Linn County
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1966-67) (As The Prophets) - Ron Lustic -- woodwinds - Stephen Miller (RIP 2003) -- vocals, keyboards - Ray "Snake" McAndrew -- drums, percussion - Kenny Thompson --
line up 2 (1966-67) - Larry Easter (RIP 2012 -- sax, flute (replaced Ron Lustic) - Stephen Miller (RIP 2003) -- vocals, keyboards NEW - Bob Miskinmen -- bass - Ray "Snake" McAndrew -- drums, percussion NEW - Fred Walk -- guitar, sitar
line up 3 (1966-68) - Larry Easter (RIP 2012) -- sax, flute - Stephen Miller (RIP 2003) -- vocals, keyboards NEW - Dino Long -- bass (replaced Bob Miskinmen) - Ray "Snake" McAndrew -- drums, percussion - Fred Walk -- guitar, sitar
line up 4 (1968-69) (as Linn County) - Larry Easter (RIP 2012) -- sax, flute - Stephen Miller (RIP 2003) -- vocals, keyboards NEW - Dino Long -- bass (replaced Bob Miskinmen) - Ray "Snake" McAndrew -- drums, percussion - Fred Walk -- guitar, sitar
line up 5 (1969-70) - Larry Easter (RIP 2012 -- sax, flute - Stephen Miller (RIP 2003) -- vocals, keyboards - Dino Long -- bass) NEW - Clark Pierson -- drums, percussion (replaced Ray "Snake" McAndrew ), - Fred Walk -- guitar, sitar
line up 6 (1974-75) - Johnny (Ace) Acerno -- bass - Ron Dewitte -- lead guitar (replaced Fred Walk) - Joe Eberline -- drums, percussion - Stephen Miller (RIP 2003) -- vocals, keyboards - Perry Welsh -- harmonica
line up 7 (1975) - Johnny (Ace) Acerno -- bass - Ron Dewitte -- lead guitar (replaced Fred Walk) - Joe Eberline -- drums, percussion NEW - Tommy "T-Bone" Giblin -- keyboards (replaced Stephen Miller) - Perry Welsh -- harmonica
line up 8 (1977) - Johnny (Ace) Acerno -- bass - Ron Dewitte -- lead guitar (replaced Fred Walk) - Tommy "T-Bone" Giblin -- keyboards NEW - Walter Salwitz -- drums, percussion (replaced Joe Eberline) - Perry Welsh -- harmonica
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- The Elvin M+Bishop Group (Stephen Miller) - Bobby's Blues Band - The Bopcats - Cookie & the Vagrantz (Stephen Miller) - Dr. Hector & the Groove Injectors (Stephen Miller) - The Dynatones - The Gainsborough Gallery (Ray McAndrew) - Grinderswitch (Stephen Miller) - Headstone - Janis Joplin (Clark Pierson) - The Legends - Linn County Blues Band - The McClellan-Akers Singers Of Greater Kansas City (Bob Miskimen) - Stephen Miller (solo efforts) - Perry and the Pumpers - Redwing - The Tremolos
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Genre: blues-rock Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Fever Shot Company: Mercury Year: 1969 Country/State: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: with lyric sheet Available: 1 Catalog ID: -- Price: $20.00
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Yes, Linn County was named for the Iowa County the band was initially formed in. Never been there, but I guess it's better than naming themselves after Licking, Ohio. = )
Kenny Thompson had been a member of The Bopcats, recruiting keyboard player Stephen Miller, woodwind player Ron Lustic and drummer Jerry "Snake" McAndrew for what became The Prophets. Thompson eventually shifted over to become band manager with Lustic leaving and bassist Bob Miskimen (quickly replaced by Dino Long), guitarist Fred Walk and reed player Larry Easter coming in. With a repetoire heavy on R&B and rock covers, the group began attracting a fan base playing local clubs and mid-western college and university dates. By1967 they'd relocated to Chicago where they opted to change their name to the much cooler sounding Linn County Blues Band. Their big break came when Chicago's Mother Blues Club hired them as the house band, giving them a spotlight position and a chance to support an all star cast of touring blues acts including James Cotton, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. They also got a new manager in the form of Cedar Rapids friend Jon Cabalka who happened to be an employee of Mercury Records. They initially signed a recording deal with Bill Traut's Chicago-based Dunwich, but Cabalka convinced Mercury to pick up the band's contract. Signing for a reported $50K, Mercury had them abbreviate the name to Linn County. Mercury also had the band relocated to San Francisco, California (following about a quarter of the country's under-25 population).
