Using the timeline

Scroll down to move from the earliest to the latest dates in the timeline. This portion of the timeline focuses on Sonobeat’s milestones in the 1960s, but you can continue from this timeline to Sonobeat’s milestones in the 1970s and beyond using the link at the bottom of this page or by clicking Milestones Part II.

It begins with a tiny Austin radio station

Future Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Jr., a University of Texas freshman majoring in Radio-TV-Film, begins working as a deejay at Austin’s KAZZ-FM. Using the air name Rim Kelley, he launches the first regularly-scheduled rock ’n’ roll program on FM radio in the U.S. Two months later his father, Bill Josey Sr., starts working at KAZZ-FM as its sales manager. Because both Bill Sr. and Bill Jr. work at KAZZ, many mistakenly believe the Joseys own the station, but it’s actually owned by Austin restaurateur Monroe Lopez.

Austin’s KAZZ-FM starts live music broadcasts

By September 1965, as part of an aggressive strategy to increase ad sales, KAZZ-FM.’s Bill Josey Sr., now station general manager, begins broadcasting half-hour live music remotes from Austin-area night clubs. The first broadcasts feature jazz, pop, and folk acts performing at The New Orleans Old World Night Club and The 11th Door, both in downtown Austin. Soon other night clubs, including Jade Room and Club Saracen, featuring rock bands, join in the weekly live broadcasts that showcase top local music acts. During the first year of KAZZ-FM’s live remote broadcasts, the Joseys meet dozens of Central Texas musicians and by the end of 1966 begin thinking seriously about forming a record company to give a wider audience to the diverse Austin music scene.

Practice recording session

In November, Bill Josey Sr. and Bill Josey Jr., who work at KAZZ-FM. in Austin, make practice recordings of local folk duo John and Cathy using microphones plugged directly into KAZZ’s Ampex 2-track tape recorder. The recordings are good enough to get airplay on KAZZ’s evening Folkways program, encouraging the Joseys to begin planning in earnest to launch an Austin-based record label.

Fran Nelson test recordings

In February or March 1967, Bill Josey Sr. records pop vocalist Fran Nelson, who has appeared on his KAZZ-FM. live remote broadcasts from The 11th Door folk cabaret in downtown Austin. The recordings are simple – just Fran self-accompanied on guitar – but they encourage Bill Sr. to keep Fran in mind when Sonobeat officially launches later in 1967. Fran’s test recordings are made at the KAZZ-FM studios in downtown Austin.

Sonobeat is born in Austin, Texas

The Joseys name their nascent record label Sonobeat, rhyming with “oh-no-beet”. They decide all Sonobeat 45 RPM singles will be released in stereo, going against the record industry standard of releasing only monaural singles. Although they’re able to borrow microphones and tape decks from KAZZ-FM. in Austin, where they work, KAZZ has no portable mixing console and the Joseys are unable to afford a profession mixer, so they commission KAZZ-FM’s chief engineer, Bill Curtis, to build a small, battery-powered 6-input microphone mixer.

Sweetarts test recording session

Using microphones and tape decks borrowed from KAZZ-FM., where they work, Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Bill Josey Jr. make stereo test recordings of the hot Austin fraternity and club band Sweetarts. Since Sonobeat has no recording studio, the Joseys record the band at Club Saracen in downtown Austin. The Saracen is closed to the public for the session. The recordings are distorted, but the session is a good learning experience.

Leo and the Prophets live recording session

On July 1st, also using microphones and tape decks borrowed from KAZZ-FM, the Joseys make test recordings with Austin rock band Leo and the Prophets. The session occurs before a live audience at the band’s nighttime performance at Lake Austin Inn, so there is extraneous noise in the background. Further, the recordings are distorted. Bill Curtis, who has designed and built the portable mixer the Joseys use for the session, takes it back to the drawing board to solve the distortion issue.

