Gospel Oak/Mountain Current/33 1969-72 (Matt Kelly II)

The great guitarist T-Bone Walker, in his prime

Matt Kelly, 1969
Matt Kelly had had a pretty good run as a musician in 1968. He had joined the embers of The New Delhi River Band, and along with bassist Dave Torbert and drummer Chris Herold, two members of the NDRB, that group had morphed into Shango. Shango played a few interesting gigs, and ultimately evolved into the group Horses. Horses was produced by the team of John Carter, Tim Gilbert and Dave Diamond, and they had already had produced some hits with "Acapulco Gold" by The Rainy Daze and "Incense And Peppermints"  by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Yet, despite a not-terrible album on White Whale Records, Horses went nowhere. The producers moved on to greener pastures, and Torbert, Herold and Matt Kelly retreated to the Bay Area to lick their wounds.

Both Torbert and Kelly took a hiatus from their professional music careers, albeit in different ways. Torbert took off for Maui at the end of 1968, and spent most of the next 16 months or so surfing. I'm not sure what else Torbert did in Maui--probably not much, since there wasn't that much to do--but as far as I know he was a true Surf Bum at a time when surfing in Maui was truly like surfing in paradise, as long as you weren't into civilization.

Herold, meanwhile, was a Conscientious Objector from the draft. He accepted alternative service, which in his case was driving a hospital truck. So from 1969 through 1971, Herold drove a hospital truck, and only played music on weekends. As a result, Herold played in a somewhat legendary but still part-time Santa Cruz Mountains band called Mountain Current. As far as I know, Mountain Current was a sort of prototype jam band, playing improvised, danceable music without a lot of structure. While never a major group, even in Santa Clara County, they would still turn out to play a significant part in the Kingfish saga, though not for a few more years.

Matt Kelly, meanwhile, was left without much to do in 1969. He had started being a professional musician around 1967, but by the end of 1968 he didn't even have a band. He'd played a fair amount of gigs around and about with the bands he'd been in, but he was just another harmonica player and rhythm guitarist on the Bay Area scene. Kelly loved the blues, but he was a suburban white boy who'd learned the music from records. However, although 1969 began inauspiciously for Kelly, the next few years would turn out to be pretty interesting. Kelly had an opportunity to really learn about the blues from the source, and then he made a record in England of all places. As a result, Kelly ended up playing a critical, though, unexpected role in the career of Dave Torbert and the history of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage.

The Blues

Guitarist Mel Brown's I'd Rather Suck My Thumb album on Impulse! Records, recorded in Los Angeles in 1969 with Matt Kelly, and released in 1970.

The blues were very popular amongst young white rock musicians, but most of them had learned about it from records. Bands like The Butterfield Blues Band and Cream had made the likes of Muddy Waters, B.B. and Albert King popular, and those groups had started to play the Fillmore circuit regularly. So an aspiring blues player like Kelly had certainly seen some of the great bluesmen in concert by 1969. While I'm not exactly certain who Kelly got to see, it's plain he had seen some fine Chicago blues harmonica players. However, he hadn't really had any chance to learn blues music from the inside.

I'm not aware of Kelly working in any band in 1969, and I think he was just hanging out in the South Bay. As a result, one night in the Summer of 1969, Kelly and some friends went to a funky blues club in East Palo Alto called The Exit. At the club (and possibly on stage) was guitarist and singer Mel Brown. Brown wasn't a major figure on the white Fillmore circuit, but he was popular in the black West Coast blues scene. Kelly:

I was pretty mellow [but] I had a few drinks and my friends and I went to an all-black nightclub, an after hours club, where all the black musicians would go to play. We were the only white people in the club, we had a few drinks, and got a little loose, and quite to my own surprise I found myself walking towards the stage right in the middle of a song. I jumped right up and started playing along, which is not the kind of thing one does in a club like this; it was really kind of rough you could get yourself killed. In my case it worked to my advantage because Mel really liked my playing and saw potential in me. Mel basically said I’m doing a record in LA, I’m driving down the day after tomorrow, why don’t you come down with me? We did, we drove down in his Caddy. He lived in Watts, and in between sessions we would go to these blues clubs in LA and he would introduce me. He was a hero to the black community. I got to meet all these great blues players like T- Bone [Walker] and Jimmy Witherspoon. It ended up being a truly life changing experience for me. Aside from getting on Mel’s record that was how I made all my contacts with that world. 

Impulse! was mainly known as a jazz label, and its most prominent artist was John Coltrane. Nonetheless, the label released an album by Mel Brown.

I'd Rather Suck My Thumb-Mel Brown (Impulse 1970)

Mel Brown - guitar, vocals
Matthew Kelly - harmonica
Clifford Coulter - organ, electric piano
Johnny Carswell - organ
Bob West - electric bass
Gregg Ferber - drums
Recorded July, August, October '69Rapp (RIP) -- vocals, bass, rhythm guitar (1971)

Matt Kelly seems to have spent the Summer and Fall of 1969 getting a chance to hang out with Mel Brown and play with real blues musicians. Within two years, Kelly would end up forming a band that backed touring blues musicians, so Kelly plainly soaked up all the knowledge he could from Mel Brown about playing the blues and working as a blues musician. However, I have not been able to track down any actual performances by Kelly during this period, although I'm sure there must have been a few.

Gospel Oak's sole album, released in 1970 on Kapp Records

Somehow, Matt Kelly went to England at the end of 1969. Why, exactly, Kelly went there remains obscure. I don't know how he afforded it, since he was hardly working, but clearly he found a way. However, I do know that after the rise of The Beatles, numerous American musicians and bands moved to England, hoping to make it in Swinging London. Here and there a few of them ultimately even "made it," for those of you who recall the likes of Carl Douglas ("Kung Fu Fighting") or Gary Wright (in Spooky Tooth and later "Dream Weaver"). Most others, like The Misunderstood (from Riverside) or Chris Rowan (who went and returned in 1969), came back with little to show for it. Kelly's experience was more of the latter.

Kelly's few comments about his sojourn in England are very vague. This is not surprising, since it was some time ago, and no one save me is really concerned about the details. However, it seems that Kelly fell in with an American group called Gospel Oak. According to Kelly:

Actually what happened was I ended up going to England. I was playing in a band called Gospel Oak over there. The name came from a debunked underground station (tube station).  I met up with these guys from Indiana who had a record deal with MCA Their manager was one of the publicists for the Beatles so it sounded like a really good deal. 

Just as musicians from all over went to San Francisco to emulate the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane, musicians went to London to emulate the Beatles.

Gospel Oak released an album on Kapp, an American MCA subsidiary. I have never heard the album, but supposedly it's OK. The band on the album was:

GOSPEL OAK (Kapp Records 1970)
Bob LeGate-lead guitar, vocals
Matt Kelly-harmonica, guitar
Cliff Hall-keyboards
John Rapp-bass, vocals
Kerry Gaines-drums
plus Gordon Huntley-pedal steel guitar

Gordon Huntley was not a member of the group. He was one of the very few pedal steel guitarists in England, and as a result played on many English recordings (Elton John's "Country Comfort" is probably the most well-known).

