Artists

In March 2014, as we're checking online to see what vinyl collectors are paying for rare copies of Sonobeat's 1960s and '70s 45 RPM singles, we fall upon Helmer Dahl's Toe-Tapping Tunes album, attributed to Sonobeat. We're surprised to find this previously undocumented Sonobeat commercial album release, because we've always believed The David Flack Quorum's 1976 album Mindbender is Sonobeat's final release. So we buy the Dahl album on eBay. When it arrives, in its original jacket and in pretty good condition, we find it's indeed a Sonobeat release, produced by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. and engineered by Bill and his studio handyman Tom Penick. Although the Sonobeat archives contain the Helmer Dahl master tapes and Bill's session notes, until we have the vinyl album in hand, we're not sure whether Helmer Dahl is the name of a band or an individual, much less that these Sonobeat recordings are ever commercially released. But the disc we buy on eBay tells us not only that Toe-Tapping Tunes is Sonobeat's final commercial release but that Helmer Dahl is an individual who sounds like an entire band.

Helmer's sessions are held at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio on the outskirts of Liberty Hill, Texas, about 35 miles north of Austin. Recording starts with an April 1, 1976, session and then resumes during the period May 11-13. According to the Sonobeat archives, along with Helmer, Michele Murphy, who records a final session with Sonobeat on April 17, 1976, and Al & Alec, recording a handful of songs sometime in May or June, comprise the final artists Bill is able to record before becoming too weak from cancer to continue running his studio.

So, now with Helmer's album in hand, we begin our online research with a factual starting point. Throughout the '70s, Helmer is a busy and highly sought after Central Texas musician. His home base is Hutto, a small Central Texas town about 15 miles west-northwest of the Blue Hole Sounds studios in Liberty Hill, but Helmer performs frequently in Austin as well as throughout Central Texas. Helmer offers up a combination of pop standards, such as Release Me, and traditional northern European folk songs like Beer Barrel Polka and Westphalia Waltz, which he performs on a Baldwin electric organ with sonic enhancements via an Arp Pro-Soloist synthesizer perched atop the Baldwin. The Arp provides sound effects, fiddles, and rhythm sounds that Helmer uses to create the impression an entire band is playing. And, unless you see Helmer perform at a VFW post, Lions Club event, night club, or private party, you wouldn't suspect his sound is generated by just one person at the dual keyboards. Of course, today, a solo artist using a digital workstation and MIDI keyboard can sound like an entire orchestra; but Helmer – flying solo – sounds like an entire band long before such digital technology exists. He becomes a Central Texas celebrity because of his extraordinary keyboard talents and enjoys a 50+ year performing career.

To complete Sonobeat's final album release, Bill brings Helmer back into the studio for an impromptu session on May 13, 1976, recording two additional songs, Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (shorthanded in Bill's notes simply as 5'2") and Cotton Eyed Joe. These tunes bring the total running time of the album to about the 40 minute vinyl standard. Helmer's album, Toe-Tapping Tunes, indeed is Sonobeat's final release. We conclude the likely release date is the first week of September 1976 from the fact that during the week of September 6th, Helmer places a small ad promoting the availability of the album in the Taylor Daily Press. Bill succumbs to cancer three weeks later, likely unaware that the album has been released. Helmer's Toe-Tapping Tunes stands as Bill's, and Sonobeat's, final public contribution to the Central Texas music scene. Helmer, born the sixth of seven children to Swedish immigrants to the U.S., passes away on August 6, 2023, at age 99.