Though born in Texas, Keith Allison made his mark in Los Angeles. A resemblance to Paul McCartney helped him land a starring role on the national show Where the Action Is.
He became close friends with Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders and Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, and soon he was playing sessions for both groups on guitar and keyboards.
His album In Action features “Louise”, a fantastic Gary Usher production and the single hit the charts in March of ’67. Louise was written by Jesse Lee Kincaid (real name Nick Gerlach), who was a member of the Rising Sons with Gary Marker, Kevin Kelley, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.
The flip, “Freeborn Man”, written by Allison with Mark Lindsay has become a country standard. Keith joined the Raiders in late 1968, then went into acting.
Sharing the Jonesboro’s Alley label with the Esquires, the Newcastle Blues cut a cool cover of Rufus Thomas’ “Walkin’ the Dog”, but I prefer the flip, the funky “Cotton’s Mama”, an original by Mike Downing.
The Ravin’ Blue recorded two 45s in Nashville for producer Jack Clement and the Monument label.
Lead guitarist Bob Bernard wrote their best side, “It’s Not Real” and co-wrote “Love” with band members Art Christopher and Larry Nix. Art Christopher Jr. wrote the top side of their second record, the more pop-flavored “Colors” which was backed with “In My Sorrow”.
Neither record seems to have done very well, though their first received a release in Germany, France and Italy, and “Colors” also had a German release with a rare picture sleeve of the band.
I hadn’t been able to find out much about the group until I heard from Charlie Davis, drummer of the Cavaliers of Mississippi, who wrote to me:
I played drums on the session with The Ravin’ Blue, “Love” and “It’s Not Real”. They were all attending Mississippi State University in Starkville, MS and were called The Knights from Starkville. We also had Jo Frank and the Knights from Leland, MS: “Can’t Find a Way”.
Photo of the Ravin’ Blue that was used on a German release of “Colors”. Can anyone ID who was who in this photo?The Viet Nam war was raging about this time and The Knights drummer was drafted. We [the Cavaliers] were playing a gig which [Knights bassist] Jimmy Johnson had heard about and was looking for talent (for the manager of The Gentrys out of Memphis). He phoned me afterwards and asked if I would do the session. I had just completed my sophomore year of high school. We laid down the instrumental tracks at a studio in Memphis, TN named Sonic Studios owned by Roland Janes, where Travis Womack cut the instrumental “Scratchy”. And yes it was produced by Jack Clement from Nashville. They also changed their name to The Ravin’ Blue.
The vocals were added at Sun/Phillips studio the following Monday but I had returned to school. So, later on Jimmy Johnson mailed me one copy which I lost and never heard the songs again until I made contact through a friend that knew Bob Bernard about six years ago.
That was the only session or time that I was hired but Jimmy Johnson did phone me a few months later to join the group and to be on the TV show Hullabaloo but I was already in a rock ‘n’ roll group and still in high school. I don’t know if they were ever on that TV show.
In 2022 the nephew of Ronald Baldwin sent the photos of the Ravin’ Blue, below. Ronnie Baldwin was originally from Houston, but he had been attending Mississippi State University and lived in Tennessee until 1970. It seems likely this is a later version of the group, but I need confirmation of that. If anyone can ID the other musicians in this photo, please contact me.
Is this the same band who recorded on Monument? Ronnie Baldwin on guitar, second from left. Can anyone ID the other musicians?
Peavey promotional photo for the Ravin’ Blue. Ronnie Baldwin on guitar. sleeve for ’60s French release
sleeve for ’60s Italian releaseRare German sleeve for “Colors”
The Blue Chords circa 1960-61 at a TV studio in Bluefield, W. VA. From left; Steve Epperly (drums), David Epperly (keyboard /tenor sax), John Laughter (tenor & bari sax), Bluefield College student Alfred Thompson (tenor sax) and Roger Bailey (guitar). John Laughter writes, “Arnold Smith played bass but was unable to make it in time for the photo. He presently performs with The Emeralds.”
The Blue Chords released only one record, “So Far Away”, a very well-played and recorded ballad b/w this cool bit of soul-garage with horns “The Mini Movement. The Reverb Records label of Roanoke released the single as 6745M01, with no writer credit on “So Far Away”.