Leo and the Prophets redux

After a week of tinkering, Bill Curtis believes the mixer distortion problem is solved, so the Joseys are ready to officially launch Sonobeat. They start over with Leo and the Prophets, this time anticipating the band will provide Sonobeat’s first commercial release. Sonobeat rents Swingers Club in north Austin during off hours to record the Prophets’ basic instrumental tracks for three original tunes, again using mikes and an Ampex 354 tape deck borrowed from KAZZ-FM.

Lee Arlano Trio session

The day after its Leo and the Prophets session, Sonobeat records the Colorado-based Lee Arlano Trio which has a standing gig at The Club Seville in the Sheraton Crest Inn in downtown Austin. The trio tracks two jazz instrumentals for a Sonobeat 45 RPM single. Sonobeat uses The Club Seville during off hours to record the combo, again using equipment borrowed from KAZZ-FM., where producer Bill Josey Sr. works.

Leo and the Prophets vocal overdub session

Leo and the Prophets record vocal overdubs for the band’s original semi-psychedelic rock song Flowers on the Hill at KAZZ’s studios in downtown Austin. But this is the only finished original song in the Prophets arsenal, so there is no flip side. Plans for the band to supply Sonobeat’s first commercial 45 RPM single release are abandoned.

Sweetarts backing track session

On a roll, Sonobeat returns to popular Austin rock band Sweetarts, cutting instrumental backing tracks for two of its original songs. Sonobeat rents Swingers Club in north Austin during the nightclub’s off hours to record the band using mikes and tape decks borrowed from KAZZ-FM, where producer Bill Josey Jr. (who goes by the deejay name Rim Kelley) works.

Lee Arellano Trio backing track session for Don Dean and Fran Nelson singles

The Lee Arellano Trio, that records jazz tracks for Sonobeat under the name Lee Arlano Trio, lays down the basic instrumenal backing tracks for proposed pop vocal singles by The Club Seville’s manager, Don Dean, and 11th Door folk club regular Fran Nelson, again using The Club Seville at the Sheraton Crest Inn in downtown Austin as a remote recording studio. Ultimately, these backing tracks overpower the vocals, so they’re shelved.

Sweetarts vocal overdub session

The Sweetarts record vocal overdubs for the band’s Sonobeat single release, A Picture of Me and Without You, late at night in the hallway outside the KAZZ-FM studios on the 10th floor of the Perry Brooks Building in downtown Austin. The long, narrow hall provides natural reverb for the vocals. The instrumental backing tracks are played back from KAZZ’s Ampex 350 deck and mixed with the vocal overdubs to the station’s Ampex 354.

Lee Arlano Trio sessions

The Lee Arlano Trio, previously known as the Lee Arellano Trio, lays down enough material for an album plus a second single. Sonobeat records the Trio at The Club Seville in the Sheraton Crest Inn in downtown Austin during hours the club is closed. All tracks, except one Arlano original entitled School Daze, are covers of jazz classics and pop jazz tunes.

Don Dean sessions

The Michael Stevens IV, house band at The Club Seville in downtown Austin, cuts the basic instrumental backing tracks for two pop songs that The Club Seville manager Don Dean will sing, one of which is a cover of the Willie Nelson classic Night Life. Don overdubs his vocals at KAZZ-FM.’s studios in downtown Austin the following day.

Cash Box reviews the Sweetarts’ A Picture of Me

Cash Box Magazine names the Sweetarts’ single A Picture of Me a Newcomer Pick, saying “Somewhat better than average rock side presented with a good group showing is set out of the run-of-the-mill category by excellent stereo recording that should bring considerable attention among discerning teens and disco listeners.”

Cash Box reviews the Lee Arlano Trio’s There Will Never Be Another You

Two reviews in the same issue of Cash Box magazine! Alongside the Sweetarts Newcomer Pick, Cash Box names theLee Arlano Trio’s jazz single There Will Never Be Another You a Best Bet, saying “The quality of this stereo recording gives good exposure impetus with particular appeal to FM-stereo outlets.”

