Austin Blues-Rockers
A rockin’ Austin R&B band.
That never launched.
Kinda unnamed at first
At the end of 1975, an Austin, Texas-based rhythm and bluesey, kinda rock cover band, that was just starting out and simply referred to itself generically as a blues-rock group, trekked from Austin to record at Sonobeat’s Blue Hole Sounds studio on the outskirts of Liberty Hill, 30-ish miles north of Austin. A cross between Motown and Atlantic “girl groups” of the late ’60s and more traditional R&B and blues acts, from December 1975 through March 1976 the band worked with Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. to produce several nicely-polished tracks. The unit initially recorded House Rocker (a cover of B.B. King’s 1955 single, which bears a close resemblance to King’s later Boogie Rock), Snatch It Back and Hold It (Junior Wells’ R&B song from the ’60s), Chicken Shack (originally a Muddy Waters Blues Band instrumental), and It’s Hard to Stop (Doing Something When It’s Good to You) (a fond tribute to Betty Wright’s original 1973 R&B number). The band completed It’s Hard to Stop and one take of House Rocker (sometimes listed as Rock House on the session notes) with vocal overdubs, but left the other tracks (except Chicken Shack, specifically recorded as an instrumental) unfinished.
Sonobeat Artists
Austin Blues-Rockers
Now they have a name
In March ’76, the group, officially calling themselves Austin Blues-Rockers, returned to Blue Hole Sounds to cut two more songs: Soulful Dress, a cover of Filipino-American R&B sensation Sugar Pie DeSanto’s 1964 version, and Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around) (a cover of Aretha Franklin’s 1967 hit). These two tracks appear to have been intended for release as a Sonobeat stereo single. But 1976 was a financially challenging year for Sonobeat, and if there were no other reason the Austin Blues-Rockers’ single was never released on the Sonobeat label, it surely was because producer Bill Josey Sr.’s ongoing battle with cancer – diagnosed in 1975 – was diverting most of his financial resources from record releases to chemotherapy treatments.
Bill’s notes from the December 21, 1975, session identify the band’s personnel as Al Davies, Derick O’Brien, Doke Ford, David (whose last name isn’t indicated but who we believe is Levy), and Frieda Borth. Back in 1969, Frieda was a member of Austin rock group Contraband that recorded with Sonobeat as a prize for winning the Austin Aqua Festival Battle of the Bands. Whenever we see Bill’s session notes add up the times of various tracks, we know it’s a clear indication he was looking to assemble enough material for an album; in particular, he noted that It’s Hard to Stop, Rock House, and a second take of Snatch It Back and Hold It together had a running time of 15 minutes 35 seconds, a little less than half an album. In the ’60s and ’70s, typical album running times hovered around 40 minutes. Perhaps more interestingly, the March 1976 tape box is marked “DUB”, contains only two songs, and includes Sonobeat’s address and phone number, which indicates to us that Bill likely submitted the tape to his major label contacts seeking a deal for release of the two songs as a single or to gauge interest in an album by the group. Unfortunately, the Sonobeat archives contain no information regarding the outcome of any outreach Bill may have made with the Austin Blues-Rockers’ recordings.
None of the band’s material has ever been commercially released. Somewhat surprisingly, in our online research we find no mentions in the University of Texas’ The Daily Texan student newspaper or the Austin American-Statesman newspaper during the 1975 to 1976 time period of a band called Austin Blues-Rockers; no ads for the band’s performances at local nightclubs, no articles, and no photos. This leads us to speculate that, at the time Austin Blues-Rockers recorded with Sonobeat, the band was just forming and building its set list but never actually launched. But it’s also interesting that the band was musically solid, with Frieda’s knock-’em-out vocals backed by gifted musicians, so what happened?
The Rockers
- Frieda Borth (guitar and vocals)
- Al Davies (bass)
- Doke Ford (harmonica)
- David Levy (drums)
- Derick O’Brien (guitar)
Recording details
Unreleased recordings
- Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around) (Carolyn Franklin) • 3:29
- Chicken Shack (Muddy Waters) • 4:30
- House Rocker (B.B. King) • 3:05
- It’s Hard to Stop (Doing Something That’s Good to You) (Willie Clarke-Clarence Reid-Betty Wright) • 5:31
- Snatch It Back And Hold It (Junior Wells) • 5:51
- Soulful Dress (Maurice McAlister-Terry Vali) • 2:47
Produced and engineered by Bill Josey
Recorded at Sonobeat’s Blue Hole Sounds, Liberty Hill, Texas, from December 1975 to March 1976
Recorded using...
- ElectroVoice 665 dynamic, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic, and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones
- Dokorder 7140 quarter-inch 4-track and Ampex 2100 quarter-inch 2-track tape decks
- Custom 16-channel 4-bus mixing console
- Fairchild Lumiten 663ST stereo optical compressor
- Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band graphic equalizer
- Custom steel plate stereo reverb
- 3M (Scotch) 206 and TDK L-1800 tape stock
Listen!
Tragedy, overcome
Austin Blues-Rockers’ lead vocalist Frieda Borth is from the ultra-small Texas town of Pittsburg, roughly 125 miles east-northeast of Dallas and 325 miles north of Austin. In 1968, Frieda graduated high school and headed to Austin to attend The University of Texas, focusing on sociology. But she came to Austin with rock ’n’ roll in her blood – as a singer and guitarist – and ended up putting more time and energy into music than her college career, fueled in part by Austin’s skyrocketing music scene. Frieda’s a solid rock-blues singer, belting ’em out with genuine gusto and emotion and in 1970 joined Contraband, which went on to win the Austin Aqua Festival Battle of the Bands that year. After Contraband morphed into Calico, Frieda moved on from Austin band to Austin band, landing with the Austin Blues-Rockers as it was forming in 1975. About a year after the Austin Blues-Rockers’ Sonobeat sessions, the unthinkable happened: Frieda and her friend and musical partner Christene (Christy Lou) Calhoun were the victims of a motorcycle-auto collision that took Christy’s life. Frieda’s left arm was partially paralyzed, and she lost the lower half of her left leg. But Frieda was resilient and made an extraordinary recovery with the help of her family back in Pittsburg, Texas, telling the Austin American-Statesman’s Townsend Miller at the end of July 1977 that she was “playing guitar now and getting stronger. Can’t wait to get back to Austin and back into music”. Indeed, within a month, Frieda returned to Austin, and by December 1977, she was performing with Backbone and later formed the Frieda Borth Band, playing clubs throughout Texas. In 1998, she let go of her music career, pivoting full time to helping other amputees. In 2002, Frieda founded the Round Rock [Texas] Amputee Support Group, where she continues her uplifting work today.