Honorary Locals

In the early 1970s, some out-of-town musicians became so ubiquitous in Atlanta that they may as well have been locals. Those who had settled in Macon (e.g., Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, Cowboy) were already part of the family, but others hailed from further afield. They played Atlanta clubs and concert venues frequently, and built devoted followings in the city. South Carolina's Marshall Tucker Band and Florida's Lynyrd Skynyrd are maybe most obvious, but these others gained an early toehold in Atlanta as well. Club venues ranging from the tiny 12th Gate to the larger Richards drew the best. Part of the draw and interaction within those clubs was the physical layout: an approachable open stage adjacent to tabled seating, devoid of extreme risers or other off-putting barriers. In contrast, a venue like Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom, though technically a club, created a distinct division between audience and performer with a high elevated stage, seating at a distance, and a deafening* barricade of PA equipment flanking the performers. It was simply not very friendly to spontaneous, organic interaction.

Little Feat at the 150-seat 12th Gate in 1971,
for only ONE DOLLAR.

California's Little Feat spent a lot of time in Atlanta early on, as their longtime fans know. In January 1971 they were playing the cozy 12th Gate on 10th Street; by October 1974 they were opening for Traffic at The Omni coliseum. In between were numerous bookings at Richards and return visits to the 12th Gate.
Country rock jamband Goose Creek Symphony hailed from Arizona and Kentucky. After appearing with Bobbie Gentry on The Ed Sullivan Show, they joined Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers at the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival. They played for free in Piedmont Park, and also became familiar from bookings at the 12th Gate, The Great Southeast Music Hall, and Richards. (Update 3/23/15: In late 1971, the band actually pulled up roots and moved to Atlanta.)

May 1973, Cactus was booked at Richards.
Johnny Winter and Gregg Allman dropped in.

Texas bluesman Johnny Winter would pop up everywhere in Atlanta. He frequently was booked in the city for concerts, but he was also one who loved to jam and would just show up in clubs unannounced. It is undeniable that altered states were part of the musical chemistry of the time. I recall Winter laid out flat on his back on the stage floor of Richards late one night playing brilliantly unbounded blues solos while sitting (or lying) in. (Might have been that week in May 1973 when Cactus–the Mike Pinera/Duane Hitchings incarnation–headlined. Gregg Allman also sat in that week.)

Charlie Daniels (right) onstage with Leonard Cohen c. 1971

Another familiar drop-in was Charlie Daniels, a Nashville fixture originally from North Carolina. By 1970 Daniels was already renown and respected for his songwriting and musicianship across multiple genres, especially country and bluegrass, working with the likes of Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, The Youngbloods, Leonard Cohen, and many others. He stepped quite naturally into the arena of Southern Rock as it evolved. Anyone who's ever been around him knows the formidable presence of the man: a tall mountain brimming with big-heartedness. Like Johnny Winter, he would show up unexpectedly in a club to spontaneously jam, no matter the genre. The most interesting impromptu collaboration I ever witnessed was the time Daniels stepped onstage at Richards to jam with British rocker Terry Reid, who appeared as surprised as everyone else. Charlie Daniels towered over elfin Reid, and brought out his fiddle to accompany Reid's reflective folk/blues/rock from his then-new River LP that verged at times on jazz abstraction. I wish there was a photo in existence of the unlikely duo. Their strange musical mesh worked, though, and lifted the room to someplace entirely new.

Bonnie &  Delaney Bramlett with Duane Allman

Icing on the cake was the camaraderie of the musicians themselves. It was still a time when love of music prevailed and contract restrictions were much looser than today. Also key was that the time period was pre-handheld devices, pre-social media, and pre-paparazzi. There was more freedom of movement and more respect for privacy. The players showed up for each other, and late-set jams became the stuff of legend. Credit must be given to Duane Allman, too. During his time as a session player in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, he drew many musicians to Georgia, including California-based Boz Scaggs and Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett. (Even after the spouses split in 1973, Bonnie Bramlett, on her own, was booked frequently in Atlanta.) There was no shortage of talent, no matter which direction you turned.

