Sonobeat Features

So much more to see and hear

Take a trip with us back to Austin, Texas. It's the mid-'60s through the mid-'70s, an epic era in Austin music history. It's an Austin where state government, The University of Texas, a hippie community rivaling San Francisco's, and a melting pot of musical and artistic expression all converge and occasionally clash. It's a city quartered culturally and economically north and south by the Colorado River and east and west by Interstate 35. This is the milieu in which Sonobeat Records is born, grows, thrives, and finally succumbs, along the way introducing the larger world to a pioneering generation of Austin and Texas singers, songwriters, and musicians.

The Sonobeat Custom Mixers

From 6 to 16 inputs in 3 years

Sonobeat Milestones

What a trip it was!

Who's Who

The Sonobeat family tree

The Sonobeat Songbook

All the songs in Sonobeat's portfolio

The KAZZ-Sonobeat Connection

How a little FM station launched a record label

Recording Lavender Hill Express' Visions

Challenges of a multi-layered recording

Sonobeat's Singles Sleeves

The story behind each picture sleeve

The Ralph Y. Michaels KAZZ-FM Collection

Exclusive photos and air checks

The Ralph Y. Michaels Elevators Collection

Exclusive historical photos

Sonobeat Artists: Before and After

The pre- and the post-histories

Pop Quiz

Test your knowledge of '60s and '70s Austin music

Archive Anomalies

Unidentified artists, unknown session dates, missing recordings

The Sonotone Black Box

Sonic sorcery in the sixties

Remembering Bill Josey Sr.

Co-founder of Sonobeat (1921-1976)

The Sonobeat Custom Mixers

From 6 to 16 inputs in 3 years