on the single were:
Leslie Roberts – lead guitar and vocals
Mike Riggle – rhythm guitar / 12-string Rickenbacker, vocals
Henry Munson – Vox Continental organ
Dwayne Sanders – Hagstrom bass
Don Prilop – drums
Earlier members included Ronnie Rogers and Pat Howard.
Curtis Kirk ran the Custom label and seems to have put his name on every song he ever released, but I doubt he contributed to lyrics like “Colored contrasts call me back from illusions of love/ the variations of oceans of lavender skies!”
I recently heard from Les Roberts, lead guitarist and one of the singers for the band:
The Brym-Stonz were a band from Angleton, south of Houston. We were in high school and like most bands met through wanting to play music. We played lots of school functions and after game dances.
The band members were Henry Munson (Vox Continental organ), Don Prilop (drums), Dwayne Sanders (Hagstrom bass), the late Mike Riggle (rhythm/12 string Rickenbacker) who sang the lead vocal on “You’ll Be Mine”, and Leslie Roberts (lead guitar and vocal on “Times Gone By”). The [1968] picture of the band is from after Dwayne Sanders had left.
We recorded these songs in December 1967 at Curtis Kirk’s studio converted garage in Tyler. We actualy recorded 4 songs in Tyler but only put the two songs on record. Curtis Kirk always put his name as a co-writer on songs he recorded. Probably to garner writers royalties in case the song did well.
I used to make the dances at the Brazoria County Fairgrounds auditorium each weekend. I got to see lots of local and regional bands such as BJ Thomas and the Triumphs, Roy Head and the Traits, Freddy Koenig and the Jades, Fever Tree, and others.
We formed another band in ’72 called Moonchild and over the years people left. I still play in a band called Dog Town Blues but everyone else has stopped playing.
Les Roberts
The Cruisers from Harlingen, TX
Thank you to Gloria for providing the names in her comment below.
The Cruisers came from Harlingen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, like Noe Pro and Simon Reyes.
The Cruisers released at least eight singles on local south Texas labels. I didn’t know the lineup of the band until Gloria commented (see below) that the members on the sleeve above were:
E.J. Ledesma – lead vocals & guitar
Rafael “Kai” Saldana – lead guitar
Manny Carmona – sax
Bobby Ledesma – bass
F.G. Renaud – drums
Arnold Cano – trumpet, keyboards
Other members may have included Joe Rodriguez. More info on the band would be appreciated.
They had five 45s on the Pharaoh label from nearby McAllen, Texas, some of which are very pop oriented. The third 45 on Pharaoh, “My Place” fetched a lot of money when it sold recently, but I have no idea as to its quality.
Arnold Cano wrote to me with information about his time in the Cruisers:
The Cruisers were the first band I played with. The person most directly responsible for me joining my first professional band was Carlos (Charlie) Ledesma. He is EJ Ledesma’s younger brother and was in the Harlingen Coakley Band when I met him. Carlos is the one I will thank for the rest of my life for getting me involved in music.
I came to Coakley halfway through 8th grade from a private school in Brownsville. Lived in Harlingen and wanted to play in the school band. Ended up playing French horn and sat next to Carlos, who played saxophone. He was the one that told me that the band (Cruisers) needed a trumpet player and asked me if I thought I might be able to fill that spot. Even though I had just started playing the French horn that year I decided to give it a try. Asked my parents if they would help me monetarily with purchasing a trumpet and they did. Went to Bledsoe’s Music and bought one, to this day I still thank them for the support they gave me all through the years in music.
Carlos and I were considered younger brothers to the guys and we looked up to them as such. I was 15 and in the 9th grade when I recorded “Oh Sweetness” with the guys, I luckily wrote the month and year on the 45 back then or else there would be no way I would remember now.
I eventually moved on to playing keyboard, again asking my parents for the help. They never hesitated and soon I was playing keyboards with the band. What I don’t remember are the circumstances of leaving the band.
