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Journeyman rock musician Russell DaShiell was born July 23, 1947, in Philadelphia, PA, the son of Daniel Harrison DaShiell, a radio electronics engineer, and Francis (Wolfe) DaShiell. The family moved to the island of Oahu, HI, when DaShiell was three years old, and he lived there until he was 15. His first musical instrument was the ukulele, but when he was 14 he heard a neighbor playing guitar and found it a life-changing experience. Although he never took lessons, the guitar became his passion, and he learned to play by ear while listening to records and the radio, his early influences including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and the Ventures, and later the Beatles, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. In 1963, his family moved to Florida, and there, while attending high school, he formed his first band, the Beau Gentry. In addition to DaShiell on guitar and vocals, it featured Doug Killmer on bass and vocals, and Rick Jaeger on drums. After graduating from high school in 1965, DaShiell attended junior college locally for a year before transferring to Wisconsin State University, but eventually dropped out to be a full-time musician.

After playing in the Midwest for two years, the Beau Gentry changed their name to Crowfoot and relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in December 1968 in hopes of securing a record deal. Despite numerous local gigs including the Fillmore West, that deal was not forthcoming, however, and the three musicians took session work and backup jobs to make ends meet. DaShiell played on the self-titled album by A.B. Skhy in 1969; DaShiell and Jaeger joined the band of former Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel and DaShiell played on Mandel's album Games Guitars Play; and, DaShiell and Killmer played on Norman Greenbaum's album Spirit in the Sky, the title song from which hit number three on the Billboard Hot 100 (number one in Cash Box) in April 1970 and went gold. With the success of "Spirit in the Sky," DaShiell toured with Greenbaum; he also appeared on Greenbaum's follow-up albums Back Home Again (1972) and Petaluma (1973). Also, he was able to get a record deal with ABC-Paramount Records for Crowfoot. But, while it featured Jaeger on drums, the first, self-titled Crowfoot album released in September 1970 was in essence a DaShiell solo album, as was its follow-up, Find the Sun, released a year later.

By 1971, DaShiell had relocated to the Los Angeles area, where he worked as a backup musician to Phil Everly, Danny O'Keefe, and Bo Diddley, and did sessions, notably appearing on John Sebastian's album Tarzana Kid (1974) and former Creedence Clearwater Revival member Tom Fogerty's Myopia (1975). The Fogerty album also featured the former Creedence rhythm section of bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford, and DaShiell joined with them and singer Don Harrison to form the Don Harrison Band. The group signed to Atlantic and released a self-titled album in April 1976 that made the charts, followed by a second album, Red Hot, in January 1977, by which time they had disbanded. DaShiell, however, got a contract as a solo artist with Epic Records, leading to the release of his debut solo album, Elevator, in March 1978.

DaShiell was involved in various musical projects during the 1980s, including a single under the name I Spy released in the Scandinavian countries on Sonet Records. Toward the end of the decade, he began working in television, composing music and doing audio editing, notably for the series In Living Color. He quit TV in the early '90s and re-formed the original Crowfoot lineup with Killmer and Jaeger for an EP called Messenger that he released on his own label, Aerial View, in 1994. He kept writing and recording his own music while also working for advertising agencies during the rest of the ‘90s. Late in the decade he began working on a concept called Foreverland Forest, first intended as a CD-ROM, then as a book with music, and finally as an animated feature film. In 2000, he moved back to Hawaii, where he continued working on Foreverland Forest and a new instrumental solo album, Island Life. By the mid-2000s, he was back in California with his own website, spiritguitar.com, planning to market both Island Life and an album of songs from Foreverland Forest online. The digital albums Island Life and It's a Lonely Life became available as downloads later in the decade. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

ALBUMS:
1(A)	CROWFOOT	(Paramount 265)	1970
2(B)	FIND THE SUN	(ABC ABCS-745)	1971

Originating from the San Francisco area, Russell DaShiell had previously played with Norman Greenbaum, guested on A.B.Shky's debut album and played on Harvey Mandel's Games Guitar Play. He formed Crowfoot with Rick Jaeger (ex-A.B.Shky) in 1970.

After a first album for Paramount, they signed with ABC and recruited Sam McCue, a guitarist who was also associated with A.B.Shky. Produced by Russ Gary and DaShiell (who also wrote all their material), their second album is probably better avoided. The lyrics (Summer's Gone, Travel in Time, Hollywood) are typical of the Californian groups of that period and the guitar parts are often interesting, but the songs are rather lacklustre and tend to sound very similar.

