The Musical Innertube - Volume 2, Number 145 - Bill Trousdale

DON

Working in radio, you find yourself moving from town to town, city to city. And when you wind up in a new town or city or hamlet or burg, you have to quickly get acquainted with that area -- learn how to pronounce all the street names, get to know the history of the place, everyone's favorite foods, things like that. And one thing that I found in just about every place I lived back in the 70s and 80s was the regional band -- playing at every tavern and block party. When I worked in Hagerstown Maryland in the mid 70s it was KIX, when I worked in New England in the late 70s it was Pousette-Dart Band, when I moved to Harrisburg in the 80s it was the Sharks. And there have been many others over the years. If you joined us for our “Joy to the Burg” episode a couple of Christmases ago, you’ll recognize the local bands now populating Harrisburg – the Jellybricks, for example.

Our guest today is a man who's done a few tours of duty in central Pennsylvania radio, and has one of the biggest record collections I've ever seen.  He knows all about those regional hits and the bands that made them.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Bill Trousdale! Bill, welcome to the Musical Innertube!

BILL

Thank you, kind sir. Thank you.

DON

Bill, let's talk about Central Pennsylvania and the many, many bands that they've had over the years, the many regional bands, and why that's so important for the musical life of a city or town.

BILL

Well, you could go back to the late 50s and you find people who were who would play instruments with the noted likes of Bill Haley and the Comets from this area - Bill Haley, before he was the Comets, was actually a country singer. You find also in this area, a lot of the band members kind of got together with different groups. They would be with a group for a while, or they had an influence on a different group, and through that inter-pollination, other groups and other styles and types of music would grow out of it. So, central Pennsylvania has been a phenomenally vibrant area for that cross-pollination of music. As you pointed out, when you were Hagerstown, there was like a band. In this area, there's lots of bands, and I found this out - I lived in Lancaster, Ohio, and then moved to Lancaster, PA, and the musical scene there was exceedingly different than what it was in Ohio. So, they couldn't wait to find out what the next British invasion tune was, what was coming from The Beatles. I was more interested in what was coming out in the R&B realm, and being in Harrisburg, or close to Harrisburg, and Philly and Pittsburgh, I was finding there were musical genres that are being  embraced by those communities that were, in my opinion, nowhere else embraced, and started my curiosity in regard to these artists and the music that they spawned and how they cross-pollinated, and in some cases, to a national level. I think the first musical example I have is illustrated by a tune by Santana called “Everybody's Everything.”

SAMPLE: “EVERYBODY’S EVERYTHING,” SANTANA

So, it turned out that Santana got that tune, that beat, that rhythm, from a Harrisburg group who had a regional head called “Karate.” The group was called the Emperors. Here’s a little bit of what they sounded like.

SAMPLE: “KARATE,” THE EMPERORS

That's just a kind of a quick example of how Santana borrowed a tune from a Harrisburg group, which kind of put that Harrisburg group on the map. They ended up on the Mala record label and had the string of, oh, half dozen hits or so, and all did very, very well. They also played in a lot of the local venues in the area. I mean, if there was to be a dance, they’d end up at the Raven, or White Oaks Park, they’d go down to Lancaster from time to time, or York, and expose their talents. Now, in addition to the Emperors, there were other groups that were similar, who also kind of broke ground. But my next example is kind of an example of that British invasion style of music that was breaking into Harrisburg from Harrisburg’s West Shore. There was a group called the Legends. The Legends also played on the East and West Shore, they played a lot of high school reunions, and a lot of the clubs, the Mellow Balloo was one of the clubs they would play out on the West Shore. There were dozens of them, people who grew up in the area just knew where they needed to go hang out if they wanted to hear the Legends. One of my favorites, now - there is a guy by the name of Erik Lindgren who put the whole CD together. If you can find the CD of the Legends, it's wonderful. One of my favorite tunes by the Legends, is a tune called “Rock'n'roll Woman.”

SAMPLE: “ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WOMAN,” THE LEGENDS

That particular group spawned a lot of individual talents, who, again, cross-pollinated with other groups. But who, later on, one particular fellow kind of made a name for himself. But it wasn't until after he got involved in another nationally known group called Edgar Winter. And you had this guy, his name was Dan Hartman, write this particular tune for the Edgar Winter band.