Steve Epperly wrote “The Mini Movement”, which runs all of 1:28! Since first posting about the band, Steve Epperly wrote to me:
The Blue Chords were from the Bluefield, VA area, and played from 1958 to 1978.
The Blue Chords were especially known in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk area where they played in The Top Hat and other club venues from 1959-1962. The Blue Chords opened for many nationally known artists including but not limited to The Del Vikings, The Gladiolas (later known as Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs), Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Ricky Nelson, Art Neville, The Delfonics, Percy Sledge, Bill Deal and the Rhondells, and The Okaysions.
The Blue Chords recorded “So Far Away” and “The Mini Movement” in May, 1967 in the basement recording studio of James E. Parcell who owned Associated Recording Service in Roanoke, VA. The musicians were Arnold Smith who played bass and provided lead vocal on “So Far Away”; Larry Frost and Ron Sagady on horns: Jack McCormick- guitarist; David Epperly -organist, vibes, and saxophone; and Steve Epperly- drums and lead vocalist on “The Mini Movement”. The Blue Chords made other recordings in that studio, but “So Far Away” and “The Mini Movement” were the only ones ever pressed.
The Blue Chords, left to right; Steve Epperly (drums but holding a bass), John Laughter (bari sax), David Epperly (tenor sax), Alford Thompson (tenor sax), Roger Bailey (guitar). Missing from photo, the late Arnold Smith (electric bass)
John Laughter sent in the great photos of the band seen here. His comment about Blue Chords around 1960 is worth repeating here in the main article:
I was fortunate to have played sax with the “Fabulous Blue Chords” for about two years before moving to Florida. I recall 1959-1960 or maybe it was 1960-1961. We played in various dance halls and frat houses in and around the Bluefield, West Virginia and Virginia area.
But the real good times were spent during the summer months at Virginia Beach in the Top Hat Club. The club had two stages and two bands six nights a week so when we kicked into our break song the other band picked it up to keep the music going. On an hour, off an hour.
The door next to our stage opened onto the boardwalk where a lot of the underage college kids would stand or dance. When the club was packed some of the patrons would dance on the table tops after consuming the 3.2 beer. And those summer night were HOT! We would sweat and play the new hits of the day.
I remember a drummer with one of the guest bands, “T & T” Braggs. What he could do with only a bass, snare, hi-hat and ride cymbal was fantastic! Another band was from Philly. They also brought down the house.
We would visit the local music store on Saturday and pick up the latest 45 rpm’s to learn on Sunday. Then to the Neptune restaurant at the corner for First Street and Atlantic Blvd. for a seafood dinner in the 56 two tone green Ford station wagon with the band’s name on the side.
One of the apartments that we lived in was on the south end of town next to an all night doughnut/coffee house. I would go down and listen to the jukebox until the hours of the morning. And as with several of the other members, we are still rockin’ to this day!
Update 2015: James Shott of the Sinsations writes that Arnold Smith and David Epperly have passed away.
The Top Hat Nightclub, Virginia BeachTop Hat interior
Top Hat photos taken from the Bill Deal website, now defunct.
The Blue Dells: Lester Long (at top holding sax), Doyle Smith (center), Bill Maloney (at left with guitar), Bill Hamilton (right with bass), and Larry Reynolds (at bottom with drum sticks).
The Blue Dells were from Cincinnati but recorded this 45 at Ray Allen’s studio in Louisville, Kentucky. The publishing was through Shad O’Shea’s Counterpart Music in Cincinnati.
“Trust Me” is cool moody garage-rock with horns that don’t intrude.
The flip, “Everything for You” is a more typical ballad, and was written by D.B. Doyle and Lester Long. Writing credits on “Trust Me” are D.B. Smith – two D.B.s in one band? No, it turns out that is a misprint.