South Canadian Overflow session

Sonobeat returns to Swingers Club in north Austin to record local rock band South Canadian Overflow. The session yields instrumental backing tracks for two original tunes, but these tracks will be scrapped and rerecorded at The Vulcan Gas Company in December.

Lavender Hill Express session

Austin’s hottest new rock band, Lavender Hill Express, cuts the instrumental backing tracks for two original songs, Visions and Trying to Live a Life. Sonobeat records the tracks during off-hours at Swingers Club in north Austin.

Sonobeat regional distribution network established

To increase sales reach for the impending release of Sonobeat’s first Lavender Hill Express single, producers Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley consult with Houston Records, Inc., which presses Sonobeat’s singles, for advice on rack jobbers who can cover a larger regional area. This leads to Sonobeat engaging H. W. Daily Company in Houston, Santone Record Sales in San Antonio, and Jay Kay Distributing Company in Dallas to represent Sonobeat’s catalog to record retailers throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. selects these specific distributors because they sell to both record retailers and coin-operators who control a network of juke boxes at diners, bars, and night clubs.

Lavender Hill Express string and vocal overdub sessions

A string quartet comprised of members of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and arranged (with harpsicord played) by Richard Green lay down a lush overdub for Lavender Hill Express’ first Sonobeat single, Visions backed with Trying to Live a Life. The vocal overdubs for both songs are recorded the next day. Both overdub sessions are recorded at the KAZZ-FM studios in downtown Austin.

KAZZ-FM sold

Station owner Monroe Lopez announces the sale of KAZZ-FM. to Austin’s dominant AM country music station, KOKE. Since Sonobeat has been borrowing microphones and Ampex tape decks from KAZZ, where its co-founders work, within a month they’ll have to find other local sources for recording equipment.

The Thingies backing track session

Sonobeat returns to Swingers Club in north Austin, where it previously has recorded Leo and the Prophets and the Sweetarts, for a session with psych-rock band The Thingies, originally from Florida. The off-hours session yields five tracks, two of which will become a Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single release in 1968.

The Conqueroo backing track session

The newly-opened Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin serves as a remote recording studio for Sonobeat to cut the instrumental backing tracks for The Conqueroo’s I’ve Got Time and 1 to 3; however, these tracks are scrapped and fresh versions will be recorded in March 1968.

The Thingies vocal overdub session

The Thingies lay down vocal overdubs for the band’s original songs Rainy Sunday Morning and Mass Confusion at the KAZZ-FM. studios in downtown Austin. The instrumental backing tracks for three additional original songs recorded a week earlier at Swingers Club remain unfinished. This will be the last overdub session Sonobeat records at KAZZ-FM, which has been sold and will close down in early January 1968.

South Canadian Overflow session

Sonobeat returns to the newly-opened Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin, using its vast open music hall as a remote recording studio for a second session with South Canadian Overflow. This session yields several takes of the instrumental backing tracks for an original tune tentatively entitled Why Even Try, as well as untitled instrumental backing tracks, but none of the South Canadian Overflow’s material is ever completed with vocal overdubs and, therefore, is never released.

Shiva’s Headband backing track session

Sonobeat returns to The Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin to record Austin-based psychedelic-progressive rock unit Shiva’s Headband, which features an amplified fiddle. The recordings yield instrumental backing tracks for the band’s originals Kaleidoscoptic and There’s No Tears, but, like The Conqueroo’s tracks recorded earlier in December, Shiva’s Headband’s tracks are scrapped. The band will return to re-record the tracks in February 1968.