SAMPLE: “FREE RIDE,” THE EDGAR WINTER GROUP

You’ll notice those guitar licks, they were by Dan Hartman as well. You also had many of the group members as I said kind of cross-pollinate into other groups. But it wasn't until later on that Dan really got his notoriety as a producer. He even produced for other groups at a studio in Mechanicsburg called Baldwin Studios. And that was a studio that was set up and organized by a gospel guy who used to sing with The Couriers, who were from this area. So, Dan would get involved with other groups, and would produce their music. Guy by the name of Dave Sill was another producer at that particular studio. But it wasn't until we kind of broke into the 70s and 80s that Dan started getting a little bit more national recognition on his own. This is probably a tune you might remember by him.

SAMPLE: “I CAN DREAM ABOUT YOU,” DAN HARTMAN

Very danceable. Other tunes include “Instant Replay,” “This Is It,” "Countdown.” But this is what was probably his highest chart-topper. “I Can Dream About You.”

Well, we've covered a lot of territory there with Dan Hartman, and he is still being felt today. There are Facebook sites that they're constantly bringing in new photos and sometimes new music that has been uncovered by him and his partner for quite a while, a guy by the name of Charlie Midnight. And Dan Hartman has definitely had a significant impact on the talents and artists in this region who embraced his music and that type of rock'n'roll. A little bit earlier, there was a group from of all places, Frackville, Pennsylvania. Now, not necessarily the hot spot of musical talent you would think, but this area spawned a whole family of musicians, and they simply called themselves the Jordan Brothers. Now a lot of people know this song by the Spencer Davis Group, because they had the national hit with this particular tune, but it was actually the Jordan Brothers version that was number one in Boston.

SAMPLE: “GIMME SOME LOVIN’,” JORDAN BROTHERS

Also, a great dance tune. I prefer this over Spencer Davis primarily because of the drums. It’s got a beat that just won't quit. There's that Hammond B3 every decent group in the 60s had to have a B3.

Well, the Jordan Brothers actually toured with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars for a while. Locally, one of their hot spots that they would play was the Lykens Ballroom, they’d also get up in the Scranton area and play up in clubs in that vicinity as well. So as far as a regional act, they were very, very significant. Most of the brothers have passed away. Frank Jordan is still around. He also spent his life as a DJ as well. But as I say, that was a #1 record in Boston. They knew what they were listening to up there, And it was just one of those phenomenal things that a local group - and what eventually happened, even though the Jordan Brothers had released it earlier than Spencer Davis, Spencer Davis's management and talents kind of pushed the Jordan Brothers version out of the charts and Spencer Davis kinda got more attention, shall we say, across the radio airwaves. So, definitely a significant group to this region, especially up in the coal region. And there's still many talents up in that area that are still performing. There's a whole Facebook site about Schuylkill County musicians. Oddly enough, the Dorsey brothers, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, were from Schuylkill County, and they're still producing many, many fine talents. A guy by the name of Jay Smar is up there doing basically coal region music, more of the folk vein. So that area is not lost in regard to creating many talents as they did in the 60s and they're still doing it today. Little kind of off the path here a little bit, I'm going to go to a cut that was actually on a previously released CD to benefit Delta Housing. Delta Housing was a women's refuge center, and the reason they put together with CD was to raise money. And one of the cuts - there's some really, really wonderful talents. Blitz Dynette is on there, Jeffrey Gaines is on there, all these are local talents - but the particular cut that I prefer, and it's also kind of short, is called “My Babe.” And this group I don't believe has been recognized by the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame as of yet, but I think they're probably in the running. It's called Rosey and the Naturals, and the tune is called “My Babe.”

SAMPLE: “MY BABE,” ROSEY AND THE NATURALS

Another group that probably did not get any recognition, or much recognition, beyond just Central Pennsylvania, was a group called the El Dantes. Now, they played fairly regularly at a place called White Oaks Park. There’s a CD that has been created by a friend of mine, Phil Schwartz, we kind of collaborated on it, and I happened to find, have found an acetate recording of the El Dantes. And it had about three or four songs on it that previously were not released. And my friend Phil took it to a very knowledgeable guy up in New England by the name of Walter Devine, and he re-edited it, and he came up with a couple of cuts that he now can share with us from that CD of White Oaks Park. This group was called the El Dantes. I’ll tell a little bit more about them after we hear a little bit of this.