*I permanently lost hearing in my right ear there during a Bill Bruford performance in August 1979 while taking photographs from stage right. 

Stonehenge, Mose Jones & Al Kooper

I kept crossing paths with Jimmy O'Neill over a twenty year period. The last time I saw him he was handling sound for a small independent film we were both working on in Atlanta. That was around 1994-95. Before then, while I still worked for Turner, we'd run into each other in the TBS studio. (I believe he was freelancing, probably sound engineering.) He worked on a CNN project I was art directing, a VHS series on Desert Storm, the first Gulf War (1991.) It was always a treat to see Jimmy. He was talented, funny, and unfailingly had something good to say. He excelled at many things, but first and foremost, he was a superb musician.

(L-R) Bryan Cole, Jimmy O'Neill, Randy Lewis, Clay Watkins

During 1972, I met Jimmy when he was guitarist for Stonehenge, a popular rock band originally from Florida that had moved to Atlanta in 1970. [Stonehenge lineup: Bryan Cole/drums/vocals, Jimmy O'Neill/guitar/vocals, Randy Lewis/bass/vocals, Clay Watkins/keyboards.] I first heard them play live at Funochio's. They maintained a faithful following in the city, were well-respected by their peers, and clubs were always packed when they played. Funochio's was also where producer/musician Al Kooper met the band. As covered in earlier posts, Kooper descended upon Atlanta in summer 1972, scouting bands to launch his Sounds of the South label. (He had secured a distribution deal with MCA Records.) In late July, he extended a contract offer to Lynyrd Skynyrd after his Funochio's encounter with them. During his lengthy wait for a response from Skynyrd's manager, Kooper latched on to Stonehenge during their week at the same club in August. The band changed their name to Mose Jones (in honor of Mose Allison and a family dog) and signed with Kooper, making their group the first on his new label. They were also the first into the studio (i.e., Studio One in Doraville), and theirs was the first album released on Sounds of the South. While Mose Jones was working on Get Right, that first album, keyboardist Clay Watkins left and was replaced by the band's longtime friend Steve McRay, who had just completed a tour-of-duty with the US Army in Vietnam.

Mose Jones with Al Kooper and friends, 1973
(Jimmy O'Neill, far left; Bryan Cole, center, in jacket, kneeling; 
Al Kooper fourth from right, in white jacket;
 Steve McRay, second from right; Randy Lewis, far right)

The "firsts" continued. Atlanta rock club Richards opened its doors February 1, 1973, and Mose Jones was the first band to anoint the room with live music. They opened for Elephant's Memory, John Lennon's backup band at the time. Get Right dropped in May, while Skynryd's first LP was in the pipeline for an August release. Kooper hosted his Sounds of the South launch party at Richards July 29, 1973, showcasing the two bands to radio and music industry honchos, along with the press.
Sheer luck and timing landed Lynyrd Skynyrd the opening slot on The Who's 1973 American tour. Mose Jones traveled extensively, playing gigs such as Max's Kansas City in NYC. Their second album Mose Knows was released in 1974. Large-scale success was elusive. The band's career fell into the shadow of Lynyrd Skynyrd's trajectory, and by 1975 Mose Jones splintered, then disbanded.
I had left Atlanta by the time a second incarnation of Mose Jones was formed in 1977. Randy and Steve reunited and brought in two new players. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Bryan had moved to Nashville to work as songwriters for a music publisher. They subsequently joined the Vassar Clements Band, recording and touring. Google reveals much more about the various paths of the original Mose Jones members. My own research discovered the sad passings of Randy, Jimmy, and Bryan since the turn of the century, all way too young.