KAZZ-FM shuts down

As its broadcast day ends on Thursday, January 4, 1968, KAZZ-FM. signs off the air as ”KAZZ“; it’s been sold to Austin AM country music station KOKE. A few weeks later, after its studios and transmitter are relocated to KOKE’s facilities in south Austin, the station will change its call letters to KOKE-FM and will begin simulcasting KOKE-AM’s signal. When KAZZ closes, its entire staff is pink-slipped, so Sonobeat owners Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley have no jobs and can no longer borrow KAZZ’s microphones and tape decks. As the station shutters, they’re able to buy KAZZ-FM’s Ampex 350 tape deck and several of its ElectroVoice 665 microphones, then scramble to find other local sources of recording equipment. As a stopgap, they rent an Ampex 354 tape deck from Andy Porter, owner of Austin’s New Orleans Old World Night Club, for whom they’ve broadcast many live remotes over KAZZ.

Bach-Yen session

The Michael Stevens IV lays down the instrumental backing tracks for Vietnamese songbird Bach-Yen’s Magali and This Is My Song. Bach-Yen records her vocal overdubs in the same session, singing Magali in French. The Michael Stevens IV is the house band at The Club Seville in the Sheraton Crest Inn in downtown Austin, where the sessions are held. Bach-Yen’s master tapes are put aside for several months while Sonobeat decides whether to “sweeten” the tracks with an orchestral arrangement overdub.

Cash Box reviews Lavender Hill Express’ Visions

Cash Box magazine names Lavender Hill Express’s single Visions a Best Bet, saying “Made for mono and stereo sets, this rock track has extra appeal for coin-operators but is likely to succeed on the basis of its own rock attraction.”

Shiva’s Headband “re-do” session

Shiva’s Headband, featuring an amplified fiddle played by band co-founder Spencer Perskins, re-records the basic instrumental tracks for two original songs, Kaleidoscoptic and There’s No Tears, during off-hours at The Vulcan Gas Company. This is a do-over of the first session with the band held two months earlier at the Vulcan. Both the instrumental backing tracks and the vocal overdubs are recorded in the same session. Sonobeat producers Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley intend to release Shiva’s single and have lacquers masters cut and a handful of 45 RPM test pressings made, but the band is dissatisfied with the recording quality, so release plans are scrapped and the tapes shelved.

Building the custom 10-input portable mixer

Outgrowing the 6-input Curtis mixer that has been used on all Sonobeat recordings to date, Sonobeat’s Rim Kelley and Bill Josey Sr. design and build a 10-input microphone and line-level mixer using homemade printed circuit boards and integrated circuits. For portability, the mixer is fitted into a suitcase with a removable lid. The new mixer is completed in time for Lavender Hill Express’s mid-March recording sessions.

Paul New and the Crew sessions

The Club Seville at the Sheraton Crest Inn in downtown Austin once again serves as a remote recording studio for Sonobeat, this time for sessions with pop act Paul New and the Crew. Paul’s combo records instrumental backing tracks for Johnson City Rag and All That’s Left Is the Lemon Tree and the instrumental Balboa on March 7th; Paul overdubs his vocals on Johnson City Rag and Lemon Tree the following day, also at The Club Seville. Sonobeat has test pressings made of a 45 RPM stereo single featuring Lemon Tree and Balboa, but the single is never released.

The Conqueroo “re-do” session

Their December 1967 Sonobeat tracks scrapped, The Conqueroo returns to The Vulcan Gas Company during off-hours to re-record the instrumental backing tracks for I’ve Got Time and 1 to 3. They lay down two additional untitled instrumental tracks in the same session.

Lavender Hill Express sessions

On March 19th, Lavender Hill Express lays down the instrumental backing tracks and some vocal overdubs for its original songs Watch Out and Country Music’s Here to Stay during off-hours at The Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin. Overnight, recording engineeer Rim Kelley “flanges” Watch Out! to give it a jet-like whooshing sound prior to lead guitar and vocal overdubs, which the band records the following day, along with vocal overdubs for Country Music’s Here to Stay.

