Sonobeat Artists
Unidentified Artists
How’d this happen?
OK, we’re leveling with you here: we have no idea who these artists are. They showed up in the Sonobeat archives, a tape here, a tape there, with little or no labeling. And what labeling there is, is of no help at all. We’ve listened to these tapes, and we’ve had a clue or two but nothing conclusive. Maybe you can help?
Unidentified band
This mysterious quarter-inch tape showed up in an unmarked box in the Sonobeat archives. The tape features four songs in early ’70s Central Texas country-rock style (reminiscent of songs on the first Eagles album) and appears to have been recorded at 7-1/2 IPS on Sonobeat’s Dokorder quarter-inch 4-track tape deck. Sonobeat customarily recorded its masters at 15 IPS and didn’t start using the Dokorder until 1974, so these tracks were probably recorded between mid-’74 and mid-1976 at Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr.’s Blue Hole Sounds studios on the outskirts of Liberty Hill, Texas, 30 miles north of Austin. Beyond that, there’s nothing more to go on...
Unidentified duet
OK, we thought the unidentified band was a stumper, but here’s one that’s just a complete head scratcher. In a tape box with all its markings crossed out, we found this charming country-flavored track, just a male and female duet (which in some harmony parts sounds a little like a trio) with a simple standard guitar backing. The male singer introed the song as You’ll Never Make Me Blue, but from there on, we’re lost. We don’t know what more to say.
Unidentified female singer
In a box once labelled Fire and with Sonobeat’s address rubber stamped on it, we found two tracks by a female singer accompanied by acoustic guitar. Fire, which was recorded by New Atlantis, isn’ on the tape. Our best guess is that this is Karol Phelan, who sang with Jim Chesnut on the first Herman Nelson song demo album for Sonobeat’s sister company, Sonosong Music. But this is just an educated guess, since we have so few known Karol Phelan tracks for comparison in the Sonobeat archives.
One of the two songs by this unidentified female vocalist may be Red River Valley, but we won’t even guess at the title of the second song.
Unidentified male singer
We also found three head-scratching tracks on a quarter-inch tape featuring a solo artist accompanied by acoustic guitar. The tape box is labeled “John” and bears an October 30, 1969, recording date. It sounds like a mono mix-down from a two- or four-track master we haven’t yet located in the archives. Sonobeat didn’t recorded many Johns, and we had a hard time placing the voice with any of the Johns we did record, so we began checking with friends of Sonobeat. First we checked with John Inmon (South Canadian Overflow and Plymouth Rock alum), but he said “Not me”. How about Johnny Richardson (Georgetown Medical Band and Fast Cotton ex)? Nope, our sources said not him either. Johnny Schwertner (formerly of Lavender Hill Express and Plymouth Rock)? Just doesn’t sound like him at all. Johnny Winter? Uh, not even close!
Still, there’s a very familiar quality to the voice on this tape, and we recognized one track as a cover of the Flatt and Scruggs tune One Too Many Mornings. Perhaps these are lost Jim Chesnut or Bill Wilson tracks in a mislabeled box? But, bluntly, doesn’t sound like either of them, either.
Conclusion? Either the tape has been packed away in the wrong box or there’s another “John” out there somewhere who Sonobeat recorded but who we just can’t recall.