I also played with Noe Pro for a bit … Ray and The Carousels (formerly The Belaires), Los Hermanos Ramos, La Justicia, Tequila Sunrise, Kaos (this was at The Helipad), The AllNighter’s, Tequila Mockingbird and then moved to San Antonio with my AT&T job and played with a Texano band there. I transferred to the Dallas area to follow my telephone job and met an old musician friend I had played with in the valley (Henry Lee). Played in his band, Slick, for a couple of years and then got a call from another friend (Kevin Martin) that I had played with in Kaos Band back in the valley. He was going to contract event gigs and already had a couple of agents. I jumped at the opportunity to get away from the nightly club gigging. Started playing with his band (HitSquad) in Houston. It is a drive but we just do corporate and better paying events. I’ve played many years and still love the music.
E.J. Ledesma, who has had a long career in Tejano music wrote many of their songs including “My Place”, “Another Lonely Night”, “Please Let Me Be (The One for You)” and “Oh! Sweetness”. If anyone has scans or mp3s of the other Pharaoh records, please let me know.
The Cruisers had two releases on the ARV International label, also from McAllen, “Just Having Fun” and “Movin’ Man” were written, arranged and produced by Bobby Ledesma. The b-sides to each are lighter, with “Lucky Man” featuring horns.
List of 45 releases:
Pharaoh 125 – An Angel Like You / The Lonely (1964)
Pharaoh 128 – Another Lonely Night / Please Let Me Be (The One For You)
Pharaoh 139 – My Place / Walkin’ and a Ridin’ (1965)
Pharaoh 148 – The Fire’s Gone / Oh! Sweetness (Aug. 1966)
Pharaoh 155 – Celina / Baby Doll (February 1967)
ARV 5004 – Just Having Fun / Lucky Man (May 1967)
ARV 5010 – Movin’ Man / Children Playing In The Sun
Impacto IM-178 – Down By the River / I Can’t Believe It (1968)
For more on the Pharaoh label see the article on this site.
Thank you to Fred Hoyt for the scans of “Another Lonely Night” / “Please Let Me Be” and the sleeve, to Westex and Max Waller for additions to the discography, and to Danny and Gloria for the info on the band in their comments, below. Thank you to Arnold Cano for his story on the group.
South Lamar and Speed Limit
A real obscurity from Irving, Texas on the Dunwright label that I can’t find a shred of info about.
“Population Zero” starts out well, with a great opening wave of reverbed distortion, then turns into a dirge with horns about wandering around a post-apocalyptic landscape. The song is psychedelic in some ways, but defies easy categorization.
“Pollution” begins as a funky instrumental. For the bridge there’s a slow horn break, then a jarring blast of guitar before going back into the rhythm. Both songs were written by V. Murphy, which turns out to be Vince Murphy.
A version of “Population Zero” turns up on a 45 on the Madella label by the Chaps b/w “Water Hole on Madella”, so there may be some connection between the two groups. The Chaps had many other releases including singles on the Paula and Soft labels.
Thanks very much to Don for introducing this one to me.
Billy McKnight & The Plus 4
Out of Tyler, Texas come Billy McKnight & The Plus 4 on the Custom label. “You’re Doin’ Me Wrong” is a fine Yardbirds-influenced punker, the drumming is especially fluid. An odd feature is the way the song fades out twice, each time coming back with a shrill keyboard note.
“Time Wasted” is almost country in its sound. I don’t know who else was in the band; Larry Graham did the arranging.
Both songs were written by McKnight and Curtis Kirk, who ran Custom and also owned Tyler Publishing. It seems he was the type of publisher who had his name added onto every song released on his label. Kirk had been a country singer in the ’50s (info on his first session here), most notably cutting “I Can’t Take It With Me”.
“Unlike Robin [Hood Brians], who began in the living room and moved to the back yard, Curtis started in his garage and stayed there!” – from a feature on Tyler studios in Billboard’s Sept. 8, 1973 issue.