The Conqueroo vocal overdub session

The Conqueroo overdubs its vocals for I’ve Got Time and 1 to 3 during off-hours at The Vulcan Gas Company. Sonobeat hasn’t had a release yet in 1968, so the next day producer Rim Kelley drives the master tapes 160 miles from Austin to Houston Records for mastering and pressing.

Go Central Texas feature on Sonobeat

Austin-based Go Central Texas magazine features a story about Sonobeat Records and emerging Austin and Central Texas musicians. The magazine also features a cover story about San Antonio’s world’s fair, HemisFair ’68, where Sonobeat will record The Afro-Caravan later in the year.

Allen Damron session

Austin folk music icon Allen Damron records his signature originals, Nancy Whiskey and Requiem for a Balloon, in the living room of Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr.’s northeast Austin home.

Sonobeat’s first permanent studio

Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. moves his family into a sprawling split-level home in northwest Austin. In June, he and Bill Jr. co-opt the bedroom suite on the ground level as an intimate recording studio. By “intimate”, we mean “small and cozy” because the studio is barely large enough to comfortably record a trio or quartet, but it’s perfect for vocal overdubs and mixing sessions.

Billboard highlights The Conqueroo

Billboard magazine reports that Sonobeat’s The Conqueroo single 1 to 3 is Houston progressive rock station KFMK-FM’s “Biggest Leftfield Happening” of the week.

Cash Box reviews The Conqueroo’s 1 To 3

Cash Box magazine names The Conqueroo’s single 1 To 3 a Best Bet, saying “good guitar work highlights the production on this vocal outing... danceable beat is never lost in the improvisational fireworks.”

Billboard recognizes Lee Arlano Trio’s Jazz to the Third Power

Billboard magazine awards theLee Arlano Trio’s album Jazz to the Third Power in its jazz album reviews for the week.

Western Hills Drive studio expansion

Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Bill Jr. begin an expansion of their home mini-studio on Western Hills Drive in northwest Austin, initially building a drum and vocal isolation booth in a portion of the garage that faces into the studio suite. With the help of local musician-installation artist Cody Hubach, they build a steel plate reverb, which is housed in the garage. They purchase new equipment during July and August, adding a Scully half-inch 4-track tape recorder, Ampex AG-350 quarter-inch 2-track tape recorder, multi-band equalizer, and stereo compressor. To mount all the new equipment, Bill Sr. and Cody build a steel frame rack that fits into the studio’s recessed closet.

Herman Nelson Sonosong Music sessions

Even as Sonobeat is expanding its Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin, producer Bill Josey Sr. begins working with longtime friend and prolific songwriter Herman Nelson on a series of song demo recordings. Although not the design at this time, eventually Sonobeat will issue an album of Herman’s original songs in an effort to attract cover versions by nationally-known recording artists. In these early sessions, spread over two to three months, Herman records demos of A Girl Named Sioux and Critter of Love as well as a pair of songs that Bill Sr. picks for a Sonobeat single that Central Texas country-pop singer Jim ChesnutJim Chesnut will record in September.

Cash Box reviews Lavender Hill Express’ Watch Out!

Cash Box magazine names Lavender Hill Express’s second Sonobeat single, Watch Out!, a Newcomer Pick, calling it "a powerhouse single that borrows from many, but imitates none... with enough strength to score breakout sales."

Afro-Caravan live session at HemisFair ’68

Making it’s first live recording, Sonobeat hauls its equipment to the Project Y Pavilion at the San Antonio, Texas, world’s fair, HemisFair ’68, to record Austin-based Afro-jazz group Afro-Caravan. The Afro-Caravan’s HemisFair tracks will become Sonobeat’s only commercial release of a live recording.

Ray Campi Establishment session

Rockabilly star Ray Campi brings his band to Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio to record Ray’s original, Civil Disobedience, and the Irving Berlin-Grant Clark classic, He’s a Devil (in His Own Home Town). Instrumental backing tracks and vocal overdubs are recorded over the course of one day. Bill Josey Sr. overdubs neighborhood kids laughing “on cue” on one version of Civil Disobedience, but that version is never released.