SAMPLE: “SAY YOU LOVE ME,” EL DANTES

That group was managed by a guy named Bob Huber. The El Dantes, as I said, played at White Oaks Park, but they played at so many other venues, probably one of the most popular ones was a place called The Raven and Dick Phelin was the owner of that, and what he would do is he would get some of the national acts that would be traveling through the region, on their way to New York or Philadelphia, to stop in Harrisburg and play on a Wednesday or Thursday night. So, we had groups such as the Temptations, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, a lot of Motown groups, and especially a guy by the name of Curtis, Curtis Mayfield of the Impressions. He did a tune you’re probably familiar with, “I'm So Proud,” and many, many others - a version of “Amen” that was made famous by Poitier in Lilies of the Field. But the Raven became also kind of the home of a group that received a lot of regional publicity and recognition, playing in a lot of the schools, going to Susquehanna and Shippensburg and just about any college along the East Coast. They were the original “Animal House bands,” so to speak, in a lot of these college towns. But the Magnificent Men were made-up of all white guys. And it was kind of a tribute to the area musically, that the Mag Men were playing primarily Rhythm and Blues. It was just the sound that this area incorporated, and this area just couldn't quite get enough of. This is one kind of a standard classic tune, The Mag Men put their own touch to “Stormy Weather.”

SAMPLE: “STORMY WEATHER,” THE MAGNIFICENT MEN

Now the Mag Men had the luxury of becoming so popular, they played at the Uptown in Philadelphia quite often, but because they were doing what was called the “chitlin circuit,” basically the black circuit music of, primarily of the South, they were also invited to play at the Apollo Theater in New York, the legendary Apollo Theater. Now, I might also add the El Dantes also played at the Apollo Theater, and for two local groups to get that recognition, was pretty significant. One significant story of the Mag Men was, they were playing there, I think there were a third or fourth on the bill, and the headliner was a guy by the name of Tommy Hunt, who did a tune called “Human,” - it was also covered by other groups in this area the Thundering Centuries did a version of "Human,” and later on the Class of 60 Something, Tommy Coulson, also covered that too. But for whatever reason, Tommy Hunt didn't make it that night, and he was the headliner. You know, people were showing up there, and if somebody didn't get out there and do something, it was going to be a riot. And so there was a guy by the name of JJ Jackson, he had a hit tune called “It's All Right.” Yeah, he was on the bill as well, and he went to the stage manager to just say, “Hey, listen, why don’t you give these Mag Men a shot?” And the reason he wanted to give them a shot was because it just so happened that a guy by the name of James Brown just happened to show up to catch the show. Now he wasn't on the bill, but he didn't have his Fabulous Flames with him at all. So, you know, how's James Brown going to be singing, and JJ Jackson says, “Hey, give these. Mag Men a shot.” So, James Brown goes to Bob Angelucci, leader of the Mag Men, and says “Do you know any of my songs?” “Well, how about “Live at the Apollo,” side one? We'll do that.” So, the Mag Men get going, they start playing the music, James comes out, the crowd goes absolutely, totally nuts, white guys singing, playing this Fabulous Flames music, James Brown is singing along, and he gives one of those looks to the crowd, like, “I don't believe what I'm hearing here,” and one of those looks. And he looks back to the Bob Angelucci, the drummer, and gives him a thumbs up, and they continue on. They play the whole side one of “James Brown Live at the Apollo,” the place went nuts, and from that situation the Mag Men were constantly called back more and more and more to perform at the Apollo Theatre. What’s unique about that is, earlier there was a group called Buddy Holly and the Crickets who had played at the Apollo, a bunch of white guys – well, that was in the late 50s. They didn't headline. The Mag Men headlined at the Apollo Theater, so that's like saying, hey, you are the cream of the crop, you know, you deserve this position. So, they did that several times at the Apollo Theater. So, just a remarkable group. They're still sort of playing. There's a group called Class Act featuring Rita - Rita is Bob Angelucci's wife - and I think she's got a voice that, at times, when she is very, very rested, in my opinion, she is equal to Aretha Franklin in her vocal styling. Just an amazing voice. So, if you ever have an opportunity to catch Class Act featuring Rita, definitely worth the price of admission. Definitely a very, very strong group locally. And again, how cross-pollination occurred.

DON

Let me ask you a question. These bands mostly we're famous within an area, were playing at venues around the area all the time. So, I'm supposing that this is a situation in the in the 60s where kids wanted to dance, they wanted to go to a place with a live band, and they're not going to wait for the major acts, or they, in some cases, couldn't get the major acts to come through. So, these bands were the were the glue that filled those holes. Am I right?