IMHO:
It's sometimes hard to pinpoint why one talent soars while another falters. There are a multitude of factors. With Mose Jones, online recollections of their Sounds of the South studio sessions reflect some dissatisfaction with the experience. Al Kooper had a "product" in mind which perhaps did not reflect the true musical goals of the band. Like most stories there are two or more sides to consider. With Kooper, too, it may have been a matter of focus. He traveled on The Who tour (1973) to mix sound for Skynyrd, perhaps micromanaging while other label members fell off his personal radar. Sounds of the South signed only two other groups: Elijah, a horn band from (technically Southern) California, and Kooper's early band The Blues Project, from nowhere near the South. In 1974, Kooper moved from Atlanta and relocated to Los Angeles. After Skynyrd's second album (recorded at the Record Plant in LA) was released, Kooper's relationship with MCA began disintegrating. MCA Records ultimately absorbed Sounds of the South. It ended badly and is a story well told in Kooper's aptly titled autobiography Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards. Supremely talented, visionary, and productive, Al Kooper might these days be diagnosed with ADD. Just a guess. He left an extraordinary trail of projects in midstream (e.g., The Blues Project; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Sounds of the South) some which continued to thrive, some not so much. Nevertheless, he remained a savvy businessman, always on the prowl for the next new thing, and resolute about doing things his way. No disrespect.

Sources:
Remembering Mose Jones, www.java-monkey.com
In Memoriam: Bryan Cole, by Scott Freeman, www.artsatl.com, January 11, 2013
Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards, by Al Kooper, published by Billboard Books, 1998, and Backbeat Books, 2008
Mose Jones Interview with Bryan Cole, by Luc Brunot, Sweet Home Music, www.sweethomemusic.fr

The Marshall Tucker Band

Living on Seal Place, I spent a large amount of time at Richards around the corner on Monroe Drive. I didn't work there, but was sort of a family member, friends with many of the club's team. In retrospect, I might have driven them a bit crazy. The club was closed during the day. They kept a grand piano at the far left side of the stage, and sometimes I'd carry my stack of sheet music from the house over to practice my mediocre musical skills during the afternoon. A bit of Mozart, Bach, Debussy, mixed with lame attempts at Procol Harum. My apologies to anyone who had to listen, and thanks to those who indulged me. I digress.
Richards launched on February 1, 1973. February 12-16, Spartanburg SC's Marshall Tucker Band opened for Bo Diddley. When Marshall Tucker returned to the club for another week in mid-April, they were the headliners.

The Marshall Tucker Band in 1972;
(L-R) Toy Caldwell, George McCorkle, Jerry Eubanks, 
Doug Gray, Paul Riddle, Tommy Caldwell

My disjointed spiel about piano practice leads here: sometimes I was asked by day manager Diane to handle the phones as they attended to other business. The one call that has stuck in my head for these past decades is when I picked up the receiver and Doug Gray* was on the other end of the line. The Marshall Tucker Band's eponymous debut album had been released by Phil Walden's Capricorn Records only a couple of weeks prior. It was getting massive radio-play, particularly their first single "Can't You See," as well as "Take the Highway." Doug was positively giddy. He kept saying "I can't believe it!," "We worked so hard!," talking a mile a minute, and was simply blown away by their accelerating success. It remains one of the most insanely unbounded enthusiastic celebratory phone conversations I've ever experienced. We were all thrilled for them, and the band received a hero's welcome when they returned to Richards the next week. Beginning in June that same year, the band went on tour with the Allman Brothers. In 1974, MTB continued to tour, the album went platinum, and they earned top billing.
Fast-forward forty years, and Doug Gray is still humbly amazed at Marshall Tucker's success. In 2014, contestant Patrick Thomson performed "Can't You See" on NBC's The Voice. A contestant on American Idol also covered the song. Doug spoke with Billboard:

"When Toy Caldwell wrote that song, none of us knew that it was going to be as popular forty years later. We had no idea that any of us would make it past the weekend. So, to watch those guys do it, and all the emails and calls, was amazing."

In 1973, it was the wonderful circumstance of truly great things happening to truly good people (who realized their talents and knew the value of hard work.) In the many years since, Doug Gray has held the band together throughout its losses and changes. The Marshall Tucker Band continues to tour and retains a devoted fanbase while bringing their music to new generations. Good on them. As their friend Gregg sings, "the road goes on forever." Check out MarshallTucker.com for details on their history, evolution, discography, tour dates, and other information.