Johnny Winter session

Johnny Winter’s blues-rock trio, consisting of Johnny, Tommy Shannon, and Uncle John “Red” Turner, cuts eight tracks, a mix of blues originals and covers, at The Vulcan Gas Company. The session includes instrumental backing tracks and harmonica and vocal overdubs.

Bach-Yen string and horn overdub session

Richard Green, who previously arranged and conducted a string quartet and harpsichord overdub for Sonobeat’s first Lavender Hill Express single, returns to provide a crisp string and horn sweetening session atop Bach-Yen’s simple 4-piece combo backing of her vocal performance, recorded months earlier. The string and horn sections are recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio.

Johnny Winter “solo” session

Johnny Winter stops by Sonobeat’s newly-outfitted Western Hills Drive studio to record two acoustic tracks, Broke Down Engine and Bad Luck and Trouble, that will round out a 10-track album. Johnny is the first to record on Sonobeat’s new Scully half-inch 4-track recorder, which makes it possible for him to multi-track standard guitar, harmonica, mandolin, and vocal.

Ronnie and the West Winds session

Popular Austin high school swing band Ronnie and the West Winds records two originals, Can’t Win for Losing and the spirited instrumental Windy Blues during off-hours at The Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin. Both the instrumental backing tracks and vocal overdubs are recorded in the same session. This is Sonobeat’s first country band recording session.

Lavender Hill Express backing track session

Lavender Hill Express lays down the instrumental backing tracks for two new songs, Outside My Window and Trouble, once again recording during off-hours at The Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin.

Jim Chesnut session

Folk-pop artist Jim ChesnutJim Chesnut records two of Herman Nelson’s original songs, About to Be Woman and Leaves, at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio. Jim doesn’t have a band, so the backing musicians are hand-picked by Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. and include Bill’s favorite session bass player, Mike Waugh. Instrumental backing tracks and vocal overdubs are recorded in the same session.

Lavender Hill Express vocal overdub and acoustic session

Lavender Hill Express overdubs the vocals for Outside My Window and Trouble at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio. Extending the session, band drummer Rusty Wier records Silly Rhymes, his acoustic guitar track augmented by electric bass, the only Lavender Hill track recorded on Sonobeat’s half-inch 4-track Scully tape deck.

Fran Nelson backing track “re-do” sessions

Sonobeat again turns to The Michael Stevens IV, house band at The Club Seville in downtown Austin, this time to record the basic instrumental backing tracks for Fran Nelson’s single, consisting of a cover of the Beatles Yesterday and Fran’s original No Regrets. Fran overdubs the vocals at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio about a week later.

New Atlantis sessions

Austin progressive rock band New Atlantis records the instrumental backing track for five original songs, including I Know You So Well, during off-hours at The Vulcan Gas Company in downtown Austin. While they’re at it, the band lays down the instrumental backing track for its cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Fire. The following week, the band overdubs guitar lead and vocals at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio. Producer Rim Kelley uses the Sonotone Black Box to radically alter the sound of the lead guitar on Fire. This is the first of two incarnations of New Atlantis – each with a different personnel mix – that Sonobeat records.

Cash Box reviews Lavender Hill Express’ Outside My Window

Cash Box magazine names Lavender Hill Express’ Outside My Window a Best Bet Pick, saying “This group has had some fine outings before, and could have a winner here to give them the breakthrough step.”

Rolling Stone feature story on Texas musicians and sale of Johnny Winter album to Liberty Records

Rolling Stone magazine’s December 7th issue (#23) includes a feature story on hot Texas musicians, including Janis Joplin, the Sir Douglas Quintet, and newcomer Johnny Winter. Pre-publication galleys of the article, Dispossessed Men and Mothers of Texas by Larry Sepulvado and John Burks, spark major record company interest in Sonobeat’s Johnny Winter album, The Progressive Blues Experiment. Just after Christmas, Liberty Records engages in rapid-fire telephone negotiations with Sonobeat to purchase the album, and within two weeks Sonobeat hand-delivers the master tapes to Liberty Records in Los Angeles.