A
quick word of warning. I guess due to the fact they were a mid-'60s
San Francisco-based outfit, a lot of cursory reviews seem to indicate these
guys were cut from the same creative cloth as contemporaries such as The
Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksliver Messenger Service,
etc. If you're expecting a collection of West Coast psych, this isn't
an album for you. Anyhow, tudos to Me
"Fever
Shot" track listing: 1.) Girl Can't Help It (Bobby Troup) - 4:40 rating: **** stars Stephen Miller had one of those voices that was simultaneously amazing and horrifying - amazing for how much emotion and energy he could bring to a blues number like the opening cover of Bobby Troup's 'Girl Can' Help It' and horrifying for the strain a performance like this must have done to his vocal chords. Equally impressive was Fred Walk's guitar solo. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't polished, but boy did it capture your attention. Little Richard's cover is better known, but Linn County's raw, raucous version is every bit as good. Blues-rock for people that don't like blues rock. Hardly top-40 commercial, it was an interesting choice as a single:
- 1969's 'Girl Can't Help It' b/w 'Too Far Gone' (Mercury catalog number 72907)
2.) Elevator Woman (J.L. Williamson) - 4:04 rating: ** stars Their cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's 'Elevator Woman' struck me as professional, but hardly earth-shattering. Your local weekend blues bar band probably covers it as well. 3.) Too Far Gone (Stephen Miller - Fred Walk) - 2:40 rating: ** stars The first of three originals and another blues-rocker, 'Too Far Gone' brought the horns to the foreground. Not a good thing if you don't like horn-rock. The track also appeared as the "B" side to their 'Girl Can't Help It' 45. 4.) Suspended (Stephen Miller - Fred Walk) - 8:17 rating: **** stars Opening up with Miller's Hammond B, Larry Easter's sax and Jerome McAndrew's martial drumming, 'Suspended' boasted the album's most intriguing melody. Temporarily shedding their blues fascination for a West Coast psych vibe, the track showed their San Francisco surroundings had influenced their musical tastes. Imagine something between a funeral procession and a piece of soundtrack music for an exotic travel sequence. Quite cool.
(side
2) The title track opened up with a jazzy mix shiowcasing Long's melodic bass, McAndrew's drums and Easter's sax. When Walk's screeching guitar and Miller's grinding voices kicked in the tune shifted into an intriguing mixture of blues and psych influences. Easter's middle-Eastern sax moves kept pulling the tune back in a jazzy direction. Very cool. 2.) Lonely Avenue (instrumental) (Jules Frederick - Lisa Branch) - 7:28 rating: *** stars No idea who Jules Frederick and Lisa Branch are, but they provided Linn County with another interesting number - in this case a bluesy, atmospheric instrumental that gave Easter, Miller and Walk shots at the solo spotlight and went by far faster than the seven minute plus running time would have you expect. 3.) Ground Hog Blues (Sonny By Williamson) - 4:37 rating: *** stars The second Sonny Boy Williamson cover, it took me a long time to figure out who Miller reminded me of - few people will have heard of him, but in the mid-'70s and '80s there was a guy by the name of Root Boy Slim who made some inroads in the mid-Atlantic ... same kind of howling delivery as Miller. Anyhow, I'm not sure why the cover works for me. It isn't better than the original, or any of the scores of covers I've heard, but there's just something in Miller's barely-in-control delivery that catches my ear.
© Scott R. Blackerby October, 2024
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rcury
Records for giving Linn County a second chance after their debut "Proud
Flesh Soothseer" vanished without much notice. Co-produced by
John Cabalka and Milan Melvin, 1969's "Fever Shot"
wasn't a major change in musical direction. Exemplified by a mixture
of blues covers including a pair of Sonny
Boy Williamson tunes ('Elevator Woman' and 'Ground
Hog Blues') and
original material, the sophomore album found the
band continuing their exploration of blues-rock moves. That's not to say it
was a carbon copy of the debut.
This time out they certainly sounded more comfortable in their studio
surroundings and while blues remained the predominant sound, there were a
couple of exceptions. The focus was clearly on lead singer,
keyboardist and prime writer (along with guitarist Fred Walk) Stephen
Miller. His voice was raw and raucous - one of those instruments where
you wondered whether he was going to blow his vocal chords before getting to
the end of the song. Fred Walk may not have been the most technically
proficient lead guitarists you've ever encountered, but on tracks like 'Girl
Can't Help It' and the bluesy instrumental 'Lonely Avenue' his raw playing
was enthusiastic and economic. Unfortunately, like their debut album
the sophomore release vanished with little attention. 