I'm not aware of any performances by Gospel Oak in England. However, there must have been some record company support, so perhaps the band members got a weekly wage (a typical arrangement), and didn't need to gig. In any case, it seems that the record company must have been willing to pay to fly someone over, because it appears that Gospel Oak needed an extra member. This is how the otherwise obscure Yanks-In-England band played a part in the Grateful Dead saga. Kelly:

I wrote to Torbert, who was in Hawaii, and we sent him money for a plane ticket. He was going to fly over and join the band. From Hawaii, he stopped at his parents for two days to pick up a few things and fly to London from there. While he was there at his parents he got a phone call from David Nelson of the New Riders of the Purple Sage who said:  'we have this new band with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel and we would really like for you to play bass.’ David had a difficult time with this so he called me up and told me the situation and I said ‘yeah. Go for it. Do it.’ 

Like many parts of the New Riders saga, this story has been repeated so many times by all the participants that it is universally accepted at face value. I myself have never entirely bought it. David Gans kindly took up my request to ask David Nelson about it, and Nelson conceded that it was no coincidence that Torbert got a call at his parents house on his way to England.

Think about this for a minute. David Nelson and Dave Torbert were in a band together for years, and John Dawson was a good friend of Torbert's as well. Torbert had been in Maui since late 1968, far from civilization, and he gets a surprise letter from Matt Kelly, followed by a plane ticket to London to join his band. Do you think that Nelson or Dawson just happened to be calling Torbert's parents in Redwood City on the day that Torbert dropped by (I have heard this version of the story)?

Garcia had been playing with Nelson and Dawson since May of 1969. By early 1970, as I have obsessively documented, the New Riders were on an enforced hiatus since they had no bass player. Phil Lesh had lost interest, and rehearsal bassist Robert Hunter was never actually invited to join the group. It seems obvious that Nelson and Dawson knew exactly when Torbert would be coming through town. So it's clear to me, at least, that they let Matt Kelly's record company send Torbert a ticket to get back to San Francisco--the 1970 Grateful Dead were effectively bankrupt--and then pitched Torbert the chance to join the New Riders.

Was Dave Torbert surprised to arrive at his parents' house in April 1970 and get offered the bassist's job in the New Riders Of The Purple Sage? Probably, he was surprised, but it wasn't a coincidence. Nelson and Dawson knew when he was coming, because clearly Torbert had told them. By pitching him over the phone, Torbert was legitimately able to present it as a surprise to Kelly. Kelly, to his credit, recognized what a good opportunity it was for his friend, and told Torbert to take the offer. Kelly:

This worked to my advantage later on because Gospel Oak ended up breaking up and when I came back from London, I started sitting in and playing with the New Riders. Out of that and some recording sessions that I had been working on, David quit New Riders and we started Kingfish together. That was in 1973.

The close friendship between Kelly and Torbert was confirmed by Kelly's willingness to let Torbert try for the brass ring when he had the chance. So when Kelly and Torbert decided to form a band in 1974, Torbert knew he had a loyal partner. In any case, Kelly's UK work permit apparently expired at the end of 1970, and he would have had to return to the States anyway.

Mountain Current
Matt Kelly's musical activities in 1972 have to be assumed somewhat. I have determined that Kelly's reconnection with Bob Weir took place during the recording of an album by David Rea, produced by Weir, recorded in late 1972. Rea's Slewfoot album will be the next post in this series, but it's clear that Kelly was not really hooked up with the Dead/New Riders crowd until '72. Kelly was thanked on the back of the late '72 New Riders album Gypsy Cowboy, so he was part of that scene from then on. However, while I'm sure Kelly hung with Torbert a bit, he wasn't yet really part of the Riders crowd in 1971.

Back in the Bay Area, former New Delhi River Band, Shango and Horses drummer Chris Herold was coming to the end of his mandated service as a Conscientious Objector. From 1969 through 1971 Herold had driven a hospital truck, so he had only been able to play music on weekends. Herold's primary, and perhaps sole, musical endeavor was to play drums for a band called Mountain Current.

Mountain Current does have a sort of famous or infamous status in the Santa Cruz Mountains from back in the day. They appear to have been a sort of "jam band," in a 60s kind of way. They may have had a somewhat floating membership, too. I have read a few descriptions of their music, and apparently they played danceable, free floating jam music, probably in the Fillmore style of open-ended blues. I don't think Mountain Current played many songs per se, or only used them as jumping off points.

Herold was the drummer in Mountain Current from 1969 through 1971. In the middle of that time, of course, Dave Torbert returned to California and joined the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. By the end of 1970, Mickey Hart stepped down from the drum chair of the New Riders. Whether or not Hart had intended to be a permanent member--probably not--he was apparently becoming increasingly stressed out from having brought his father Lenny in as the Grateful Dead's manager, even if the band themselves forgave him. In December 1970, the New Riders signed up Spencer Dryden as their new drummer, as Spencer had left the Airplane nearly a year earlier. I have to think that Nelson and Torbert would have wanted Herold as a replacement for Mickey Hart in the New Riders, but with Herold's obligation that would have been impossible.

The only other member of Mountain Current that I know was a temporary one, legendary South Bay guitarist Billy Dean Andrus. Andrus was the frontman for the popular San Jose band Weird Herald, fondly remembered by all who saw them (and by those lucky enough to have heard anything from their unreleased album on Onyx). Andrus was some character, however, and at one point around 1970 he was fired from Weird Herald, who temporarily replaced him with old Garcia pal Peter Grant. Andrus played with Mountain Current for about six weeks. Andrus liked to jam, and the suggestion was that he just plugged in and roared with Mountain Current.

How legendary was Billy Dean Andrus? He died in November of 1970, apparently after a wild party, and it hit all his friends hard, particularly those who were musicians. Jorma Kaukonen, one of his closest friends, wrote "Ode To Billy Dean," and Hot Tuna not only started playing the song by the end of that month, they still play it to this day. In 1970, Hot Tuna had played alternate weekends at a club called the Chateau Liberte, and Andrus would often sit in and jam. Hot Tuna had alternated with Hot Tuna at The Chateau with a then-unknown band called The Doobie Brothers. Doobie Brothers' guitarist Pat Simmons also wrote a song for Billy Dean, called "Black Water" ("Oh black water/Keep on rollin''/Mississippi Moon, won't you keep on shining on me"), and it became a worldwide hit that everyone recognizes. Pat Simmons still plays that song, too.

Other than Andrus and Herold, I have not been able to determine any other members of Mountain Current. However, I feel confident that Kelly must have sat in with them at the very least. Mountain Current evolved into a group called Lonesome Janet, led by Kelly and Herold, so it stands to reason that Kelly at least hung out and jammed, not least because Kelly didn't have many other rock music outlets in the Bay Area.

[update: Matthew Kelly himself was kind enough to give me some detail about Mountain Current. The band had a sort of floating membership, but Kelly did indeed perform with them regularly in late 1970. Besides Herold on drums, regular members at that time were singer Sweet John Tomasi, from The New Delhi River Band, electric pianist Mick Ward, "Bob The Bass Player," who may have been Bob Dugan, and Andrus on guitar. Different players came and went, and Kelly regularly played harmonica with them.]

