Sonobeat Artists
Gary York and Evelyn
One shot in the spotlight
Almost nothing is known about the January 1973 session that Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. conducted with Gary Willard York and Evelyn (whose last name is not listed in the Sonobeat archives). The entire output of the session, recorded at Sonobeat Studios at 705 North Lamar just west of downtown Austin, is a monaural demo of Gary’s original song People. We caught up with Gary in 2008, but he remembered little about the session or even writing the song. However, he did recall spending a lot of time around the Sonobeat studios, assisting Bill with microphone set-ups and “learning the ropes” of operating a recording studio. During that era, Gary was enrolled in the radio-TV-film and music programs at The University of Texas, so hanging around the Sonobeat studio gave him an opportunity to put into actual practice what he was studying.
Musicians on the demo include then 21-year-old Gary, Evelyn (the vocalist), and backing musicians Russ, Ken, and Rex. Gary recalled that when the recording was made, Evelyn was a divinity student at Concordia CollegeFounded in 1926 in Austin, Texas, as a high school affiliate of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. In 1951, the high school upgraded to Concordia College, granting 2-year Associate in Arts degrees. In 1980, Concordia became Concordia University, granting 4-year Bachelor of Arts degrees. It’s now known as Concordia University Texas. in Austin. He also recalled that Russ, Ken, and Rex (whose last names are not listed in the Sonobeat archives and that Gary couldn’t recall) also were in Austin-based blues band Rocking Horse, but our online research has never shed light on any such band in Central Texas during that time period. Gary moved on and years later built and operated Mellow Morning Music Productions in Tyler, Texas, but eventually ended up in Longview, Texas, where he succumbed on June 20, 2016, to congestive heart failure.
There’s nothing more in the Sonobeat archives about the mysterious session with Gary and Evelyn or what Bill did with the demo. It seems clear, however, that he didn’t intend to release a single by the duo, since he recorded only one song – well, at least we’ve found only one recording by Gary and Evelyn in the Sonobeat archives.
The players
- Gary York (acoustic guitar)
- Evelyn (last name unknown) (vocals)
- Ken (last name unknown) (bass)
- Rex (last name unknown) (organ)
- Russ (last name unknown) (guitar)
Recording details
Unreleased recording
- People (Gary York) • 3:20
Produced and engineered by Bill Josey Sr.
Recorded at Sonobeat Studios, 705 North Lamar, Austin, Texas, in January 1973
Recorded using...
- ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic and Sony ECM22 electret condenser microphones
- Scully 280 half-inch 4-track and Ampex AG-350 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) 202 tape stock
Listen!
Our posthumous thanks to Gary York for his 2008 recollections of his Sonobeat session with Evelyn and for background about Rocking Horse.