BILL

That's correct. And you had tons of Pennsylvania-oriented guys that kind of came in and kind of filled those gaps when the national acts weren't available, There was a guy named Billy Stewart - he was actually from, I believe, the Washington, DC area - but he would come up and play at the Raven and Stan Lawson's club up on Sixth Street, and even George Benson, who was from Pittsburgh, and had a doo-wop group in in Pittsburgh, and he would come over as a solo artist and do some light jazz as well. So yeah, there was definitely a demand. There was a huge demand locally for, the kids, so to speak, in that era, to find a place, a venue, a location they could go to, And this area specifically was very, very blessed with club owners who realized that, and would set up places like the Raven, White Oaks Park, and in Lancaster, the Democratic Club - yeah, groups in Lancaster, a group called the Tranells, which I didn't put on my music list today, but they had a huge what they call a “Northern Soul” hit. “Northern Soul” is a style of music that was, kind of, put back on America, because when the soul era of music was really, really grinding it out in the mid 60s into the 70s, American radio stations were kind of going to the British invasion or to the rock, less of the R&B. So, what the “Northern Soul” dancers did is, they came over here and started listening to some of the songs that weren't played on radio, or were only played in certain geographical areas, like Central Pennsylvania. And they realized that, “Gosh, that’s the music we like!” So, the English eventually told us what it was that we missed. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited about what I do, is to find and uncover and look at these different connections that are made musically. I mean, the names of the groups - I should have grabbed my Ravens sweatshirt, ‘cause it has on the back of it all the groups that played there. Out of Philly, Shirley Ellis, you had the Intruders, later on Blue Magic. But you know, some of them received national recognition, some of them, if it wasn't for the local recognition and/or the stables that Gamble and Huff would create out of Philadelphia, you know, they never would have had a shot to be heard. Lee Andrews and the Hearts is another one, back in the late 50s, who kind of started the ball rolling. Of course, his son is the leader of the group called Roots on The Tonight Show. And (he) put out a really great movie, if you haven't seen it. It was going on the same summer as Woodstock, but it was held in Harlem. And they had the 5th Dimension there, Sly and the Family Stone, just tons and tons of fabulous groups.

DON

Yeah, Summer of Soul. I think it's on Netflix or Hulu.

JOHN

Summer of Soul! I love that movie so much. That's so great.

BILL

I loved it so much I went to the theater, and I said, “I want that poster!” So I have it hanging proudly in my bathroom!

JOHN

The thing I wanted to say is that, when you hear these songs and you hear narration, one act that, really, you're giving a wonderful background for is Hall and Oates. Where two kids, who obviously, they grew up in and around Philly, and they absorb this wonderful cross-racial heritage of the blues and soul, and they brought it into the studio. And a lot of people, I know I grew up in Los Angeles, a lot of people didn't understand, “What are we listening to? What is that?” They didn't understand how this could even happen, but of course it could happen. And it happened in in Philly and in Pennsy.

BILL

Yep, absolutely. And it hasn’t stopped, and it never will, as far as I'm concerned. The people who know good music will embrace it, and I mean, again, there's a Philly jazz organization, there's people that are constantly working with Gamble and Huff and bringing their music to light. Another one of my favorites is this guy named Bunny Sigler out of Philadelphia - just not enough possible time to play any of these tunes, but you're more than welcome to invite me back and I’ll be happy to play them.

JOHN

Sure!

BILL

Another kind of segment of Pennsy music was on the other side of the state. Even though we didn't really necessarily - Philly didn't necessarily embrace Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh didn't necessarily embrace Philly. But being in Harrisburg, we had the luxury of kind of getting a bit of both. So, we got the Philly influences that I've been primarily talking about, but there were a few artists and groups that came out of the Pittsburgh area, and then later on, a group who did, uh, “Play That Funky Music White Boy.”

DON

Wild Cherry.

BILL

Wild Cherry. Thank you very much for that mental block that I had there for a moment.

DON

Yes, that's OK. Only a stupid 70s jock who played it every hour would remember that.

BILL

What a wonderful song! What a wonderful answer!

JOHN

Yes. Yes.

BILL

In the in the 60s, there was a song that was totally embraced by Pittsburghers, primarily because of an area of Pittsburgh that was kind of noted towards music and the various clubs in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh. And this particular tune has been dubbed the “National Anthem of Pittsburgh and teen doo-wop dances” when it first came out. And an interesting aside to this artist, his name is Scott English. “Who,” you say? Well, he actually wrote another song called “Brandy.” “Brandy” was later changed to “Mandy” and was a huge hit record for Barry Manilow.

DON

Oh yeah!

JOHN

Sure!