Matt Kelly On The Chitlin Circuit
Gospel Oak ground to a halt in mid-1970, and Matt Kelly was left in London with no gig. Up until recently, Kelly's musical history for the next few years has been very vague. Recently, however, Kelly had a remarkable interview with scholar and dj Jake Feinberg, and Kelly spooled out the rather remarkable story of his career between the end of Gospel Oak and his permanent relocation to the Bay Area in 1973.

When Gospel Oak broke up, Kelly hooked up with New Orleans blues singer Champion Jack Dupree, who had been based in Europe since 1960 for a number of years, who was based in England at the time. Kelly played a few shows with Dupree, and must have hit it off, because Dupree wanted Kelly to come tour Europe with him, but Kelly could not get a work permit. As a result, Kelly returned to California later in 1970.

However, once Kelly returned to California, rather than finding another rock band, Kelly pursued his connection to the blues. He capitalized on the time spent with Mel Brown in Watts, and started working with organist Johnny Carswell, backing traveling blues musicians on the so-called "Chitlin Circuit." The Chitlin Circuit referred to the string of venues in the East, Southeast and Midwest that were wiling to book African-American performers, and more generally to the string of venues that featured black R&B performers throughout the country. By the early 70s, many of the bigger performers on the old circuit, such as B.B. King, were playing white rock venues as well. The circuit definitely tended toward older theaters in traditionally black neighborhoods--The Fillmore Auditorium had been a major stop on the Chitlin Circuit before Bill Graham took it over in 1966--and until then it was still a world removed from the white rock industry.

Carswell, Kelly and their band backed various touring blues musicians, with and without Mel Brown. The most famous of those was guitarist Aaron Thibodeux "T-Bone" Walker. Even this blog does not have enough space for a tangent on T-Bone, but suffice to say he was a fundamental influence on B.B. King, Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix, just for starters, so calling him monumental is almost modest. Due to his age and declining health, Walker never really had a chance to play for white audiences in the late 60s, but with his health improving in the early 70s it seemed like he could come back. If he had, Kelly might have gotten some real recognition. Kelly recalled

I ended up playing with T-Bone later on, right up until he passed away, which was really unfortunate because we were just getting ready to go into the studio and do a record. There are some live tapes floating around of stuff I did with T-Bone but they got lost somewhere over the years. If there is a guy out there named Red and you’ve got those tapes…boy I would be forever in your debt!

Kelly has some amazing reminiscences in the Feinberg interview, recalling being backstage with B.B. King, who told him that he owed his whole career to T-Bone Walker, or hearing Bobby "Blue" Bland tell Kelly his life story while killing time, waiting for his band to show up. For a typical suburban musician who had initially learned the blues from records he enjoyed, this was a remarkable opportunity for Kelly to become a part of the music that meant so much to him.

In 1973, it seemed like T-Bone Walker was primed for a comeback, and Kelly was expecting to go record with him down in Los Angeles. Just before that, however, KPFA-fm helped sponsor a big concert at the Berkeley Community Theater in June (1973), which Kelly recalled being dubbed "Night Of The Guitar." Besides great jazz players like Herb Ellis, T-Bone Walker represented the blues along with Shuggie Otis. Kelly and Johnny Carswell had put together a top-flight band to back T-Bone.

By 1973, Kelly's group was called "33," and they also featured local singer Patti Cathcart. My guess is that 33 sometimes just backed players on Bay Area dates, and sometimes they probably went on tour, as well. I'm not sure who else was in the band. In the Feinberg interview, Kelly alluded to "a drummer from the Doobie Brothers" being in 33, but whether that was a then-current (Michael Hossack) or future (Keith Knudsen) Doobie is unclear. Different players must have been in the group at different times, and I think Chris Herold drummed on occasion. Herold's Alternative Service would have been over by 1972, so he would have been more available (other possible members might have been Tom Richards on guitar and Bob Dugan on bass, but I haven't confirmed them).

Kelly described how 33 had worked up a popular rhythm and blues set, and then the star of the show--whether T-Bone Walker or someone else--would come out and do their set. Cathcart, well-known today as half of the duo Tuck And Patti, was probably the main lead singer for 33's set, and provided vocal support for T-Bone or anyone else. On her website, she recalls "my band "33" became T-Bone Walker's backup band in the last years of his life." 

Matt Kelly's "33" at the New Orleans House, February 3, 1971

 Update; Esteemed scholar David Kramer-Smyth found a listing for 33 in the Berkeley Barb) February 3, 1971)

Berkeley Barb "Scenedrome" listing for T-Bone Walker and "33" at Berkeley's New Orleans House (April 17, 1971)

The Berkeley Barb listed "33" as supporting T-Bone Walker at the New Orleans House on April 17 and 18, 1971. T-Bone played a number of other gigs around the Bay Area at this time (including Palo Alto's Exit In, the Berkeley Blues Festival and possibly Chateau Liberte). Presumably 33 backed T-Bone on all those gigs.

Although the "Night Of The Guitar" was apparently a big success, according to Kelly the show was stolen by a young gunslinger named Robben Ford, soon to become quite well-known himself (see here for a picture of Ford with T-Bone and Shuggie Otis at Berkeley in '73). The tide was rising again for T-Bone, and Matt Kelly was looking to rise up with it. Tragically, however, T-Bone Walker became very ill and never performed after the middle of 1973. Walker actually lived a bit longer--I think he died in 1975--but he stopped performing, and Kelly was left with no recordings or even photos of his time on tour with one of the greatest electric guitarists of all time. Still, Kelly probably played with T-Bone the last time he did "Stormy Monday," and that's a great legacy by any standard.

Matt Kelly was thanked by name on the back of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage album Gypsy Cowboy, released in December 1972 on Columbia, so he was definitely hanging with Dave Torbert by then

Back In Rockville
According to Kelly, he had started to cut back on touring the Chitlin Circuit by 1973 in any case. The money would have been less, the theaters would have been more run down, and the old R&B circuit was shrinking. Obviously, a chance to participate in the triumphal return of T-Bone Walker would have been very special, but T-Bone's illness seems to have ended Kelly's run of playing with original bluesmen, for the most part. As a result, the second part of 1973 saw Kelly's return to the Bay Area rock music scene, which he had left back in 1968.

I assume Kelly must have looked up his old friend Dave Torbert when both were in town. Kelly is thanked by name on the back of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage album Gypsy Cowboy, released in December 1972, so we know that they were at least hanging out by the Fall of that year. Kelly would play on the next Riders album, Panama Red, recorded in the Spring of '73, so he was definitely working his way back into the rock scene.  By the end of 1973, Kelly would be in another band, Slewfoot, and on the heels of that a band called Lonesome Janet, both of which would ultimately lead to Kingfish in 1974, but all that will have to wait for the next post.

Shango, Horses and Matt Kelly-1968 (Matt Kelly I)

Matt Kelly, Tim Abbott and Dave Torbert of Shango, at an unknown venue in 1968. Photo courtesy of Tim Abbott.

