Refusing To Be Pigeon-Holed

We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..

Capricorn Records in Macon Georgia was the home of so-called “Southern Rock”. The label made their bones on bands like the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker . And yet, there were times when they tried to expand the palette of their offerings. Such is the case with the debut LP from the Tampa Fla based band White Witch.

The group was a fascinating study in musical schizophrenia. What were they? You really can’t tell from this record. It’s all over the place. There’s hard rock in songs like “Help Me Lord” and “Home Grown Girl”…they sound like Yes at times…and they start wailing like Deep Purple on tunes like “Illusion. They offer up some pop tracks too like “You’re The One” and “And I’m Leaving”. The opening and closing of the record is way out there too…

Then there is this….it’s so weird that you just know it has to be a joke. The band probably thought that the record label wanted a country tune…and this is what they came up with. Well, it was the 70’s..lol.

The band, led by vocalist Ron Goedert, guitarist Buddy Richardson and keyboard ace Buddy Pendergrass deliver some solid tunes, produced by Capricorn’s house producer Johnny Sandlin.

It’s just so “all over the place”, the label really didn’t know how to promote it…and even theough they had opening gigs for many big stars inluding Alice Cooper, Grand Funk and others, they never really found success. One more LP and they broke up.

1. “Parabrahm Greeting/Dwellers of the Threshold” (Goedert, Pendergrass, Richardson, Shea, and Fisher)
2. “Help Me Lord”
3. “Don’t Close Your Mind” (Goedert, Pendergrass, and Richardson)
4. “You’re the One”
5. “Sleepwalk”
6. “Home Grown Girl”
7. “And I’m Leaving”
8. “Illusion”
9. “It’s So Nice to Be Stoned” (Richardson and Fisher)
10. “Have You Ever Thought of Changing/Jackson Slade”
11. “The Gift” (Goedert, Pendergrass, Richardson, Shea, and Fisher)