*Doug Gray was, and still is, founding member and lead singer of The Marshall Tucker Band.

Sources:
Billboard.com, Artists, The Marshall Tucker Band
Billboard.com, "Marshall Tucker Feels the Love on Both 'The Voice' and 'American Idol,'" by Chuck Dauphin, April 21, 2014

Ma Hull's Boarding House

In the early 1970s, all walks of life found their way to the covered porch at 122 Hurt Street, ready to take a seat at Ma Hull's table. Politicians, students, policemen, retirees, rock stars. They all got hungry for some Southern homecooking, and Ma Hull could cook like no one else.

Ma Hull's Boarding House
122 Hurt Street, Atlanta GA

In the early 1900s, this house, pictured above, in Atlanta's Inman Park neighborhood was known as the Candler Cottage. It had been home to Asa Candler's sister Florence Harris. (Candler was Atlanta mayor 1916-1919 and a Coca-Cola tycoon.) Mrs Vernon Daisy Grizzle Hull, aka "Ma Hull," and her husband Ross moved into the historic home around 1968 and took in boarders. Word-of-mouth about her delicious meals spread from the boarders to friends and went viral from there. People started showing up on the porch at mealtimes with mighty appetites. Food was served family-style, "pass the yams, please," and Ma Hull did not approve of leftovers. Ma [everyone called her "Ma"] would not let anyone leave the table until all the food had been consumed. I remember her threatening to spoon the rest of the banana pudding into someone's pants unless they went for seconds, even thirds. It wasn't difficult to comply, no matter how full we became. The spread included ham, ribs, roast beef, chicken, dressing, beans (string and butter), yams, greens, casseroles, cornbread, biscuits, and desserts. Oh god, the desserts: most famously her banana pudding, also various cakes and pies. We all felt like we might die by dinner's end, but it was nevertheless bliss. A recovery period relaxing on the porch or in the yard was required after every meal.

Ma Hull's dining table, 1974,
photo by Roger Allen Grigg, 
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 7 No. 13, April 1, 1974

Ma Hull's Boarding House became a pilgrimage destination as her reputation grew. Management at midtown rock club Richards often made sure their out-of-town acts experienced meals at the boarding house. I recall tagging along with Flo and Eddie, also Sopwith Camel, with a friend from the club. Ma's stalwart fanbase grew to include touring musicians such as Little Feat (pictured below), even Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Little Feat, friends, and family gathered around Ma Hull (seated, holding baby.)
Lowell George, in center, stands behind her.

Ma Hull, by 1974, had cut back to serving only one meal daily at suppertime. Her health was deteriorating. She suffered from diabetes and heart disease. Born in 1909, she died in May 1979 at the age of 69. Decades later, I have yet to encounter any dining experience that comes close to the boisterous family feast Ma Hull served up for so many of us. Incomparable.

Sources:
Inman Park, by Christine V. Marr and Sharon Foster, Arcadia Publishing, 2008
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 7 No. 13, April 1, 1974, "A Conversation with Ma Hull," by David Dyar Massey

Lynyrd Skynyrd & Sounds of the South

"Along come Mister Yankee Slicker, sayin', 'Maybe you're what I want.'"
-- Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Workin' for MCA," Second Helping

(follow-up to 12/31/14 post)
In Summer 1972, Al Kooper was working with his back-up band Frankie & Johnny at Studio One in Doraville, just outside Atlanta. Session-work during the day, downtown club scene at Funochio's into the night. (A fellow childhood summercamper ran the place.) First week of his visit, Boot was playing. Kooper sat in. The second week, July 17-22, a band from Jacksonville FL was booked. They were a familiar presence at Funochio's, having already played week-long gigs there in March and May that year.

