Little John and the Monks came out of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Tom Davis, a singer from Scotland, founded the group as the Nomads and changed it to Little John and the Monks when they went to Eugene. The membership changed frequently in the few years the band lasted.
Members included:
Lloyd Barnhurst – ?
Tom Davis – vocals
Luis Weathers – bass guitar
Davy Jones – saxophone
Clark Lynch – drums
Stan Brawn – lead guitar
Bob DiMartino – keyboards
Larry Harding – lead guitar
Dennis Baldwin – ?
Lee Wilson – bass
Bob Martin – drums
In late 1965 the group cut Tom Davis’ original song “Black Winds” backed with a cover of “Needles and Pins” on Jerden 775. Many years later, an unreleased song, “Too Many People” appeared on Big Beat’s Northwest Battle of the Bands Volume 3 showing a tougher sound for the group.
Tork Publishing, perhaps meant for release on Tork, which did release the Moguls – “Round Randy” / “Another Day”.
Anyone have good photos of the group? I’d also like to know who played on what recordings.
Looking for any original songs from this band to help represent Oregon in a documentary-style video about the History of Northwest Rock n Roll, 1957 – 1967. If you are the owner of this recording or know a contact to talk to, please message me at TVDirector@live.com. Thank you ……..Craig Kelly/Tacoma, WA
There used to be a battle of the bands at the Lane County Fair in Eugene and the winner got to record a 45 on the Tork label (Tork was the local prominent teen club). First year winner was the Moguls ‘Another Day’, next year was LJ & Monks. No clue why this didn’t get released but the Tork Club burned down in 1967 and that may have something to do with that. 3rd year winner was a band called Ultimate Hair that was sort of a combination of Moguls and the 7th Resemblance Blues Band – no recording from that win. This was all a long time ago but I’m fairly sure I’m close to the mark on this info.
Tom Davis is my uncle and he passed on xmas in 2020 due to cancer never really new of this time in his life because he wasn’t married to my aunt yet wow if I only new or asked could of gained lots of knowledge