Matt Kelly played harmonica on two Grateful Dead studio albums, and he joined the band on various blues numbers many times in the early 1980s. Kelly has also played with Bob Weir as a member of Kingfish, Bobby And The Midnites and Ratdog over a period of two decades. By any accounting, Kelly was part of the extended musical family of the Grateful Dead. The standard issue story has been that Kelly and Weir were friends from junior high school in Atherton, CA, and that is true enough. However, Kelly and Weir only played sports together, not music, and they effectively did not know each other after the eighth grade. They would only meet intermittently throughout the next decade. Having gone to junior high together did give Kelly and Weir a topic of conversation, but it was a footnote to their shared musical history. This post will begin a series on the musical history of Matt Kelly, who had numerous connections to the Grateful Dead.

An ad for Fremont's "teen" psychedelic venue, The Yellow Brick Road. Was "St. Matthews Experiment" Matt Kelly's band?

Matt Kelly
Matt Kelly had grown up in Atherton with Bob Weir. Atherton had been a wealthy community since its founding in the 19th century, and it certainly had remained so during Weir and Kelly's childhood. However, back in the 50s and 60s, Atherton residents were well off, but not crazy rich as they would become in the Silicon Valley era. So while Kelly and Weir had privileged childhoods, their day-to-day experiences were not necessarily so different than other kids their age in that time and place. Kelly first got interested in music as an adolescent when he spent several months in Mexico with his father, even though he mostly just played congas with some locals. The interest blossomed, and soon replaced sports.

By the mid-60s, Kelly had his own band, the St. Matthews Blues Band. Kelly played harmonica and guitar. I do not know who else was in the group, nor what they sounded like. I assume they played the sort of free-floating blues that most bands were playing at the Fillmore. I have also been unable to find out anything about where they played. The one trace I have been able to find is the ad above from an obscure suburban venue called The Yellow Brick Road in Fremont. I can't even say for certain that the "St. Matthews Experiment" listed is Kelly's band, but it seems probable. The Yellow Brick Road was a fascinating but short-lived psychedelic teen club experiment, finally undone by the rise of the Fillmore and constant harassment of the Fremont police. It seems a likely place for Kelly's fledgling band to have played.

According to an interview with Kelly, he picked up Robert Hunter hitchhiking in Palo Alto around 1966 or so, and took him to 710 Ashbury, and re-connected with Weir there. Since the interview was in the late 90s, I think Kelly has something wrong with the chronology, but I don't doubt that he took a hitchhiker to 710 and met his old pal from junior high school, even if they did not follow through musically for some years. Interestingly, like many 60s musicians, Kelly had numerous connections to various potential avenues of professional success, but they either did not work out or he chose not to pursue them. By the time Kingfish appeared in the mid-70s, seemingly from "nowhere" to Bay Area Grateful Dead fans like me, Kelly had in fact been a working musician for nearly a decade.

The New Delhi River Band
Kelly's first and foremost connection to the Dead, though it may not have seemed that way at the time, was The New Delhi River Band.  The New Delhi River Band, to the extent that they are remembered at all, are recalled as a band that featured David Nelson and Dave Torbert before they were members of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. They were both obscure and yet visible, in the way that only late 60s bands can be, with their name familiar from old posters, yet with no released or even circulating recordings. Yet the New Delhi River Band story was an interesting one, as they were Palo Alto's second psychedelic blues band. Despite being friendly with the first of the breed, and despite some good breaks in 1966, the New Delhi River Band never managed to find paying shows outside of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County, never managing to cross over to the higher profile shows in Berkeley or San Francisco. In that respect, my detailed history of the group serves as a template for every 60s psychedelic blues band who were local heroes who couldn't break out beyond the county line.

However, the New Delhi River Band ground to a halt around February 1968. Nonetheless, the members of the New Delhi River Band continued to play a role in the South Bay music scene after the band broke up. Most famously, of course, Nelson and Torbert were anchor members of the New Riders. However, the New Delhi River Band was also the genesis of Kingfish, and a variety of other Bay Area 60s luminaries, a major record producer and even one 80s television star crossed their path as well. Matt Kelly had only joined the NDRB at the very end of their existence, in early 1968, but that connection was essential to his musical future.

In an earlier post, I looked at the interregnum in David Nelson's career, between the demise of NDRB in February 1968 and the formation of the New Riders in May 1969. In this post, I will begin to trace the paths of the other members of the New Delhi River Band. In fact, the story is so complicated that it will take more than one post, so I will only look at the careers of New Delhi River Band members in 1968 (thanks in advance to guitarist Tim Abbott, still rockin' it with the Chocolate Watch Band, who kindly provided so much for this post).

The New Delhi River Band, February 1968
I have dealt with the twists and turns of the New Delhi River Band at great length, so I will only briefly recap it here. In the Summer of 1966, a few bohemian Palo Alto musicians decided to form a blues band, kind of in the mode of the Butterfield Blues Band. They found a place to play, an obscure and legendary venue called The Barn in Scotts Valley, near Santa Cruz. After the usual personnel shuffles, they established a stable lineup and began to play around. The group was pretty popular in the South Bay, but although they played the Fillmore once, and played for free in Provo Park in Berkeley many times, they could never get over the hump. The primary lineup of the New Delhi River Band, from late 1966 until early 1968, was

Sweet John Tomasi-harmonica, vocals
Peter Sultzbach-lead guitar
David Nelson-guitar
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals
Chris Herold-drums

According to Matthew Kelly, his band The St. Matthews Blues Band opened for them at some point in 1967, and he became friends with the NDRB and jammed with them regularly. At the very end, according to Kelly, he became a member of NDRB. Whether he specifically replaced Tomasi or Nelson isn't clear, and it's possible he just became an additional member. It also appears that the NDRB didn't really break up, it just drifed apart. Certainly there could hardly have been animosity amongst the band members, since they kept joining groups with each other. In any case, the last performance date I have been able to find for the New Delhi River Band was January 28, 1968, and they seemed to have simply faded away after that.

David Nelson took a six-month hiatus from being professional musician, not to re-appear until Fall 1968, when he took a hand in the Grateful Dead's Aoxomoxoa sessions. Guitarist Peter Sultzbach, meanwhile, joined the backing band for Linda Tillery. Tillery had left the Oakland group The Loading Zone to sign as a solo artist with Columbia Records, using the stage name Sweet Linda Devine. Torbert and Herold, along with Kelly, turned back to their recent past, and somewhere around February 1968, the remains of the New Delhi River Band reconstituted themselves as Shango.

A promotional photo of Shango from 1968, probably taken in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Photo courtesy of Tim Abbott.

Shango
The lineup of Shango was

Tim Abbott-lead guitar
Ryan Brandenburg-guitar, cello
Matt Kelly-harmonica, guitar
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals
Chris Herold-drums

According to Abbott, Dave Torbert was Shango's primary lead vocalist, although all three guitarists had vocal numbers as well. John Tomasi also sang and played with Shango on occasion, although I think on a more informal guest basis. Prior to the New Delhi River Band, both Herold and Torbert had been in a Redwood City blues band called The Good News, who were an exciting Peninsula band in 1965-66. However, the group had disintegrated in October 1966, and both of them had then joined the NDRB full time. Good News lead guitarist Tim Abbott went on to the Haight Ashbury Blues Band, and then to the Chocolate Watch Band.