Lynyrd Skynyrd at Funochio's, 1972, Atlanta GA,
view from the upstairs bar;
photo by Carter Tomassi

Kooper's initial encounter with the no-nonsense music of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the edgy, volatile* environment of Funochio's was a pivotal moment. He'd been on the prowl for "three-chord" bands to fill what he perceived as a void in the prog-rock-laden music environment of the early 70s. At the same time, he was well aware that Phil Walden was onto something, and that Walden, at the time, pretty much had a monopoly on the emerging genre of Southern Rock. In his autobiography, Kooper recalls:

"My business plan was thus: No record company but Phil Walden's Capricorn Records based in Macon, Georgia, understood that something was going on in the South. If Capricorn turned a band down, they were pretty much doomed, because no other label understood this phenomenon. I decided I would start my own label as an alternative to Capricorn and base it out of Atlanta." 

By the end of that week, Al Kooper was sitting in with Lynyrd Skynryd at the club. On Saturday night he offered them a recording deal which included him as producer. Without any commitments in place, he then managed to convince MCA Records in LA to distribute his yet-to-be-launched "Sounds of the South" label. Kooper settled into his new home in Sandy Springs, another suburb of Atlanta's sprawl. At last, Lynyrd Skynyrd's manager contacted him. Small world, their manager was none other than Alan Walden, Phil's younger brother. Capricorn had already passed on signing the band. It took a couple of months, but a deal was eventually hammered out. In the meantime, Al Kooper signed his first band for Sounds of the South: Mose Jones, a popular, well-respected, extremely talented Atlanta group. (They changed their name from Stonehenge in 1972.) Kooper had a plan:

"In my mind, stylistically speaking, Mose Jones were my Beatles, and Skynyrd were my Stones." 

Mose Jones was first in the studio, and first released. (Another post will discuss their story.) On July 29, 1973, Al Kooper hosted his Sounds of the South launch party at Richards, Atlanta's famed club-of-the-moment. The label's first two signings were showcased to radio, press, and industry honchos. Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album (Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd), produced at Studio One in Doraville, was released two weeks later on August 13, 1973. "Free Bird" was the closing track.

For Skynyrd, timing and luck intervened when Kooper ran into Pete Townshend and The Who's manager Peter Rudge at MCA. Kooper sold them on Lynyrd Skynyrd as opening act for their upcoming North American tour promoting Quadrophenia. It was a huge leap of faith for all involved, being Lynyrd Skynyrd's first experience in such enormous venues. Kooper stepped in to mix their sound in the quirky context of The Who's unusual set-up. The band and crew were fine with that, and everyone rose to the occasion. According to Kooper:

"Somehow it all fell into place, and Skynyrd began to do what no opening band for The Who had ever done–they got encores!"

Previous bookings for small venues were cancelled as the band's popularity and record sales surged. The Atlanta club scene became a receding image in Lynyrd Skynyrd's rearview mirror. The rest, as they say, is history. Enormous success was commingled with enormous tragedy, a story well-documented elsewhere. 

*Business as usual included a couple of stabbings, a couple of shootings, open drug use, rivalrous drug dealers, and drunken bad behavior of all sorts. I once witnessed a drag queen at the downstairs bar beating up a guy with a shoe.

Sources:
The Morton Report, "New Music for Old People: Rarities From the Sounds of the South Label," by Al Kooper, September 14, 2012
Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards, by Al Kooper, published by Billboard Books, 1998, and Backbeat Books, 2008
Rolling Stone, 100 Greatest Artists, 95/Lynyrd Skynyrd, by Al Kooper

Al Kooper in Atlanta

By the early 1970s Al Kooper was well known in the music business not only for his musicianship and songwriting talents, but also as a skilled, influential producer. He had been a founding member of The Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears. He released solo projects as well, but Kooper was perhaps most revered for his collaborations with Mike Bloomfield, Stephen Stills, and Shuggie Otis, along with a goldmine of backup players. (Famed illustrator Norman Rockwell notably created the double portrait for 1969's "Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper," a personal favorite.) Atop all these credentials, Kooper is cemented in music history for not only having played organ on Bob Dylan's pivotal "Like A Rolling Stone," but for presenting Lynyrd Skynryd to the world along with eternal chants for "Free Bird."