I didn’t know anything about the band until commentors below filled me in. One of these is the Blue Dells’ drummer Larry Reynolds, who sent in the photo above. I’ll repeat his comment here:
Band members [were] Larry Reynolds drummer, Bill Maloney lead guitar/singer, Doyle B. Smith organ/lead singer, Bill Hamilton bass guitar/ backup singer, Lester Long saxophone/backup singer. The band joined together in 1965 and broke up in 1969. We played at the Starfire Lounge for over two and a half years, Mustang Room, Tiki Lounge, and all over Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana. The band appeared on several record hop type TV shows in Cincinnati and Dayton to promote our record.
Thank you to Larry for responding to my request for a photo of the band.
Justice Records was a vanity label based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and run by Calvin Newton. For well under $1,000 a band could record an album’s worth of songs in 4 hours at a local studio, have a few hundred copies pressed with a b&w cover, and then maybe try to recoup their investment by selling copies at their gigs.
Skip and the Creations cut their Justice lp in 1967. They had a fan club based in Colonial Heights, Virginia, outside of Petersburg, According to the caption on the blurry photo on the back cover, band members were Skip, Walter, Brute, Jeffrey, Rick and Tommy. Someone has assiduously marked Jeffrey and Skip on all the photos on my copy, too bad they didn’t include the guys’ last names!
One source says MOBAM stands for “Makers Of Bad-Assed Music” which you may or may not agree with, but there are some fine cuts on this lp. Leading the bunch is what appears to be a band original, “I’m Calling You Baby”. Of the cover songs, my favorite is the lead-off track, “Respectable”, and I like their version of “Harlem Shuffle” almost as much. The band manages to get a good groove going on “Ninety Nine and a Half” after the guitarist’s intro nearly goes MIA.
A good overview of the Justice label is available here.
The Chants released one great 45 in late 1966, “Hypnotized” b/w “Elaina”. The B. Ware label was owned by William Ware, who ran the Pirates’ Nook club and his booking agency at the 4420 Elm St. address listed on the label. Bill Ware gave me the phone number of Chants’ vocalist Darrel Howard, which led to a long conversation with Darrel and lead guitarist David Norfleet about their time in music.
The Chants formed at Garland High School. David Norfleet had started out on steel guitar, but after hearing Elvis he knew he wanted to be playing rock n’ roll, and Chuck Berry became his main inspiration on guitar. Ron Vargesko played rhythm guitar, Forest Eubank drums, and Brownie Sherrill played bass.
Darrel Howard’s best friend in high school, Tommy Galbert, was the keyboard player for the group. When their original lead singer left to go to college, Darrel volunteered to sing. When Tommy went into the Navy, the band did without a keyboardist for some time.
The Pirate’s Nook nightclub opened in 1963 on the corner of Elm & Carroll in east Dallas, then a hot area for night life. The club had once been an old hotel, with a glass showcase out front announcing the bands. It had high ceilings, a central stage and platforms on the sides for go-go dancers. I was surprised to hear there was no dance floor, though.
The Chants auditioned for the gig at the Pirates Nook and started there in early 1966, taking over for the Chapparals. The Nook previously hosted extended residencies from Oklahoma’s Five Americans, who were discovered by Abnak there; the Allusions (also from Oklahoma); and the Just Us Five.
vocalist Darrel Howard
The band played six nights a week to packed crowds for about a year and a half. Brownie and Forest were still seniors in high school at the start. The Chants’ live act consisted mostly of Top 40 covers, including James Brown, Beatles, and Sam and Dave hits. They played occasional shows outside the Nook if the money was good, including once at Texas Tech with the Chessmen. Unfortunately their live show was never recorded.
The band rarely played original songs while at the Nook. During practice Bill Ware heard them rehearsing a couple of David’s original songs and decided they should make a record. The band went to the old Sumet Sound Studios (later Sumet-Burnet Recording, I believe) in late ’66. Darrel Howard sang lead on Hypnotized, and David Norfleet sang Elaina.
Rhythm guitarist Ron Vargesko had grown up playing the accordion, and while trying the studio’s organ he came up with keyboard parts the band decided to work into the record. After the session the other members told Ron he should move over to keyboards permanently!