After Crowfoot, Russell DaShiell became a session musician (playing with Portland, Alexander Harvey, William Truckaway amongst others). Teaming up with ex-Creedence members, he also played on Tom Fogerty's solo albums and formed the Don Harrison Band in 1976 with Doug Clifford and Stu Cook. He also released a decent rock album Elevator in 1978.

BAY AREA BANDS

A B SKHY BLUES BAND

A blues band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who relocated to San Francisco. Their first album, AB Skhy, was recorded in 1969 and produced by Richard Delvy. Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd co-produced the follow up Ramblin' On in 1970. The group consisted of Terry Anderson (Drums/Vocals), Dennis Geyer (Guitar/Vocals), Jim Marcotte (Bass) and Howard Wales (Keyboards) for the first album, and they were supplemented by a 7 piece horn section. Andersen and Wales then left and were replaced by guitarist James "Curley" Cooke and drummer Rick Jaeger for the group's second album. Cooke had previously played The Steve Miller Band

Russell DaShiel - Guitar Vocals Bass Keyboards
Rick Jaeger - Drums
Don Francisco - Drums Percussion Vocals
Sam McCue - Guitar Vocals
Bill Meeker - Drums
Bill Sutton - Bass

45 Travel in Time (Mono/stereo) - ABC Paramount 11315 Oct. 1971
LP Crowfoot - Paramount 265 - 1970
LP Find The Sun - ABC ABCS-745 1971

The rock trio Crowfoot was launched as a high school band by its members, Russell DaShiell (guitar and vocals), Doug Killmer (bass and vocals), and Rick Jaeger (drums), under the name the Beau Gentry in Florida in the mid-1960s. Originally, they played British Invasion songs, but turned more to original material as DaShiell began to write it. They were signed by manager Ken Adamany (who later handled Cheap Trick); he took them to the Midwest for a summer tour, and they continued to be based there for the next two years. In December 1968, they moved to Marin County, CA, in hopes of getting a record deal during the renaissance of San Francisco rock bands, but they eventually found success playing with others rather than in their own band. DaShiell and Jaeger played and recorded with former Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel, and DaShiell and Killmer recorded with Norman Greenbaum, including the gold-selling hit "Spirit in the Sky." In 1970, DaShiell secured a record contract with ABC-Paramount for Crowfoot, but by then it was essentially a solo act. Nevertheless, he recorded a self-titled Crowfoot album, with Jaeger playing drums, that was released in the fall of 1970. A year later came Find the Sun, which found DaShiell backed by Sam McCue (guitar and vocals), Bill Sutton (bass), and Don Francisco (drums and vocals). Neither album succeeded commercially, and DaShiell went on to other projects. In the early 1990s, he reunited with Killmer and Jaeger for an EP under the name Mesenger that he released on his own Aerial View label.

The rock trio Crowfoot was an American band featuring Russell DaShiell on guitar and vocals, Doug Killmer on bass and vocals and Rick Jaeger on drums. The group originally formed in 1964 under the name "The Beau Gentry" as a Melbourne, Florida based high-school cover band. Eventually DaShiell began to write music and the band began to perform their own material. At that time the band also featured Lance Massey on guitar and vocals. They were discovered by manager Ken Adamany who arranged a successful 1966 tour through the U.S. mid-west. On the strength of this tour, the band decided to relocate to the area and build upon the fan base they had established. In December 1968, DaShiell, Killmer and Jaegar decided to relocate again, this time to the San Francisco Bay area in the hopes that exposure in the burgeoning Bay area music scene would lead them to a recording contract. Lance Massey chose to leave the band at this time and settle in Wisconsin. The remaining band members renamed themselves, "Crowfoot".

In California, DaShiell, Killmer and Jaeger found session work to help make ends meet. Of particular note, was DaShiell's and Killmer's guitar work on Norman Greenbaum's, gold-selling hit, Spirit in the Sky^[1] and DaShiell's and Jaeger's work on former Canned Heat guitarist, Harvey Mandel's, album, "Games Guitars Play". In 1970 Crowfoot signed with ABC-Paramount but by this time Killmer was pursuing other projects and although Jaeger did play drums on the self-titled album, Crowfoot had essentially become a DaSheill solo act.^[2] In 1971, a second album was released, "Find the Sun". It featured Russell DaShiell backed by Don Francisco on drums and vocals, Sam McCue on guitar and vocals and Bill Sutton on bass. In 1994 DaShiell, Killmer and Jaeger reunited and released an EP, titled "Messenger".

BAY AREA BANDS

A B SKHY BLUES BAND

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