Another obscurity from the MTA label. Ferguson Tractor was the vehicle (hah, sorry for the pun!) for D. Ferguson, who wrote both these songs. “12 O’Clock High” has strong fuzz guitar backing the vocals and what sounds like a Leslie speaker for the guitar’s wah effect on the chorus.
“Desperation Blues” is very much like other psychedelic blues from 1967, like the Dead or Big Brother & the Holding Co. The guitar fills remind me of early Country Joe & the Fish especially. Neat watery effect on the organ. Anyone who likes blues in the style of the early Bay Area groups should dig this.
I’ve read that “Desperation Blues” was the last 45 released by the Moonglow label, in early 1967, but I’ve only ever seen it on MTA, a 1969 release. The Moonglow link, if it’s real (which I doubt), plus the general sound of the record strongly suggest this is a California group.
I served in the USAF starting in 1969 with Dick Ferguson who sang and played the Guitar, he told me he got activated from the USAF Reserve when he had a record with his band Ferguson Tractor and would not cut his hair, so the USAF activated him. He then played in a local band in SW Oklahoma while in the AF. He was a white guy and all the other members of his OKLAHOMA band were black guys. I visited he and his wife Eilene (sp?) in Camden NJ after he got out.