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
Columbia Records, 1969

In March 1972, Al Kooper was in Atlanta for performances at The Music Connection in Underground Atlanta. He caught up with friends there, musicians who had been members of Roy Orbison's back-up band The Candymen. The group, known and respected for their quality session work, had recently stepped out front to present their own music as the Atlanta Rhythm Section [ARS]. They worked out of Studio One, their own recording facility in Doraville, an Atlanta suburb they would make famous in song. Kooper sat in with ARS one night at the studio and, suitably impressed, booked a month's time at the facility that summer to record his own backup band Frankie & Johnny. In a 2014 interview with Huffington Post he recalled:

"In 1972, I had been in the studio in Atlanta for several weeks with another band, working really hard during the day and then going out with the guys at night to unwind... We were going out pretty regularly to this place called Funochio's and there was this band there."

"This band" was Lynyrd Skynryd. 

I was already immersed in the Atlanta music community by the time Al Kooper showed up at Funochio's. Admittedly, I was a fangirl. The Blues Project had played the Christmas dance my sophomore year in high school. I'd been collecting his albums ever since, so when I saw him at the upstairs bar in Funochio's, I walked right over and asked how his sister Alice was doing. I deserved the unamused smirk in return. In the last week of his Studio One session work, Kooper decided to stay in Atlanta. He sent for his things in NYC and began steps toward launching his own label to compete with Phil Walden's burgeoning, only-game-in-town, Capricorn Records. [Will write more about Sounds of the South in another post.] Time passed. Goals were accomplished. In 1974, Al Kooper pulled up roots again, this time headed for LA. I was happy to attend the small going-away party that Richards' management threw for him. As a parting gift, they gave him the latest hi-tech toy of the time: a slimline pop-up Polaroid camera with leather details. 
Then *poof*, Kooper was gone.  

Sources: 

www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobinson/backstage-pass-two-stones_b_4324840.html

Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards, by Al Kooper, published by Billboard Books, 1998, and Backbeat Books, 2008

spellcheck: Richards, Richards', or Richard's?

The name of the fabled Atlanta rock club which opened its doors at 931 Monroe Drive NE on February 1, 1973, has endured decades of spelling variations. Information searches are often confounded by the varied data entries of Richards, Richards', or Richard's. In May 1974, a Billboard article indicated the plural possessive as its correct spelling. My personal experience, in context of creation of promo material during the time, was a first-hand explanation by the club's PR rep that the name was simply the non-possessive plural, "Richards," reflecting the shared name of the two owners, both Richards: Rich Floyd and Richard Bryan.

Rich Floyd (L) and Richard Bryan in front of the club's entrance

One could argue that the logo of the club indicates either Richards' or Richards, depending on the implication or not of an apostrophe. I will continue to use the basic plural, as instructed back in the day.

Seal Place

Seal Place is a small non-through street in midtown Atlanta that runs a short, straight line from Monroe Drive to Monroe Circle. Near Monroe Drive's intersections with Virginia Avenue, 8th and 10th Streets, it is an easy walk to Piedmont Park. In the early 1970s, the small neighborhood was home to numerous creative individuals representative of the counterculture of the time: artists, musicians, journalists, photographers, actors, architects, designers, and others. The rock club Richards was just around the corner, as was the homecooking of The Silver Grill. Arlan's, a 24-hour supermarket fronting Ponce de Leon Avenue, was easily reached via a rear cut-through off Monroe Circle at Greenwood. It was a unique place in a unique time.

