A revolving door of musicians is the band’s downfall

GMB rapidly gained popularity in Austin, performing at the downtown hippie music hall The Vulcan Gas CompanyThe Vulcan was Austin’s first successful hippie music hall, opening in 1967 in an old warehouse at 316 Congress Avenue and closing in 1970. Its better known successor was Armadillo World Headquarters. in January and February 1968 and again in March, May, and June 1969. The band also frequently played Austin’s Jade Room and within only months of forming became well-known throughout Central Texas, playing gigs in Brownwood, Temple, and Waco. Only a week after taking 5th place in Austin’s 1968 Aquafest Battle of the Bands, GMB took 1st place in the Teen-Age Fair Battle of the Bands at Houston’s Astrohall, winning a $400 gift certificate from Fender Guitars and $150 in cash – the package was worth just short of $5,000 in 2024 dollars – and the opportunity to sign a recording contract with International Artists Records (the Houston-based label for which The 13th Floor Elevators recorded). The band passed on the International Artists offer, opening the door for a recording session with Sonobeat.

In May or June 1968, GMB stopped in for a session with Sonobeat. By then, the band had downsized, and the personnel had changed in a veritable revolving door: shortly after the band formed, Bill Dodge left to attend The University of Texas in Austin. And soon after Dodge’s departure, Gary P. Nunn replaced Jim Abston. Next, Steve Anderson replaced Gary P. Nunn (who left to join Lavender Hill Express), Don Lupo (while an airman stationed at Austin’s Bergstrom Air Force Base, Don was a founding member of one of Austin’s best known ’60s bands, The Baby Cakes) replaced Bob Snider, Ronnie Hudgins (formerly of Pall Rabbit) replaced Rick Cobb, and Jeff Gant joined on organ. By the time the band got to Sonobeat to record, only Johnny Richardson and Chuck Greenwood remained of the founding members.

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The GMB session was recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. Steve Anderson recalled that Jeff Gant didn’t participate in the recordings. The discerning ear can hear Sonobeat’s steel plate reverb on Anderson’s lead vocal. Although Anderson recalled coming into the studio to record two songs, we’ve found only one master tape in Sonobeat’s archives. The track on that master is tentatively entitled Man is Too Young to Love, but its composer, Johnny Richardson, now refers to it as A Child Lost at Sea, mirroring its opening line. Whatever the title, the song sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded 55 years ago. A Child Lost at Sea shows off Richardson’s imaginative and engaging dobro noodling and Steve Anderson’s multi-tracked lead and backing vocals. The song structure was experimental, with a soft three-line set-up followed by the first verse and, immediately thereafter, a lead guitar break. After all its personnel changes, the band finally broke up in August ’69, a few months after the Sonobeat session, which is likely the reason Sonobeat never recorded that second song Steve Anderson recalled or released a single by the group.

Following Georgetown Medical Group’s breakup, Don Lupo did a short stint in James Polk and the Brothers, then relocated to Tucson, Arizona, in 1971, where he continues to perform regularly. Don was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 2015. Gary P. Nunn was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2001.

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