BILL

So, it sometimes takes a while for the musical genius of various artists to germinate. But Scott English had a belly rubbing tune, you just couldn't happen but love that gal on the dance floor when you heard "High on a Hill” by Scott English.

SAMPLE: “HIGH ON A HILL,” SCOTT ENGLISH

Now, Scott English, of course, “Who is he?” Kind of like the first comment that comes out of your mouth. But you play that song in Pittsburgh, and guarantee the dance floors are going to just suck right up there with people and dancers. They also had some significant disc jockeys in the Pittsburgh area that lent themselves as significantly to the rhythm and blues dance craze. Again, Pittsburgh was pretty close to Ohio, but it didn't filter over to Lancaster, Ohio, for me. But in the Pittsburgh area, a guy by the name of Porky Chedwick on WAMO radio was chronically listened to, and again, many, many different venues where the kids could go for the dances, either by the bands or by the disc jockeys playing their tunes.

DON

Yeah, I remember Porky Chedwick. During the time that I worked for the state Senate of Pennsylvania, a couple of the Senators were from the Pittsburgh area, grew up listening to Porky, and had him on the floor of the Senate to give him a citation for being a great guy. So yeah, he was very influential to a lot of young Pittsburghers, I'm sure.

BILL

There was a time I had an opportunity to go to the Benedum Theater in Pittsburgh and they did the first doo-wop oldies show on PBS. The Drifters performed there, and I was somewhat connected to them because the lead singer of that particular group, Charlie Thomas, was singing there, and it was the first time the old Drifters and the newer Drifters got together. Now since then, there have been numerous and different iterations of the Drifters, but Charlie Thomas sang with the original Drifters on stage at the Benedum Theater. That's when I first met Porky Chedwick, and, you’re right, he was a heck of a guy, and a definitely a Pennsylvania institution. Almost as significant as Pete Wambach was in his series in regard to tourism in Pennsylvania, “It's a beautiful day in Pennsylvania.” So, these are characters and people that need to be honored, recognized, and in some cases idolized for making Pennsylvania a rather significant area. I don't know if we have a chance for another tune or not, or if you're set up for another tune, but there's a tune done by a group called the Ambassadors. It's kind of significant because a friend of mine I mentioned earlier, Phil Schwartz, put together a record label called X Bat, and he got one of the lead singers of the Ambassadors to redo this song. That is now one of the top tunes in the Northern Soul music genre. It's called “Too Much of a Good Thing”. Don Hodgson is the lead vocalist on this.

SAMPLE: “TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING,” THE AMBASSADORS

Got that Northern Soul dance beat that I just love! Horns never hurt anybody.

Kind of too much of a good thing, definitely, because we're just barely even scratching the surface. There's a group out of Lancaster called the Shaynes, and the lead vocalists of that, once upon a time, was the General Manager of Q106 radio. They did a tune called “Valerie,” and “Valerie” was a tune that was actually one of the songs in this area, that if you didn't do “Valerie,” you probably were not considered a legitimate band. Every band did this in the mid 60s, and the beauty of the particular tune is the fact that it is so emotional. It evokes just so much pathos. If we have a chance to hear a little bit of that, that would be great.

DON

Well, then let's do that.

SAMPLE: “VALERIE,” THE SHAYNES

Here are the tears! He's crying all the way through the song.

Now, people might consider that song really, really, really bad, but it was so bad it was really, really good. I mean it, it just evoked emotion and just, you would hang on to your girlfriend, if you lost her and you got her back, sing that to her, and then you definitely lose her. No, you probably – it would definitely have an effect!

DON

It's amazing that guy could sing as well as he did, crying as hard as he was.

BILL

Yeah, that is amazing.

JOHN

That’s really hard to do, truly!

DON

John, what do you think of all this stuff?

JOHN

I think that we've got to have Part 2 of this. There is just, we've just gotten started and there's all sorts of stuff we really have to talk about, like different parts of the state. And the whole culture of small clubs and dancing, which it was such a hot bed, which we have talked about, and how so many of these songs went on to have another life - and were just, I think, stolen, lock, stock and barrel from other tunes which you can hear. But I just think I'd like to continue the conversation if you're up for it.

DON

Oh, yeah, definitely. We'll have to have you back, Bill.