The Chocolate Watch Band were the South Bay's finest band, both live and on record, and they never got the recognition they deserved in San Francisco. When Abbott had joined in June 1967, they were still riding high and making good money. However, Abbott left the group due to concerns about how that money was being handled, a perpetual issue throughout the history of the CWB. Thus Abbott was available when NDRB disintegrated, and he rejoined his old friends Torbert and Herold. I'm not sure how Ryan Brandenburg got connected to the group, nor how much cello he played, but with two or three guitars, plus a harmonica, and some cello, Shango was primed to go beyond the basic blues that had characterized rock music a few years earlier.

I have not been able to trace many dates by Shango. I would be very interested if anyone has any recollections even of the venues Shango might have played. There were many long-gone venues in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara County that I have been trying to excavate, and Shango must have played their share.

A poster for the Vernal Equinox Festival at Big Sur, March 22-24, 1968. A few thousand people showed up, and no such events were ever held at Big Sur again. Bands listed include The Bubble, Edsel Boogie, Electric Tingle Guild, The Flower, Puppy Farm, Weird Herald, Freedom Highway and Phoenix. Shango did play, however, and probably numerous other bands.

According to both Matt Kelly and Tim Abbott, the biggest event that Shango played was the Vernal Equinox Festival at Big Sur on March 22-24, 1968. Big Sur is a remarkable place, only accessible by one twisty coastal road, and completely isolated from the rest of California. It has been a counterculture haven from the day it was connected by road to the rest of the state. There were numerous hippie type events there in the mid-60s, but after something like 3000 people came to the Vernal Equinox, no such events were ever held there again. 3000 people--hippies or not--is just too much for Big Sur.

The event ended up turning into a kind of wake for Neal Cassidy, who had died in Mexico in February. The event was sponsored (so to speak) by the MidPeninsula Free University in Menlo Park, which had numerous Kesey connections, so the word had obviously gotten around. Although Shango is not listed on the poster--I assume many other bands were also unlisted, as there was supposed to be three days of music--many of the groups who did play are of great interest to those scholars interested in South Bay psychedelia. A brief synopsis of some of the bands will give an idea of Shango's peers at the time

The Bubble were a band of high school students who rehearsed at The Barn.  Lead guitarist Ken Kraft would go on to join the legendary Santa Cruz band Snail.
Edsel Boogie, I'm fairly certain, evolved into Boogie. [update: I was fairly certain, but wrong. Edsel Boogie did not become Boogie.] Boogie was a trio featuring Barry Bastian on guitar (ex-Lee Michaels) along with John Barrett on bass and Fuzzy John Oxendine on drums (both of whom would end up in The Rhythm Dukes).
Electric Tingle Guild featured guitarist Mark Loomis, who had left the Chocolate Watch Band in a dispute over management's handling of money (to be replaced by Abbott, who left for the same reason).
The Flower were a Santa Cruz psychedelic band. I know that Gordon Stevens, who played electric viola in Moby Grape in 1971 (too long a story, even for this blog) was in Flower.
Puppy Farm, a light show as well as a band, lived in a commune in the Mountains not far from Kesey's old place. The aggregation is better known from posters under their "true" name, Black Shit Puppy Farm.
Weird Herald, true legends from San Jose, were extremely popular in the San Jose area, and limited recorded evidence suggests they were quite a band. Lead guitarist Billy Dean Andrus died unexpectedly in 1970, and the abrupt sadness generated two famous songs from his good friends: Jorma Kaukonen's "Ode To Billy Dean" and the Doobie Brothers Pat Simmons "Oh Black Water."
Freedom Highway were a Marin band, booked by Ron Polte and West-Pole, who were pretty good but never broke out of Marin
Phoenix, a band with a long and complicated history, was one of those bands that should have gone much further than they did. Much of our knowledge of the craziness of the Big Sur event (not for a family blog) comes from former members of Phoenix.

Shango were billed along with many other psychedelic luminaries--and Jack Jones and Jill St. John--for a Eugene McCarthy rally at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on May 25, 1968

May 25, 1968 Family Park, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds McCarthy Is Happening 

Jack Jones and Jill St. John/H.P. Lovecraft/Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/Clear Light/Flaming Groovies/Crystal Syphon/The Womb/Jimmy Nite and The Nite Caps/Phantasmagoria/The Howl/Anonymous Artists of America/Day Blindness/Shango/many others

Of all the events in this brief chronology, this event is the most peculiar. I only know the event from the poster--I have never heard of a review, memory or second hand account. It may not have even happened. However, the poster itself is very revealing. I have considered the event within the history of outdoor San Jose rock concerts in the 60s, and I have analyzed the various acts at length elsewhere, so I won't recap it all. Briefly, it appears that this was an effort to have a sort of "Hippie Fair."

Eugene McCarthy was running for President on an Anti-Vietnam War platform, and the California primary was June 4. The wording of the ad suggests that it is a pro-McCarthy event, but there is no evidence that its really a fundraiser. The peculiar double headline acts of HP Lovecraft, who headlined the Fillmore a few weeks earlier, and Jack Jones and his new wife Jill St. John, Las Vegas lounge headliners, is a truly headscratching combination. My assumption is that the organizers were trying to appeal to actual hippies and people about 10 years older, and that the effort was a failure.

The "McCarthy Is Happening" took place a week after the huge "Northern California Folk-Rock Festival" held just the weekend before (May 17-18, 1968), at the very same Fairgrounds, though not the identical location. The fairgrounds were also less than a mile from the park where the 1967 San Jose Be-In had been held on May 14, 1967, so two members of Shango (Torbert and Herold) had seen outdoor shows in San Jose go from relaxed free festivals to hyped up hippie fairs featuring Hollywood stars in the space of just slightly more than a year.

Another promotional photo of Shango, circa 1968, probably taken in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Photo courtesy Tim Abbott.

According to Tim Abbott, Shango faded away due to lack of gigs--I myself have only found two, as you can see--and Ryan Brandenburg left the group. Shango briefly changed their name to The Wind, but I have been unable to track down any dates. The Wind must have been together in the Summer of 1968 [update: Matt Kelly says the group actually used the name Wind Wind]

The Wind
Tim Abbott-lead guitar
Matt Kelly-harmonica, guitar
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals
Chris Herold-drums

The cover to the 1968 album Horses on White Whale Records. Matt Kelly, Dave Torbert, Chris Herold and Scott (Quigley) Quik were mated with lead singer Don Johnson, seen lounging in front.

The strangest story in the time between the New Delhi River Band and Kingfish was the Horses album on White Whale Records. Neither Shango nor The Wind had really gotten any traction, nor, it seemed, played many shows. Nonetheless, the band had somehow come to the attention of two songwriters, Tim Gilbert and John Carter. The pair had been the lead singer and lyricist of a Colorado group called The Rainy Daze. Back in '65, The Rainy Daze had hooked up with a local dj and aspiring producer, Dave Diamond, and he had moved the band to Los Angeles.

