We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
They are one of those bands that I wish I would have seen live. It seemed like, even on their studio recordings, they were having a blast. The group was Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen and in 1972 they gave us “Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites”.
Commander Cody aka George Frayne Jr was a piano playing artist from Ann Arbor Michigan and he got this band together in 1969 playing a mixture of country-swing, rock n roll and boogie music.
In 1971, after moving to Northern California, they released their first LP which included the Top 10 hit “Hot Rod Lincoln.”
The 1972 record contains a mixture of orginals and covers with many of the songs dealing with the romance and heartbreak of over the road truckers.
The originals, many written and sung by the band’s harmonica player Billy Farlow, sound like long lost country classics. Tunes like “Truck Stop Rock”, “Cravin Your Love” (great pedal steel from Bobby Black) , “Watch My .38”, “Semi-Truck” and “Kentucky Hills Of Tennessee”.
They do some funs covers including ” Rip It Up”, “Truck Drivin Man” that was a hit for Buck Owens, ‘It Should Have Been Me” that had been done by many including Ray Charles, and “Looking Through A Windshield” by Del Reeves. They also give us the Cajun classic “Diggy Liggy Lo’ and a live cut of “Tutti Frutti”.
That’s just it…they were all over the place musically. The band’s record company didn’t know how to promote them and radio didn’t know what to do with them either. So they never were as big as their talent said they should have been
It’s too bad….
Musicians: ・Commander Cody (Piano, Vocals: A5) ・Billy C. (Harmonica, Vocals) ・Bill Kirchen (Lead Guitar, Vocals: B3, B5) ・John Tichy (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals: B2, B4) ・Bobby “Blue” Black (Pedal Steel Guitar) ・Buffalo Bruce Barlow (Bass [Fender]: A1 to A4, A6 to B6; S.Bass A5 ) ・Andy Stein (Fiddle, Saxophone) ・Lance Dickerson (Drums)
Song List: 【00:00】A1 – Truck Stop Rock 2:41 【02:44】A2 – Truck Drivin’ Man 2:47 【05:33】A3 – Rip It Up 2:47 【08:23】A4 – Cravin’ Your Love 3:52 【12:16】A5 – It Should’ve Been Me 3:04 【15:23】A6 – Watch My .38 5:55 【21:18】B1 – Semi-Truck 2:23 【23:41】B2 – Kentucky Hills Of Tennessee 4:01 【27:43】B3 – Looking At The World Through A Windshield 2:24 【30:09】B4 – Diggy Liggy Lo 1:53 【32:04】B5 – Mama Hated Diesels 5:17 【37:15】B6 – Tutti Frutti 2:50
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