BILL

That's not a hardship. You can have your listeners, if they have any ideas or suggestions of groups or artists that that they remember in particular, let me know, and I'll see if I can scratch up some of those tunes. Another group, I should mentioned this when I was in Pittsburgh, guy by the name of Bobby Fulton was instrumental - pun intended - in putting together a record label in the Harrisburg area called Soulville. Soulville probably produced, oh, at least a couple of dozen different artists from this area, some from New Jersey as well, who came here, and he produced a lot of their music. One of their more significant groups was a group called the Soulville All Stars, which featured a guy by the name of Rich Claire. Well, Rich Claire has a name that's been in the news recently, because his current group is now going to be retiring from public performance now well into their 50th year of performing - a group called Pentagon. And Pentagon has grown and grown and has a huge following. Recently, they were to have played at the Middletown Home, that got cancelled due to weather, but I'm pretty sure they're going to get rescheduled, but you can go on Facebook and find out where else they're going to be performing on their final tour, which is going to be this year. You had a group out of Hanover called the Pixies Three, all girl group when the girl groups were the thing, you had the Shirelles and the Crystals. The Pixies Three were about as hot as you can get, from Hanover. The Kit Kats were from New Hope. A piano player by the name of Carl Houseman who played the rinky-dink piano as you were going into Hersheypark, he’d be playing all sorts of piano things. And never once did his fingers leave his hands! You’d think they did, as fast as he was playing. He also played in Disney, Disney World, as people were going in there. Soul Clinic was another group, they recorded out of a Baltimore, the Intruders out of Philadelphia. Another Middletown group, the Royal Lancers - as matter of fact, the Royal Lancers did a tune that was written by my former partner, a guy by the name of Kenny Chandler, who had a record called “Heart.” “Heart” was also covered by the Jordan Brothers. But “This Little Girl” was covered by the Royal Lancers - Corky Weis was the lead singer, and his son is now involved in the Blues Festival that goes on in Lancaster these days. So, when you have the Arts and Blues Festival in Lancaster, Corky’s son is directly involved in the creation of that. Then you have the Intentions, and then you got the current groups. I mean, you got Fuel, you've got the Clarks, Reese Project, Kevin Neidig is a phenomenal mandolin player, Conrad Fisher, I just went to see him, he's up in Juniata County. Where? Juniata County. It's amazing. He's got a little place called Ragamuffin Hall. So, if you can steal away and get up there, if you can get a ticket, I mean, that's how popular he has become. The list is forever. You have, Blitz Dynette is currently still playing, but they've been around forever, Elvis Davis Band, Hybrid Ice up near Danville, Little Duck and the Drakes out of Lancaster, Pixies Three, as I mentioned, Shadows of Doubt, Red, the Del-Chords - and there were two Del-Chords, there's one out of Harrisburg, and one out of York. The one in York got together with the Andells and formed the Mag Men. So, it's just interesting how all this kind of comes together. The Furies. I should have mentioned this, I was fortunate enough to put together a concert with the Furies and the Legends back in the early 80s at one of those dancing places, the Mechanicsburg VFW, and that was very well attended. They did a couple records. Bill Moulfair, who you may remember was a disc jockey on WINK 104 part time, he was the head of The Hydraulic Peach. Wrote a tune called “Many, Many Possibilities.” The Molly Maguires, the Sharks, Third Stream. So, I mean the list is just absolutely huge, and this is a hobby that is becoming a fixation. I mean just finding, locating, learning who is connected to what, building the family tree of these connections, it's just it's just nothing but fun for me, and it does take up a lot of space in my basement.

DON

Well, it's been nothing but fun for us today.

JOHN

Oh yes, so much fun!

DON

What do you think, John?

JOHN

Yes, this is great, and we're learning about yet another one of the tributary streams to that huge rush of late century rock and pop music that just came out of the heartland and infused the rest of the world. It's sort of the counter-flow to the British invasion, which in the end really was bringing blues back to the United States. I mean, these were English kids who listened to the blues when not a lot of people in the United States were listening to it. And they sort of listened to people that, you know, neither black or white kids knew very well, and recorded in that shadow, and brought it back to us. So, in a way, American music is involved in all of it. And Bill, we’ve got to have you back on to continue the story.

BILL

OK!

DON

Well, you heard him, boys! All right, listen, we're going to wrap it up for now right there. But we will have Bill back very shortly, and we’ll continue our exploration into all of the regional music.

BILL

Send in your suggestions on what you'd like to hear!

DON

Yes! Musicalinnertube@gmail.com.  You can send in your suggestions there, or you can go to our website, and there's a couple of places on our website where you can leave messages for us, do the same there. That's www.musicalinnertube.com. So, thanks once again, Bill, for being here, and we'll have you back.

BILL

It's been fun!