In 1967, The Rainy Daze had had a surprise AM pop hit with the song "Acapulco Gold." It was  a catchy tune, and once public scolds discovered what the lyric of the chorus actually implied-- "Old dogs can learn new tricks/When the streets are lined with bricks/Of Acapulco Gold,"-- the record was banned in many cities. Producer Dave Diamond could hardly have been happier, since nothing improves record sales like the banning of a scandalous record. Diamond claims that to this day "Acapulco Gold" was the best selling single in the history of San Francisco, and he could very well be right. Carter and Gilbert went on to write the song "Incense And Peppermints," and Diamond found a Santa Barbara area group called The Strawberry Alarm Clock, and they had another huge hit.

The Rainy Daze soon disintegrated, however. Dave Diamond moved up to San Francisco, working at AM giant KFRC. Carter and Gilbert ultimately moved to San Francisco as well. The duo were more interested in songwriting and producing than being in a band, so they had written an album's worth of songs and were looking for performers, which was a typical way to make records in the mid 60s. Carter and Gilbert had a lead singer from Colorado named John Fifefield, who had been the star of a famous Colorado band The Astronauts (too long a tangent even for this blog). As a lead guitarist they had found one Scott Quigley, to be better known a decade later as Scotty Quik (when he played with Sammy Hagar).

Carter and Davis needed a rhythm section, however, and somehow came upon Torbert, Herold and Kelly. All parties are vague on how this actually occurred, but I presume the producers must have seen either Shango or The Wind in some tiny joint. Unfortunately for Tim Abbott, however, since they already had a lead guitarist in Quigley, he was left behind. Torbert, Herold and Kelly moved to Los Angeles for a few months in mid-1968 to work on what became the Horses album.

For many years, the Horses album was impossible to find, probably due at least in part to legal issues involving White Whale Records. Time passes, however, and in 2003 Gear Fab Records re-released the album on cd, including a detailed interview with producer Dave Diamond, who spelled out at least some aspects of the strange tale. The strangest part is this: halfway through the album, the producers decided lead singer Fifefield was wrong for the project. They held auditions for a new lead singer, and the singer was a handsome, newly-arrived lad from the middle of the country named Don Johnson.

Was Horses' lead singer Don Johnson the same Don Johnson who would go on to star in Miami Vice and other TV shows in the 1980s and beyond? No one seems really certain [update: Matt Kelly thinks the lead singer Don Johnson lacked the charisma to become the famous movie star, and thinks they were different people]. The timing is certainly correct, as that is when Don Johnson arrived in Los Angeles. Johnson was also an aspiring musician as well as actor.  He co-wrote a song with Dickey Betts that appeared on a 1977 album ("Bougainvillea"from Great Southern) long before he was famous from television. Johnson also put out two solo albums in the 80s. And once, at least, in 1995, I saw the Allman Brothers at Concord Pavilion and Johnson came out and sang "Stormy Monday" without embarrassing himself. So the idea of Don Johnson as a potential rock star in 1968 is very plausible indeed. Yet was it him? All of the principals aren't sure, so you will have to look at the picture (above) and decide for yourself. Don Johnson himself remains quiet about his pre-Miami Vice life, so he's no help one way or the other.

Horses
Don Johnson-vocals
Scott Quigley-lead guitar
Matt Kelly-harmonica, guitar
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals
Chris Herold-drums

A flyer for a September 5, 1968 concert in Tracy, CA with San Jose's People!, supported by Horses

The only trace I have been able to find of a live Horses performance was this completely obscure flyer from the Tracy Ballroom on September 5, 1968 (thanks to Colin for this). Tracy is in Central California, roughly between San Francisco and Sacramento. People (actually People!) were a popular San Jose band who had a decent hit ("I Love You" reached #14 in Billboard in 1968, and #1 in Japan), so Horses would have been just filling out the bill. I assume this concert was after the band had finished recording the album, but then again this is so out-of-the-way it could be a different "Horses" entirely. However, People and Shango had worked the same circuit, so its more likely that this was a rare--perhaps the only--live booking for Don Johnson and Horses.

I don't believe the Horses album was even released until 1969, but Kelly never mentioned it until he was asked about it in Relix many years later, so I don't think he and Torbert were sorry to see it disappear. It's a heavily produced album, rather far from the bluesier sound that Kelly, Torbert and Herold were trying to lay down. Nonetheless it does have some decent songs, which would turn up in Kingfish repertoire years later. These include "Run Rabbit Run" which Kingfish re-titled as "Jump For Joy," "Asia Minor" and"Overnight Bag." "Asia Minor" was co-written by Tim Hovey (and Scott Quigley), a former child actor and friend of the band. Hovey would surface a few years later, as not only a co-writer of a number of songs with Dave Torbert ("Important Exportin' Man", Wild Northland" and "Goodbye Yer Honor", but also as the sound man for Kingfish.

Also, the track "Horseradish," credited to Carter and Gilbert, is pretty much the Little Walter classic harmonica instrumental "Juke," which was performed many times by Kingfish. Kelly's harmonica plays a notable, if muted role in the sound, except on "Horseradish," where it stands front and center. There are some organ and piano parts that aren't by the band members--typical for the era--but on the whole it seems like the band really did record the basic tracks.

Nothing happened with the Horses album. If lead singer Don Johnson was the actor, we know what became of him. Dave Diamond continued a successful career as a dj up until this day. Tim Gilbert ended up managing a TV station in Lexington, KY. John Carter went on to become a very successful A&R man and producer for Capitol Records. Carter was instrumental in promoting Bob Seger and Steve Miller, two huge Capitol acts, and he also signed and produced Sammy Hagar (which helps explain the Scott Quigley/Scotty Quik connection). Carter's most memorable production was probably Tina Turner's Private Dancer album. So despite the oddity of the Horses project, Kelly and Torbert had contacts that would bode well for any ambitious and aspiring 60s musician.

The Shango lads availed themselves of exactly none of the opportunities that there Hollywood sojourn might have afforded them. To be fair, I have never read a word of regret from any of them, and indeed for the most part I think they were happy to put it behind them. Nonetheless, it's important to remember that back in the 60s, when the music industry was still expanding, talented musicians in places like California often had to pick and choose what to pursue, and Kelly, Torbert and Herold very consciously chose the NorCal hippie blues sound over the SoCal songwriter sound, and thus set their path before them.

However, when the Horses project ground to a halt, Kelly, Torbert and Herold let their own enterprise grind to a halt as well. Herold formed a group with old buddy Tim Abbott called Haywire. They played a few gigs in late 1968, but it didn't go anywhere. At the end of the year, or perhaps in the beginning of 1969, Abbott reported that he and Herold got together for a jam with David Nelson with an eye to forming a group, but none of the pieces fit together. Everyone got along fine, but Nelson and Abbott's guitar styles didn't mesh particularly well, so nothing came of it.

