Sonobeat Trivia

How much do you know about Sonobeat? Take our trivia test here. Click on a question to reveal its answer.

What famous Austin fine artist created his first album cover for a Sonobeat release?

Jim Franklin, best known as a founder of Austin's iconic '70s live music venue, the Armadillo World Headquarters, was commissioned by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. in 1968 to draw a sketch of the Lee Arlano Trio. Jim's sketch adorns the cover of Sonobeat's first album release, Jazz to the Third Power. At the time he drew the Arlano sketch, Jim was artist-in-residence at the equally iconic Vulcan Gas Company, predecessor to the Armadillo, and had never before had any of his art featured on an album jacket. And now some really deep Jim Franklin trivia that appears nowhere else on the Sonobeat website: Bill Josey Sr. also commissioned Jim to paint portraits of his children; Jim did one portrait of Bill's two daughters and another of Bill's two sons.

What unusual vehicle did Johnny Winter use as his "tour bus" during the mid-1960s?

A black hearse. Read more.

In the late 1960s, who was the house band at Austin's Club Seville at the Sheraton Crest Inn? (Hint: this band provided instrumental backings on several Sonobeat pop 45 singles.)

The Michael Stevens IV, also known as the Kings IV. The quartet provided the backings for Sonobeat's Don Dean, Fran Nelson, and Bach Yen 45 RPM singles.

In what rural community in Central Texas' rolling hills did Sonobeat owner Bill Josey Sr. set up his "Blue Hole Sounds" studio in the mid-1970s?

Liberty Hill. Bill's "Blue Hole Sounds" on the outskirts of town was housed in an old stone church that at the time was used two Sundays a month by the local AME congregation. Read more.

When two top '60s Austin rock bands broke up, some of their former members formed the Lavender Hill Express, which recorded three singles released by Sonobeat. Which bands contributed which members to LHE?

The Wig's bassist Jess Yaryan and drummer Rusty Wier and the Babycakes' guitarists Layton DePenning and Leonard Arnold formed Austin supergroup Lavender Hill Express. Read more.

What was the location of Sonobeat's only live recording that was commercially released? (Hint: it was a 45 rpm single released in 1968.)

The Afro-Caravan's single Comin' Home Baby was recorded at a live performance at the 1968 Hemisfair in San Antonio, Texas. Read more.

Which Sonobeat 45 rpm single release was the first that Sonobeat recorded?

The Lee Arlano Trio's There Will Never Be Another You was the first material Sonobeat recorded but was Sonobeat's second release, not its first. The Sweetart's A Picture of Me, recorded after the Arlano sessions, was Sonobeat's first release.

How many albums did Sonobeat commercially release on its own label?

Only two: the Lee Arlano Trio's Jazz to the Third Power and the David Flack Quorum's Mindbender. Sonobeat's other commercial albums, Johnny Winter's Progressive Blues Experiment, and Wali and the Afro-Caravan's Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound) were both released by Liberty Records labels under license from Sonobeat. Sonobeat also released many albums that were never intended for commercial sale but, instead, were circulated to record companies to demonstrate material in the Sonosong Music catalog.

What low-powered Austin FM radio station of the 1960s is credited with spawning Sonobeat?

KAZZ-FM, which had studios and offices in the Perry-Brooks Building in downtown Austin, until it closed down in January 1968. It resurfaced months later as Austin's KOKE-FM. The KAZZ-FM call letters are now used by an unrelated station in Spokane, Washington. KAZZ's live remote broadcasts from a variety of Austin music venues and dance clubs in the '60s provided the seed for Sonobeat's birth. Read more.

What bubblegum group of the '60s, that had several hit singles on the Buddha label, recorded experimental material at Sonobeat's northwest Austin studios?

The Ohio Express, famous for their top 10 teeny-bopper singles Yummy Yummy Yummy and Chewy, Chewy. Yep, really. None of the material Ohio Express recorded at Sonobeat has been commercially released.

Find more Sonobeat trivia here > The Black Box.

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