Richards

• 931 Monroe Drive NE (near 8th and Virginia Avenue), Atlanta GA 
• Owners: Rich Floyd, Richard Bryan
• Capacity: 800
• Opened: Thursday, February 1, 1973
• Closed: December 1974

1973

• Elephant's Memory, Mose Jones - February 1-3
• Wet Willie, Ned - February 5-10
• Bo Diddley, Marshall Tucker Band - February 12-16
• Bob Seger, Acrobat - February 19-24
• Bonnie Bramlett, Little Feat, Elf - February 26-28
• White Witch, Little Feat - March 1-3
• Little Feat, Mother's Finest - March 5-10
• Elephant's Memory, Roadapple - March 12-17
• If, Warm - March 19-24
• Hookfoot, Uncle Jam Band - March 26-31 
• Nitzinger, Navasota - April 2-7 
• Marshall Tucker Band, Hydra - April 9-14
• Pure Food & Drug Act with Harvey Mandell, Charlie Daniels Band - April 16-21
• Cold Blood - April 23-25 
• Terry Reid - April 26-28
• Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids - April 30-May 5
• "Benefit for Wounded Knee" [Defense Fund] - May 6
• Pretty Things - May 7-8
• Cactus, Pretty Things - May 9-12
• Cactus, Warm - May 14-18
• McKendree, Warm - May 19
• Spooky Tooth - May 22-24
• Mose Jones, Jam Factory - May 28-June 2
• Bonnie Bramlett, Little Feat, Target - June 5-9
• Tim Buckley, Status Quo - June 11-16
• Charlie Daniels Band, NRBQ - June 18-22
• King Crimson, NRBQ - June 23
• Terry Reid, Kudzu - June 25-27
• Manfred Mann, Kudzu - June 28-30
• Tower of Power, Brother Bait - July 2-7
• Chambers Brothers, Stories - July 9-11
• Stories, Mose Jones- July 12-14
• Nitzinger, Warm - July 16-21
• Cactus, Bachman-Turner Overdrive - July 23-28
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mose Jones (Al Kooper's Sounds of the South label press party) - July 29 
• Mose Jones, Lynyrd Skynyrd - July 30-August 4
• Fanny, Navasota - August 6-8
• Navasota, Dogwood - August 9-11
• Country Joe McDonald & His All Star Band, Elijah - August 13-18
• Freddie King, El Roacho - August 20-25
• Spirit, Warm - August 27-29
• Robin Trower, Warm - August 30-September 1
• Bonnie Bramlett, Lynryd Skynyrd - September 3-5
• Rory Gallagher, Sopwith Camel [One night someone paid Sopwith Camel to play "Hello, Hello" five times.] - September 10-15
• Little Feat, Mother's Finest - September 17-20
• Mother's Finest - September 21-22
• Flo & Eddie, Dogwood - September 24-28
• National Lampoon's Lemmings - September 29
• If, Lynyrd Skynyrd - October 2-6
• Iggy & The Stooges, Hydra [Elton John showed up in a gorilla costume one night.] - October 8-13
• Teenage Lust, REO Speedwagon - October 15-17
• Teenage Lust, Tucky Buzzard - October 18-20
• Fanny, Hookfoot - October 22-25
• Hookfoot - October 26-27
• Cactus, Younguns - October 29-31
• Elvin Bishop, Younguns - November 1-3
• The New York Dolls, Public Foot - November 5-10
• Tim Buckley, Warm - November 13-17
• Chambers Brothers, Mother's Finest - November 19-21
• Captain Beyond, Mother's Finest - November 23-24
• Captain Beyond, Copper Hill - November 26-28
• Buddy Miles, Copper Hill - November 29-December 1
• Frampton's Camel, Law - December 3-5
• Birtha, Law - December 6-8
• Delaney Bramlett, Hall & Oates - December 10-15
• Muddy Waters, Orleans - December 17-22
• Lou Reed, Acrobat - December 26-29
• Captain Beyond, Papa Doc - December 31