Both sides showed commercial potential, leading the big Dallas top 40 station KBOX to chose it as a pick hit. KBOX wanted the Chants to promote the 45 at station-sponsored shows around town. Bill Ware had the band under contract, though, and wouldn’t let them play to promote the record without payment. KBOX, of course, pulled it from their playlist and the record sank.
The band felt Bill had blown this chance, and that if another opportunity came up in the future he might interfere with that as well. When their contract ran out they wouldn’t resign.
The band moved to the Cajun Club at the Quarter Apartments on Maple Ave. This was the nicer of the two Cajun Clubs. The one on the east side, where Dusty Hill played with the Warlocks, was a dive in comparison.
At the Cajun Club the band became friends with the Five Americans who lived at the apartments and were often at the club. The Five Americans worked with the Chants on some songs, but according to David, everything came out sounding like the Five Americans!
David also worked with two bartenders at the Cajun Club, John Broberg and Randy Shelton. Broberg and Shelton had written a song called Help Me Find a Way with Neal St. John. David went into the studio with them a few times, and a 45 of the song was released as by The Upper Class on Charay. It later was picked up for national release by the United Artists Smash label, but never became a hit.
While at Cajun club Ron quit and Forest was drafted. Finding new members, the Chants took to the road, ending up in Lawton, Oklahoma with a residency at the Tradewinds club. One by one band members left; by the time the Chants finished up in California, only the bass player was left. While at the Tradewinds. David quit music for three years to take care of his wife and new baby.
Darrel Howard left the Chants and joined Quest from 1969-1975, singing and playing keyboards, and recording a privately-pressed album with them. He retired from playing music professionally, and started building race cars.
David Norfleet went into the Hyde Park Circus, played at the Fog Club and Soul City. The Fog was an afterhours place, and touring acts like Jimi Hendrix, Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers, and John Fogerty sat in while he was there. David went to Europe in ’77-’80 with the Bandits, sharing bills with Dire Straits, Golden Earring, and the Boomtown Rats at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam. He returned to Dallas and continued working in music professionally until just a few years ago.
Updates
David Norfleet passed on July 4, 2008.
Bill Ware, proprietor of the Pirate’s Nook and owner of the William Ware Agency passed away on May 9, 2012. When I corresponded with Bill a few years ago he had fond memories of the Nook and the bands that played there. He kindly allowed me to use photos from his site for this article.
Ron Vargesko passed away on June 6, 2013, according to a comment below.
The Only Ones have one good harmony pop 45 on the Panik label, “You’re the Reason” and “Find a Way”. Larry Calder wrote both songs, registered with the Library of Congress in September, 1966 along with another original “The Only One” that seems to have been unreleased.
The band was from East Detroit, Michigan (now known as Eastpointe). I didn’t know anything about the group until family and friends posted comments below.
Members included:
Larry Calder – guitar and lead vocals Jim Bohr Gary Daniels Mitch Aiken – drums
Nancy Sit (aka Nancy Sit Ka Yin) was born in Hong Kong in 1950 and is today well-known in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore as an actress who has starred in many popular films and television serials since the mid 1990s. She also hosts a popular radio show in Hong Kong. Older fans may remember that Nancy begun her career as a child actress at the age of nine and appeared in many films until the 1980s, when she retired from the entertainment industry. She returned to the screen after divorcing her businessman husband, who apparently left her and their three children to go with another woman.
Others may know Nancy from her mid to late 1960s career as a singer of A Go Go music (aka Hala Hala). Four of Nancy’s songs appeared on the Girls In The Garage Oriental Special compilation album: Love Potion No. 9, Hanky Panky (both in Chinese, but presented here in English-language versions), Come Back When You Grow Up and Fever. The liner notes to that album made much of the spelling mistakes that appeared on the covers of the original records and the fact that many of the female singers did cover versions of songs originally sung by men, but did not change the lyrics to reflect the change in gender of the singer. Both of these things can be found on the records presented here, but even more so. In the printed lyrics for Love Potion No. 9 the cop Nancy kisses on Thirty-Fourth and Vine has also been made a woman! On the other hand, the printed lyrics for Hanky Panky are the original ones, with ‘a pretty little girl standing all alone’ and a boy asking can he take her home, but Nancy sings about seeing a boy and asking him to take her home, ands adds ‘I didn’t have to tell him what to do’.