Geneva and Her Gentlemen sessions

Sometime in 1969 – the Sonobeat archives are silent on the dates – Sonobeat records the popular Austin pop-jazz trio Geneva and Her Gentlemen using The Club Seville in downtown Austin as a remote recording studio, with vocal overdubs recorded at Sonobeat’s home-based Western Hills drive studio in northwest Austin. Pianist and lead vocalist Geneva Rawlins’ “Gentlemen” are her husband Lionel on bass (and vocal accompaniments) and Leotis Duffy on drums. The trio knocks out four highly polished tracks, including covers of Woke Up This Morning, Nobody Else But Me from Broadway classic Showboat, and pop standard Mood Indigo. For unknown reasons, none of the tracks are ever released.

Delivery of Johnny Winter album to Liberty Records

Having completed the sale of Sonobeat’s Johnny Winter album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, to Liberty Records just after New Year’s Day, co-producer Bill Josey Sr. drives the entire Josey family from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles to deliver the album master tapes to Liberty. While in Los Angeles, the Joseys visit several major recording studios then make a stop on the drive home at the Sidney J. Wakefield & Company record pressing plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Beginning in 1968, Wakefield presses Sonobeat’s vinyl singles and album releases.

Afro-Caravan album sessions

Over three intensive days, the Afro-Caravan records instrumental backing tracks for seven Afro-jazz songs at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, which is housed in the Josey family home. In fact, the sessions are recorded in the family room of the Josey home. Five of the songs are Afro-Caravan originals, and one song tracks out at almost eight minutes.

Sonobeat and Sonosong incorporate

Sonobeat Recording Company and its sister company, Sonosong Music Publishing Company, which have been partnerships between Bill Josey Sr. and Bill Josey Jr., incorporate in the State of Texas.

Afro-Caravan vocal overdub session

The Afro-Caravan returns to Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio to overdub vocals on Afro Blue, Arcane Message, Hail the King, and Zulu for Hugh. This session completes all tracks for an album that producer Bill Josey Sr. calls Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound). By now, Bill Sr. has started calling the group “Wali and the Afro-Caravan” in recognition of its founder and leader Wali King.

Cash Box and Billboard review Johnny Winter’s The Progressive Blues Experiment album

March 29, 1969

On the heels of the Imperial release of Sonobeat’s Johnny Winter album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, weekly industry trade journals Billboard and Cash Box praise the album in their respective March 29th issues, with Cash Box saying “Winter is likely to generate widespread interest with this excellent set” and Billboard boldly proclaiming “This is the blues by an expert”.

The Progressive Blues Experiment charts nationally

Imperial Records’ release of Sonobeat’s Johnny Winter album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, enters Billboard’s Hot 100 Album chart on April 12th at #112 and peaks weeks later at #60. It enters Cash Box’s Top 100 Albums chart on May 3rd at #60, peaks at #47 on May 31st, and continues to chart through June.

Jim Chesnut session

Anticipating an album follow-up to his 1968 Sonobeat single, Jim ChesnutJim Chesnut returns to Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio to record covers of By the Time I Get to Phoenix, The Impossible Dream, They Call the Wind Maria, Woman Woman, Games People Play, Where’s the Playground Susie, Husbands and Wives, and Wives and Lovers. Because Jim has no band, producer Bill Josey Sr. hand-picks a selection of Austin area musicians to record the instrumental backing tracks.

Cody Hubach session

Manchaca, Texas, folk and country singer/songwriter Cody Hubach, who has welded the frames for Sonobeat’s steel plate reverb and recording equipment rack, records three original songs, including his signature tune Hooley, at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. Manchaca (pronounced man-shack) is a tiny town only a few miles down Interstate 35 from Austin. Producer Bill Josey Sr. considers but finally abandons plans to release two of Cody’s three songs as a Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single, deciding that Sonobeat should focus on rock and rhythm & blues releases. Cody will return for more recordings in October 1972.

