Banana at Nettlebed February 1, 2011

One time Youngblood Banana will be playing at Nettlebed, which is close to Henley-on-Thames in the Berkshire/Oxfordshire border badlands. The performance will on Tuesday February 1 beginning around 8pm. I am still awaiting confirmation as to whether Tony Poole (of Starry Eyed and Laughing fame) will be able to provide the support - but I remain hopeful. If he can't I will find someone else.

http://tinyurl.com/6yfeydu

There are only 60 tickets available at £8 each - with any remaining for sale on the night at £10 each. Let me know via banana@chickenonaunicycle.com if you would like a ticket. I am sure it will be a particularly nifty evening.

As a little background:

Banana began his career in bluegrass on the east coast in Boston with "Banana and the Bunch, Old Time Music with Appeal". After several years in the east coast folk scene, he formed The Youngbloods with Joe Bauer, Jesse Colin Young, and Jerry Corbitt. The band moved from New York City to West Marin in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1967.

Along with co-producing The Youngbloods records with Joe Bauer and many others on his own, he produced the first two High Country albums for Butch Waller in the early 1970's.

He was accompanist to Mimi Farina for over twenty years, played keyboards and sang lead with Zero for over 10 years, played with Norton Buffalo, Steve Kimock and Friends and currently on a fairly regular basis, plays blues with The Michael Barclay Blues Band and old time psychedelic rock with The Barry "The Fish" Melton band. He has done duo performances with David Nelson, Keith Little, David Thom, Paul Knight, and others. And he plays the beloved bluegrass music with friends and neighbors including The Papermill Creek Rounders, David, Tracy and Sam Grisman, The David Thom Band, and the legendary Artie Rose and associates.

Banana regularly visits and performs in the UK and Italy.

http://www.grandpabanana.com/

After progressing from their schoolboy band The Chymes Tony Poole and Ross McGeeney went on to form an acoustic duo, playing original numbers between covers of songs by Dylan and The Byrds, that would take the name Starry Eyed and Laughing, from a line in Dylan's song "Chimes of Freedom" when they turned electric in 1973. Regulars on the London pub rock circuit, touring the states and sharing a stage with the Flying Burrito Brothers and an appearance at the legendary ZigZag Magazine's fifth anniversary concert at The Roundhouse in April 1974, Starry Eyed and Laughing were on a crest of a wave with their Byrds influenced rock.
After a couple of great Starry Eyed and Laughing albums and the production of Flo and Eddie (The Turtles, Frank Zappa), Tony Poole went into production, including albums by Maddy Prior Steeleye Span, Giles Lewin, The Men They Couldn't Hang and currently Danny, Champ of the World (lead singer of country, soul/rock outfit Grand Drive). He also backed Katie Humble on True to Your Soul and Peter “Omaha Rainbow” O'Brien on his great album Junked Cars & Beat Up Guitars. With Ian Whitmore, Tony also recorded Fallen as The Falcons and Start The Countdown as The Sun with Kinks drummer Nick Trevisick. Playing a solo electric set, Tony is an absolute wonder to see.

http://www.starryeyedandlaughing.com/

Darrow Mosley Band: Desert Rain

Those nice folks at Shagrat Records are delighted to announce the arrival of a 3-track 10" EP by the short-lived Darrow Mosley Band, cut in 1973.

The band was a vehicle for the prodigious talents of Bob Mosley (lead vocals, bass guitar) and Chris Darrow (lead vocals, guitar).

Mosley had been an integral member of Moby Grape, one of the greatest California bands of the late 60s. A quintet comprising five talented musicians who not could play like demons, but were also equally skilled as singers and songwriters - joining Bob, were guitarists Peter Lewis and Skip Spence, Jerry Miller on lead guitar and Don Stevenson on drums. After a superb but sadly over-hyped debut LP that captured better than most the brief psychedelic glory of the Haight Ashbury era (and is now rightly regarded as a classic), they had spectacularly blown apart during the making of their sophomore set WOW, which saw the exit of the visionary Spence. Regrouping in its aftermath as a quartet, they had released the undervalued 69 which saw them mining a more country vein, but following a tour of Europe Mosley quit and in a surprise move briefly joined the US marines!

In 1971 the original members got back together to record the excellent 20 Granite Creek which opened in fine style with Bob's classic, 'Gypsy Wedding' - sadly the reunion was brief with all the old wounds and rivalries soon stymieing any chance of recapturing any former glories and Mose quit again releasing a fine debut solo LP on Reprise.

Darrow had been a founding member of the wildly exotic Kaleidoscope, the hugely talented Claremont-based quintet that subsequently has been recognised as one of the first rock groups to play 'world music' - an outfit that blended many different styles from psychedelic rock, blues and folk with country, Cajun, Turkish and Cab Calloway flavours. Chris played guitar, fiddle, bass and mandolin in a combo of multi-instrumentalists, that also featured the likes of Solomon Feldthouse and David Lindley.

Chris quit Kaleidoscope after their second LP, A Beacon From Mars and joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band just in time to appear in the musical Western Paint Your Wagon with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. He then formed the Corvettes who backed up Linda Ronstadt. As well as playing in these bands and releasing a series of fine solo albums, Chris had also made a name for himself as a sideman for the likes of Leonard Cohen and John Fahey.

In 1973 both Chris and Bob decided they wanted to be in a band again and their mutual manager Michael O'Connor suggested they form a group together - drawing on the energy and style of vintage Stones and Faces and adding more than a dash of the prevalent SoCal country rock scene to the mix, Bob and Chris were joined by lead guitarist Frank Reckard (subsequently in Emmylou Harris's Band for 14 years), keyboard player Loren Newkirk and drummer Johnny Craviotto (Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, Buffy St Marie) - they cut 3 songs to try and get Warner Bros interested.

Sadly, Warner's passed on the demos and they have lain unheard till now - the A-side, 'Albuquerque rainbow' is a crunchy rocker featuring Darrow on lead vocals and originally debuted on his eponymous second album done for UA. The flipside has Bob Mosley as lead vocalist - a treat for all those who already know what a masterful singer this Norse god can be - first up is a soulful, smouldering version of the Temptations' 'I wish it would rain' that also boasts some dexterous picking from Reckard. the EP closes with a new version of Bob's exquisite 'Beautiful Day' originally done for the Grape's 69 record.

The band split soon after but these recordings are an integral link in the chain that binds Moby Grape with Fine Wine and the Ducks (Neil Young's legendary summer of 77 Santa Cruz bar band) - Darrow would go on to record a series of excellent solo albums and participate in a couple of Kaleidoscope reunions. Bob and John Craviotta would hook up with Jerry Miller for Fine Wine and then form the rhythm section of the aforementioned Ducks.

Packaged in a beautifully mind-blowing sleeve by legendary British psychedelic designer John Hurford (IT, OZ, Dandelion Records etc) complete with insert featuring sleeve notes by Chris Darrow, this EP is an absolute must for fans of Kaleidoscope and Moby Grape everywhere.

Tony Poole (Starry Eyed & Laughing) is now offering the Darrow Mosley Band 10" on his website (with snippets of all 3 songs):

http://www.starryeyedandlaughing.com/darrowmosley.htm