This was the first garage 45 released on Kirk’s own Custom Records, which usually released country or gospel 45s. After the Billy McKnight 45, Custom released a killer by the Reddlemen , “I’m Gonna Get in that Girl’s Mind” and a very good one by the Brym-Stonz Ltd.
Billy released a 45 on International Artists the following year as Billy Wade McKnight, “Trouble’s Comin’ On” / “I Need Your Lovin'”, both McKnight originals. These are lighter pop sides, verging on country music, and were produced by Curtis Kirk and Steve Wright, and arranged by Larry Graham.
In 1970 he cut another single as Billy Wade McKnight on Congress, “Stacey” / “Mary Anne”, produced by Tommy Cogbill, but I haven’t heard this yet.
The Actioneers “It’s You” on Shane
The Actioneers recorded these two songs in just two hours on November 15, 1965 at Huey Meaux’s Recording Service Studios in Pasadena, Texas. You can tell they went straight from the garage or rec room into the studio, this 45 is about as unpolished as garage gets.
“It’s You” is a great fast rocker, with a repetitive guitar line. I think it’s amazing that there’s no bridge or break, or change of chords for the chorus! The band gets the riff down and stays with it to the finish. The drum kit might be nothing more than a tom tom and a snare!
“No One Wants Me” is also simple, but has a tom tom and tambourine break. I’ll bet they didn’t do many takes of this one!
Both sides were written by Ray Gilburn. The band was probably from Houston, but they were pretty much unknown until boxes of unplayed copies of their 45 were found in Huey Meaux’s studio.
I did find a couple mentions of them in the Baytown Sun from 1965, but no lists of band members.
The only other 45 I know about on the Shane label was by the Eccentrics – “Baby I Need You” / “She’s Ugly” on Shane 60, both songs written by L.J. Swift.
The Kidds
I know little about this group. Their one 45 was produced by Tommy Bee, who had been based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while the Big Beat label shows a Greenville, Mississippi address at 617 Nelson St. 
The band actually came from Beaumont, Texas, Kelly High School to be exact. Their guitarist Joey Patrizi commented below. John Schmidt played bass, to be replaced by Glen Moyer.
A good rocker, “Straighten Up And Fly Right” was written by Bryan and Brown. On the flip there’s a ballad, “See What My Love Means”. This 45 is not rare and can be picked up cheaply.
The Five
The Five seem to have come from Arlington, Texas. I couldn’t find any definite info on them until a friend of the band, Michael, commented below.
They sound like they were very young when they recorded this great double-sided 45 on the Britian (sic) label, the pounding “She Doesn’t Love Me Anymore” b/w a fine jangler, “I Don’t Care If It Rains All Night”. Tommy Jacobs and Terry Jacobs are the songwriters.
I’ll repeat most of Michael’s comment from below:
I knew these guys very well back in Junior High in Arlington, Texas (closer to Ft. Worth than Dallas).
Their original last name was Bryant, but changed to Jacobs after being adopted by their step-father. Tommy was about 2 years older than me and Terry was a year younger. Terry was the lead guitarist and lead singer while Tommy was was rhythm and back-up. Their drummer’s name was Bill Smith and can’t recall the bass player’s name, but he was a college guy and I always remembered that he played an Epiphone bass.
Terry always said that he wrote both songs for my sister, since he had such a big crush on her. The Five (one of many names they had gone by) were constant winners at local battle of the bands contests. And Terry could sing a mean falsetto “You Really Got Me.” Ha!! I think the single was made in ’66, but could have been early ’67, since I moved to Colorado in mid-’67. I saw them one more time, in’68, when we bumped into each other at Six Flags Over Texas. I heard that they moved to the San Francisco area shortly after that but no word on whether they kept up the music. The Britian label came about when the producer asked them what they wanted to name their label. They told him “Britain” but he misspelled it.
Thanks to Joe from the Ugly Beats for bringing the Five to my attention.
I’d love to hear from Terry Bryant, Tommy Bryant, or Bill Smith if they’re out there. Anyone have a photo of the group?