Georgetown Medical Band session

Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas) pre-med students bring their progressive rock unit Georgetown Medical Band to record one song, A Child Lost at Sea, at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. Band personnel changes immediately before and immediately following the session, and the band’s break-up a couple of months after the Sonobeat session, kills any possibility that the band will return to record a second original song, necessary for a Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single. The one track by the band is shelved.

The “new” New Atlantis sessions

Sonobeat rents the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church auditorium – it’s big enough to hold a basketball court, which makes it an ideal remote recording studio – to record the second incarnation of New Atlantis. The band records instrumental backing tracks for its original songs She’s a Country Girl and World in a Jug on August 11th. The band records the vocal overdubs a week later at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, which is only a few miles away from the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church’s campus.

Vince Mariani drum solo sessions

Jazz-rock drummer Vince Mariani records a pair of drum solos,; Pulsar and Boots, at Sonobeat’s home-based Western Hills Drive studio, using separate microphones covering almost every piece of Vince’s entire kit, Sonobeat’s Scully 4-track recorder, and the studio’s new drum isolation booth. Vince’s tracking session is on August 15th; the next day, Producer Rim Kelley mixes down the tracks, adding a swooshing “flanging” effect to Pulsar.

James Polk and the Brothers session

Austin jazz-funk keyboard maestro James Polk brings his band (they’re not just the “Brothers”; the band’s vocalists are all women) to Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio to record Stick-To-It-Tive-Ness and The Robot. Vocal overdubs for Stick-To-It-Tive-Ness are recorded in the same session. The Robot is an instrumental.

Plymouth Rock sessions

Austin band Plymouth Rock records its originals Memorandum and Just a Start at the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in northwest Austin. This is the second time Sonobeat uses the church’s basketball court-sized auditorium to record bands that have too many personnel to comfortably record in Sonobeat’s small Western Hills Drive home-based studio. However, a week later, the band overdubs additional instruments and vocals at the Western Hills Drive studio.

Bill Wilson Sonosong Music demo album session

Bill Wilson records eleven original songs at Sonobeat’s home-based Western Hills Drive studio. The tracks are intended for a song demo album that Sonobeat will issue on behalf of its sister company, Sonosong Music Publishing Company. Wilson, an Indiana native, is an airman stationed at Austin’s Bergstrom Air Force Base at the time he records these tracks. On the strength of his recordings, he’ll be invited by Sonobeat to work with progressive rock group Mariani the following year.

Austin American-Statesman feature article on Sonobeat

The Austin American-Statesman newspaper runs a feature article about Sonobeat entitled Song Capitols Ask Austin for New Music Sounds. The article contains several factual inaccuracies but is generally a fair picture of Sonobeat’s successes to that point and future plans, some of which never mature.

Mariani (featuring Eric Johnson) sessions

The first incarnation of blues-rock band Mariani begins sessions at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. The trio is built around charismatic drummer Vince Mariani and features 15-year-old guitar whiz Eric Johnson, who will find much greater fame in the years to follow. The recordings made in these sessions are tests of how the group works together and are not intended for release.

Bill Wilson session

Bill Wilson returns to Sonobeat’s home-based Western Hills Drive studio to record two additional original songs, The Man in Black and Wanna Go Back. These tracks are recorded too late to be included in Wilson’s song demo album, which has already been pressed and is about to be issued, and instead are likely intended for a Wilson single that’s never released.

Roy Headrick Sonosong Music demo album session

Americana and folk singer-songwriter Roy Headrick, self-accompanied on standard guitar, tracks an album of his original tunes in the living room of the Josey home in northwest Austin. The album, which will be used to market his songs to major artists but will not be released commercially, will remain “in the can” until spring 1971.