Aftermath
The members of Shango had begun the year with high hopes, but ended with no band and little to show for it. However, although the Horses album lacks a bit of crunch to my ears, it isn't terrible by any means. Matt Kelly's bands played songs from the album for decades, as "Asia Minor" and "Jump For Joy" were Kingfish staples. They were even re-recorded for the 1976 Kingfish album on Round Records.  At the end of 1968, however, that was a long way in the future, and the band members were at loose ends.

Chris Herold, like most young American men, had a national service obligation. He was a conscientious objector, so he agreed to alternative service driving a hospital truck. This only left him free to play on weekends. As a result, from 1969-71, Herold was the drummer for a legendary Santa Cruz "jam band" called Mountain Current, who are fondly though vaguely--ahem--remembered by music fans in the Santa Cruz mountains at the time. Herold's obligations prevented the group from being more than a weekend fun band, and the membership was quite fluid, but they still played an important role in the Kingfish story.

Dave Torbert had been struggling as a musician along with his friend Herold since at least 1965, so he seems to have decided it was time for a break. Torbert was also an avid surfer, and he took off for Maui, where he lived the hippie surfer life until around March 1970, when he would receive a fateful phone call.

But as 1968 ended, Matt Kelly was at loose ends. Somehow he had avoided the draft, but with Herold and Torbert effectively out of action, he did not have a band. However, his next two years would turn out to be quite interesting, even if he had no inkling that he would record with a well-known bluesman and then get to record in London. Those stories are too long to tell here, and will have to wait for Part II.

David Nelson Musical Activities, February 1968-May 1969 (David Nelson V)

An ad for Berkeley's Freight and Salvage, from the Berkeley Barb of February 14, 1969. High Country, with David Nelson, was advertised for the following Thursday, February 20

After the demise of The New Delhi River Band at the end of January, 1968, David Nelson bided his time and worked on new ventures. Most of them didn't pan out, but given his importance in the arc of the careers in Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, it's useful to sketch out what I know about what Nelson was attempting between the New Delhi River Band and the beginning of the New Riders of The Purple Sage. Anyone with corrections, insights, additional information or recovered memories (real or imagined) is encouraged to Comment or email me.

New Delhi River Band, 1968
By the beginning of 1968, the New Delhi River Band just seemed to run out of shows to play. There seemed to be no hostility or falling out amongst the members---indeed they kept rejoining bands with each other--but the band appeared to have simply become no longer viable. Bassist Dave Torbert and drummer Chris Herold went on to form a group called Shango, and had a variety of other adventures, but that will be the subject of a different post. Nelson, meanwhile, seems to follow his own path. What follows is what little I have been able to determine about Nelson's music from early 1968 until mid-1969.

February-October 1968
For about 9 months in 1968, I can find no trace of any public musical activities by David Nelson. Presumably he laid low and made a living some other way. It does not appear that he was in an electric band nor that he was playing bluegrass or acoustic music, either. My only piece of knowledge about Nelson at this time was that he somehow had acquired an Indian motorcycle, a not-expensive but nonetheless exotic ride.

The cover to the Grateful Dead's June, 1969 album Aoxomoxoa, with cover art by Rick Griffin

Aoxomoxoa Sessions, Fall 1968
Nelson reappeared on the Grateful Dead scene in about October of 1968. Nelson hung out and participated in the Aoxomoxoa sessions at Pacific Recording in San Mateo during that time. I don't believe Nelson played a significant role in the final recordings, but he was around and he was mentioned on the back of the album. From 1966 to '68, both Nelson and Jerry Garcia had been very busy with their respective bands, and it's unlikely they saw much of each other. With Nelson unencumbered, however, there was considerably more time to hang out.

Sometime in August, 1968, the Grateful Dead at least toyed with the idea of replacing Bob Weir and Pigpen. McNally describes the infamous band meeting where they were both "fired," although the Grateful Dead continued to perform with both of them. Weir was convinced that he was out of the band, but he stuck it out, and in the end the firing didn't stick (p.276-279). However, during this period, the Grateful Dead at least had some jams with other guitarists. Whether, exactly, these were auditions is for you to decide, but it certainly looked that way. Via David Gans, we know that Nelson was invited to jam with the Dead, sans Weir and Pigpen, at Pacific Recording in Fall '68. The first number they tried was "The Eleven." In any case, Nelson remained a friend of the band, and Weir remained in the Grateful Dead.

Jam Sessions, David Nelson/Tim Abbott/Chris Herold, late 1968
Guitarist Tim Abbott had been in a Redwood City blues band called The Good News. When they broke up in October 1966, Chris Herold and Dave Torbert were free to join the New Delhi River Band. Abbott went on to a stint in the legendary Chocolate Watch Band, San Jose's finest. When Abbott left the Watch Band due to management issues, he rejoined Torbert and Herold in the group Shango, along with Matt Kelly and others. Abbott left Shango after a few months, but when the successor group to Shango (called Horses) folded, Herold and Abbott formed a group called Haywire.

When Haywire, too, faded away by the end of 1968, Herold and Abbott had a few jams with David Nelson, with an eye towards forming a group. However, according to Abbott, his guitar style did not particularly mesh with Nelson's, and nothing came of the jams.

Big Brother Warehouse, early 1969
In early 1969, David Nelson was apparently living in the rehearsal space warehouse of Big Brother And The Holding Company. Although Big Brother had been hugely successful, when Janis Joplin left the group they immediately disintegrated. The last show with Janis was at the Avalon on December 1, 1968, so Big Brother wouldn't have had much to do afterwards. Big Brother bassist Peter Albin was an old high school friend of Nelson's; indeed, according to legend, Albin had been with Nelson in Kepler's Books in Menlo Park when they first came across Garcia.

The Pete Frame New Riders Family Tree lists Nelson, Albin, Big Brother drummer Dave Getz and violinist Ed Bogas as a sort of jamming ensemble during this period. The classically trained Bogas had also been a high school friend of Albin's, and he had been a member of the Liberty Hill Aristrocrats, an old-time string band featuring Peter and Rodney Albin and various other intermittent members. However, since Albin and Getz went out on tour with Country Joe And The Fish in early March, the time frame for the jamming is constricted. However, I do know that Albin and Getz played at least one show--probably only one show--and I have to suspect Nelson was present if not actually a featured performer. David Gans was kind enough to ask Nelson about this, and Nelson confirms that he was present.

Sf Chronicle Datebook listing from Monday, January 6, 1969 The top item says "ROCK CLUB--Peter Albin and Dave Getz in a jam session at the Matrix, 3138 Fillmore"

From 1968 through 1970, the Matrix had a "jam session." These jams played an important role in Grateful Dead history, or at least in Jerry Garcia's musical history. Garcia was a regular, if intermittent visitor at Matrix jams. In early 1970 he showed up to jam with a guy named Howard Wales, who was hosting the jam session along with drummer Bill Vitt. Vitt in turn invited bassist John Kahn, and the roots of the Kahn/Garcia partnership and the Jerry Garcia Band were founded there.

