Artists

It's approaching the end of 1969, and Buddah Records' star act, Ohio Express, notoriously famous for its late-'60s top 40 radio hits Yummy Yummy Yummy and Chewy, Chewy, is ready for a serious musical change away from the teenybopper fodder that's made it famous. In 1969, a new incarnation of Ohio Express, organized by Doug Grassel and featuring Grassel, Scott Steelman, Bruce Knott, and Doug Wimmer, tours through Austin, pausing quite literally to figure out "what's next". Buddah has just released what becomes the band's final hit single. Ironically, that single, Sausalito, hasn't even been recorded by any of the Ohio Express lineup that arrives in Austin (or, for that matter, by any former members of the band), but, instead, is the product of a collaboration of studio session musicians and future members of the band 10cc. Nonetheless, Buddah credits the single to Ohio Express to capitalize on the band's name brand recognition.

In fact, the history of "Ohio Express" is complicated if not a bit bizarre: the band begins as a construct of producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz via their Super K Productions, which has a close alliance with national record labels Cameo, Kama Sutra, and Buddah. Ohio Express's first credited hit, Beg, Borrow And Steal, is actually recorded and released in 1966 by New York band The Rare Breed but fails to chart nationally. It's then re-released in 1967 under the Ohio Express name even though at the time there's no real band by that name. But that doesn't stop the single from becoming a bona fide national hit. Next, Mansfield, Ohio-based Sir Timothy and the Royals is pressed into service by Super K (which also produces hot '60s top 40 acts Crazy Elephant, Music Explosion, 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Lemon Pipers, and Shadows of Knight) and rebranded "Ohio Express". It's in this first actual version of the band, recording for Cameo Parkway Records, that Doug Grassel makes his appearance, having been a founding member of Sir Timothy. Under Super K, Ohio Express cranks out one bubblegum hit after another, initially for Cameo Parkway and then for Buddah, but Super K constantly uses studio session musicians and other bands to record the singles and albums that bear the "Ohio Express" name, much to the annoyance of those who remain from the band's origin as Sir Timothy, who have been touring North America on behalf of Super K. Under Grassel, a new incarnation of Ohio Express begins touring Canada, the U.S. midwest, and Texas out of an old school bus. This unit operates independently of Super K and Buddah and is sanctioned by neither. Eventually arriving in Austin in 1970, Grassel's Ohio Express plays a gig here, a gig there, and occasionally jams with local bands at many of Austin's hottest night clubs and music halls.

As it's been touring, Grassel's Ohio Express has been experimenting with a new musical direction, steering itself away from Super K's bubblegum groove. The band's new sound is a rock-jazz fusion with a touch of arena rock, a logical progression from the trendy pop rock the previous Ohio Expresses have pioneered for pre-teen and teen record-buyers.

Entering 1970, Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) seem to bump into Ohio Express all around Austin, including at downtown Austin's hippie music hall, Vulcan Gas Company. Eventually formal introductions are made. Hoping to produce a hit single with the nationally-established and well-known Ohio Express, Bill Sr. offers to record the band, and Grassel agrees. According to Rim, the resulting sessions, which he produces with Bill Sr. and engineers, are magical, yielding three original songs: Sweet Genie, Beauty So Deep, and Greyhound Shuffle, all written by Grassel. Sweet Genie and Beauty So Deep are strong candidates for a Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single release, but it turns out Super K and Buddah own the name "Ohio Express", so Sonobeat puts its tentative release plans on hold while Grassel discusses the situation with Buddah.

In March 1970, anticipating Grassel will sort things out with Buddah and clear the way for Sonobeat's release of the band's single, Rim creates a set of mono trial mixes designed for AM radio airplay. But soon it becomes clear Buddah won't agree to let Sonobeat release the recordings under the "Ohio Express" name, so Grassel and company consider renaming themselves "January". Eventually, though, the tracks are relegated to the vault, which is unfortunate, because Grassel's "new" incarnation of Ohio Express is a solid commercial experiment blending pop jazz with a strong base of power rock that's pretty, um, yummy.

Scott Steelman returns to Sonobeat in 1971 as a member of still another Ohio-based rock band, Synthesis. Later in life Scott shifts from composing and performing to painting. In 2013, after years of touring as Ohio Express, Doug Grassel succumbs at age 64 to fibrosis of the lungs.