1974

• Freddie King, Papa Doc - January 2-5
• Buddy Miles, Steamboat - January 7-9
• Bloodrock, Steamboat - January 10-12
• Chambers Brothers - January 14-16
• Stories, McKendree Spring - January 17-19
• Canned Heat, Texas - January 21-23
• Les Variations, Texas - January 24-26
• Cactus, Mose Jones - January 28-February 2
• Roosevelt Sikes, Big Walter Horton, Robert "Jr" Lockwood - February 4-6
• NRBQ, Bruce Springsteen - February 7-9
• Livingston Taylor, Mike Greene - February 11-13
• If, Mike Greene - February 14-16
• Spirit, 10cc - February 18-20
• 10cc, Mother's Finest - February 21-23
• Soft Machine, Painter - February 25-27
• Charlie Daniels, Painter - February 28-March 2
• Roy Buchanan, Silverhead - March 4-6
• Elvin Bishop, Silverhead - March 7-9
• Bonnie Bramlett, Warm - March 11-16
• Muddy Waters, Average White Band - March 18-23
• Quicksilver Messenger Service, Hall & Oates - March 25-28
• Hall & Oates - March 29-30
• John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon - April 1-6
• Bob Seger, Kathi McDonald - April 8-10
• Bob Seger, BJ Thomas, Kathi McDonald - April 11-13
• Boz Scaggs, Outlaws - April 15-17
• Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Outlaws - April 18-20
• Robin Trower, Black Sheep, McKendree Spring - April 22-23
• Grin, McKendree Spring - April 24
• Grin, Law - April 25
• Ballin' Jack, Law - April 26-27
• Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, Steve Ball Band - April 29-May 4 
• Goose Creek Symphony, If, Grinderswitch (benefit for The Great Speckled Bird) - May 6
• If - May 7-8
• Sutherland Brothers & Quiver - May 9-11
• Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny, Thunderhead - May 13-15
• Ray Manzarek, Thunderhead - May 16-18
• Cactus, Flying Saucers - May 20-24
• Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, Flying Saucers - May 25
• Birtha, Larry Raspberry & The High Steppers - May 27-29
• Fanny, Larry Raspberry & The High Steppers - May 31-June 1
• Eric Burdon, Danny Kalb - June 3-8
• McKendree Spring, Bob "Catfish" Hodge - June 10-15
• Spencer Davis, Mose Jones - June 17-19
• Raspberries, Mose Jones - June 20-22
• Strawbs, Texas - June 24-26
• Birtha, Texas - June 27-29
• Elvin Bishop, Dion - July 1-5
• Dion, Dogwood - July 6
• Steeleye Span, Purlee - July 10-13 
• Chris Jagger, Average White Band - July 15-17
• James Montgomery Blues Band, Spencer Davis - July 18-20
• Tony Joe White, Babe Ruth - July 22-27
• Mike Greene Band - July 29-30
• Jobriath - July 31-August 3
• Richie Havens, Steve Barron - August 5-10
• Waylon Jennings, Elf - August 15-17
• Little Feat, Richard Torrance - August 22-24
• Barkays, Larry Raspberry & The High Steppers - August 26-28
• Barkays - August 29-31
• Albert King, Bill Chinook - September 3-7
• Howlin' Wolf, The Elders - September 9-14
• Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Jett Black - September 16
• Jett Black - September 17-18
• Bob Seger, Jett Black - September 19-21
• Birtha, Steve Barron - September 23-27
• Montrose, Larry Raspberry & The High Steppers - September 30-October 2
• Spencer Davis, Judd - October 3-5
• Little Richard - October 7-12
• Muddy Waters, Mighty Joe Young - October 14-19
• Outlaws, Carmen - October 21-23
• Liverpool, Outlaws - October 24-26
• Larry Coryell, Michael Urbaniak - October 28-30
• Wayne Cochran & CC Riders - October 31-November 2
• Captain Beefheart - November 4-6
• Frigid Pink - November 7-9
• Willie Dixon, Bill Chinook - November 11-16
• Grinderswitch, Warm - November 18-23
• Spirit; Dino & Sembello - November 25-27, 29-30
• Montrose, Judd, Stray Dogs - December 2-3
• Average White Band, Judd - December 4-7
• Quicksilver Messenger, Barnaby Bye - December 9-11
• Chambers Brothers, Barnaby Bye - December 12-14
• Bob Seger, Law - December 19-21