In general, the Matrix usually advertised a host for the jam, and he in turn brought a few musicians, and if patrons were lucky some friends of the host would show up as well. In the parlance of the time, an ad that said "Elvin Bishop-Jam" meant that Elvin Bishop would play, but he might not necessarily have his regular band, and he wouldn't be playing his regular set. Of course, there would be some jamming, usually just the blues in A, but 'jam' really meant 'non-standard.' At various times in 1968 and 1969, the Monday night jam at the Matrix was hosted by Elvin Bishop, Carlos Santana, Howard Wales and other names familiar to people who read the backs of San Francisco albums. In any case, on January 6, 1969, the hosts for the Matrix jam were Peter Albin and Dave Getz of Big Brother. What material Nelson may have actually played with his friends remains obscure.

High Country, early 1969
High Country had originally been formed as a bluegrass duet, comprising mandolinist Butch Waller and guitarist Mylos Sonka. The duo's principal performing venue appears to have been Berkeley's Freight And Salvage. Waller was from Walnut Creek, and he was an old friend of Nelson and Garcia from the early 60s, when there were very few aspiring young bluegrass players in the Bay Area. Nelson was even in Waller's group, The Pine Valley Boys, for about a year in 1964-65.

By 1969, High Country had started to evolve. I have been unable to track all the details, but since there were so few bluegrass players in the rock-centric Bay Area in 1969, everyone seems to have gone through the group. Sonka was replaced by Rich Wilbun, and old Garcia pal Peter Grant joined on banjo. Grant seems to have alternated High Country dates with fellow former Palo Altan Rick Shubb, whose wife Markie Shubb played bass sometimes. David Nelson and Richard Greene then joined High Country as well (Greene, too, had been in the Pine Valley Boys), although Nelson and Greene did not play every show.

How long or how often Nelson played with High Country is uncertain. The only taped evidence of Nelson's time with High Country is a tape from the Matrix, apparently from February 19, 1969. However, neither Shubb nor Grant seems to have been available, so another old Palo Altan, Jerry Garcia filled in on banjo, playing along on some bluegrass standards, which is probably why the tape got recorded and preserved. In any case, Rick Shubb has confirmed that Nelson was a member of High Country for at least a few shows.

David Gans was kind of enough to pursue the question of High Country with Nelson himself, who when asked where he played with High Country, recently recalled:

The Matrix, believe it or not. And a couple in Berkeley - Freight and Salvage, if it was happening then. Then we went down to Charles Krug Winery in Los Gatos area for two days, with Pete Grant playing banjo.

A close look at the early history of Berkeley's Freight and Salvage shows High Country listed on February 20, 1969, the day after the putative Matrix show. This lends credence to the Matrix date as February 19, even though the Dead played Fillmore West that night. My current theory is that the Matrix show was a sort of "dinner show" at about six o'clock. It's fascinating to at least think that Garcia may have at least contemplated playing the Freight and Salvage, even though he probably didn't. In any case, here's what I think is the somewhat confirmed itinerary for David Nelson as a member of High Country:

Wednesday, February 19, 1969: The Matrix (afternoon)

    Butch Waller, David Nelson, Jerry Garcia, Rich Wilbun (bs)

Thursday, February 20, 1969: Freight and Salvage, Berkeley

    Waller, Nelson, Wilbun (gtr), Rick Shubb (banjo), Markie Shubb (bs)

Friday-Saturday, February 21-22: Charles Krug Winery, Los Gatos

    Waller, Nelson, Richard Greene (fiddle), Peter Grant (banjo), Wilbun (bs)

Hopefully more information will slowly bubble to the surface. Nelson seems to have played intermittently but regularly with High Country in the late 68/early 69 period.

The cover to the 1970 album Be A Brother, by Big Brother And The Holding Company, the band's excellent but underrated post-Janis album. It's unclear if any of David Nelson's guitar parts ended up getting used on the record, but he definitely participated in some of the earlier sessions.

Spring 1969
Nelson's trail disappears for the Spring of '69. While Albin and Getz toured Europe with Country Joe and The Fish, starting in March, they initially left Nelson as caretaker of their warehouse. Soon afterwards, Nelson moved to Haight Street, near Divisadero (near the Both/And, 1090 Page street and the Harding Theater, among other landmarks). When Albin and Getz returned from the European tour with Joe and Barry, members of Big Brother headed to Los Angeles to work on recording. Nelson went with them (quote via Gans):

Went to studio in LA with Big Brother to do some guitar tracks. Sam had some songs and they had some studio time, thinking of a new record - which later became Be A Brother. That was the first time I had to join a union. Columbia Studio in LA. Classic studio, with a clock like a school clock ' "Time is money!" My first experience of the musicians' union. I had to pay $500 to join 'cause it was in LA.

Be A Brother, by Big Brother And The Holding Company, was an excellent album, given no chance because it lacked Janis. Yet its interesting to find out that Nelson may have played some of the many guitar tracks on the record.

However, as I have discussed at length elsewhere, in May of 1969 Jerry Garcia decided to play pedal steel guitar as John Dawson's sideman, while Dawson played his new songs, at a tiny hippie hofbrau in Menlo Park. All signs point to Garcia's first appearance with Dawson at The Underground on May 7 or May 14. I am personally inclined to May 7 for the debut. Nelson said that he missed the first one, but Dawson called him for the second one, which I take to be May 14, 1969. By June, and a few more dates at The Underground, the idea of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage was born, and the band played its first show on July 16, at Longshoreman's Hall.

The listing from Ralph Gleason's Ad Lib column in the SF Chronicle on August 6, 1969, the first public use of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage name

There is a variety of indirect evidence that Nelson and Dawson had spent the preceding months talking about forming a group of some kind. Dawson had written some nice songs, and Nelson didn't have a band. The pairing would make a lot of sense, but it had no form or traction. Nelson has alluded to this period a little bit, but the one detailed interview he gave had his own timeline somewhat garbled, and has to be taken with a grain of salt. According to Nelson, however, after the first, casual appearance by Garcia with Dawson, Dawson called him and said "Jerry wants to do it and he'll play pedal steel." Nelson clearly knew what Dawson was referring to, so the idea must have been at least floating around. What was unprecedented was an actual rock star being willing to act as a sideman, and on a new instrument at that.

Although Nelson had moved from the demise of the New Delhi River Band in February 1968 to the birth of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage 15 months later, the tendrils of The New Delhi River Band remained thoroughly entwined in his tale. When Bob Matthews and then Phil Lesh stepped away as bassist for the New Riders, Nelson and Dawson called on old friend Dave Torbert to step up in April 1970, and Torbert helped the Riders graduate from being a sort of Garcia hobby to a serious band. I am convinced that Nelson and Torbert would have brought Chris Herold in on drums to replace Mickey Hart as well, in December 1970, but Herold was unable to work as a full-time musician at the time, as he was fulfilling his Conscientious Objector obligation by driving a hospital truck.

After the New Riders Of The Purple Sage took root in August of 1969--their first show under that name was August 6 at The Matrix--David Nelson was permanently entwined with the Grateful Dead story. In fact, Nelson had always been part of the narrative, if somewhat in the background. Once the New Riders became a working band, however, Nelson came back into a much closer orbit around the gravitational pull of Garcia's music.