Nancy covered some great songs in the 1960s and her records are a lot of fun. Her backing bands seem pretty competent for this type of music as well. On her Hala Hala A’ Go Go EP on Squirrel Records she sings Wooly Bully, Hang On Sloopy (with a great little scream near the end), Love Potion No. 9 and Shakin’ All Over. The same songs appear on a Silver Horse EP, but with a different cover. The Squirrel record is from Singapore, and I am not certain, but think the other one is from Hong Kong. On her I’m A Believer EP Nancy tackles the title track, and Hanky Panky, Hippy Hippy Shake and Pretty Flamingo. All good stuff. I also include here a song from one of Nancy’s Chinese-language EPs. The songs on this record are not A Go Go, but popular Chinese songs, although judging from the photos of Nancy on the cover they were also meant for dancing. I can’t understand what Nancy is singing about here, but I get the impression that as great as her English-language A Go Go songs are, her voice may well have been better suited to singing in Chinese.
John Smith and the New Sound were a band from the UK originally, but their releases did much better in Germany and France than back home.
“Just A Loser” shows that soulful and heavy sound UK bands were getting at the time. It was written by F. Sheen. The version of “Birthday” is no improvement over the original. “Girl’s in Love” is an excellent uptempo track with horns. They have several other 45s, including “Don’t Back the Loser” and versions of “Winchester Cathedral” and “See See Rider”.
Recently John Smith himself wrote to me in 2008:
I would like to point out that the band pictured on the [sleeve above] is NOT the original “John Smith & the New Sound.” The original band frequently flew to Germany in 1966/67 where we had a hit record with “Winchester Cathedral.” We followed that up with “Snoopy vs the Red Baron”. The ‘B’ side of ‘Snoopy’ was “Send Her Home”…which was penned by John Smith. We appeared on “Beat Club” in Germany (TV Bremen), also in Hamburg, Munich & Frankfurt. My records were produced by his manager Bill Wellings. I hope this information is of some use … the reason it is so accurate is that I am the original John Smith (my real name incidently)!
I have a video of me performing “Winchester Cathedral” on ‘Beat Club’ in November 1966. Also appearing were Dave Dee & Co., David & Jonathan & a couple of others. I originally recorded “Winchester” with The New Vaudeville Band. Then Bill Wellings (my manager) created the John Smith line-up. The other [versions of] the band were formed after I went to Australia.
I did stay in music, and I started up a cabaret act on my own, sometimes using a guitarist as musical director. In 1969, I was offered a trip to Australia, as a cabaret act, so I went. I worked in Australia for many years, supporting some of the ‘greats’ such as: Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine, Blood Sweat & Tears, Cilla Black, Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Al Martino etc. I’m now 68 years of age and I live a quiet life in Devon.
Thanks to Borja for turning me on to ‘Girl’s In Love’, to John Smith for his recollections of the band, and to Bernd for the scans of the Winchester Cathedral and Don’t Back the Loser sleeves.
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
The Chants released one great 45 in late 1966, “Hypnotized” b/w “Elaina”. The B. Ware label was owned by William Ware, who ran the Pirates’ Nook club and his booking agency at the 4420 Elm St. address listed on the label. Bill Ware gave me the phone number of Chants’ vocalist Darrel Howard, which led to a long conversation with Darrel and lead guitarist David Norfleet about their time in music.
Rhythm guitarist Ron Vargesko had grown up playing the accordion, and while trying the studio’s organ he came up with keyboard parts the band decided to work into the record. After the session the other members told Ron he should move over to keyboards permanently!
David also worked with two bartenders at the Cajun Club, John Broberg and Randy Shelton. Broberg and Shelton had written a song called Help Me Find a Way with Neal St. John. David went into the studio with them a few times, and a 45 of the song was released as by 
The Only Ones have one good harmony pop 45 on the Panik label, “You’re the Reason” and “Find a Way”. Larry Calder wrote both songs, registered with the Library of Congress in September, 1966 along with another original “The Only One” that seems to have been unreleased.
