The Merced Blue Notes - Get your kicks on route 99(2004)Ace-Rare R&B/Soul

IN THE DECADE BEFORE THE BRITISH INVASION AND THE COMPLETION OF INTERSTATE 5,HIGHWAY
99 WAS STILL CALIFORNIA'S MAIN NORTH-SOUTH THOROUGHFARE.AMONG THE TOWNS EVOKED BY THE
MOVIE AMERICAN GRAFFITI WHICH DOT ITS PATHWAY THROUGH THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY IS
MERCED,APPROXIMATELY SEVENTY-FIVE MILES EAST OF SAN JOSE.IT IS AN UNLIKELY CRUCIBLE
BUT THE WHOLE MERCED BLUE NOTES SAGA IS UNLIKELY, A MULTI-ETHNIC ROCK'N'ROLL COVER
BAND GETS NURTURED BY THE BLUES-LOVING TOWN FIRE CHIEF AND CIVIC ACTIVIST,SHUFFLES
ITS MEMBERSHIP AND EVOLVES INTO ONE OF THE ALL-TIME REGIONAL ROCKING RHYTHM AND BLUES BANDS,
LEAVING A HANDFUL OF TOUGH 45S INCLUDING SOME OF THE 1960S FINEST BLUES-BASED
INSTRUMENTALS AND MANY UNISSUED TRACKS IN ITS WAKE.NEARLY FORTY YEARS AFTER THE BAND
SPLIT UP AND TWENTY YEARS AFTER THEIR ONLY ALBUM(OF PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED MATERIAL)WAS
RELEASED ON A SMALL VALLEY LABEL,WE CAN FINALLY CELEBRATE THEIR FIRST COMPLETE CD,
FEATURING TWENTY-SIX GLORIOUS,ROUSING AND BLUESY TRACKS,INCLUDING ELEVEN HEARD FOR
THE FIRST TIME AND TWO ALTERNATE VERSIONS.
FORMED IN 1956 IN THEIR MID-TEENS TO BACK RODDY JACKSON(BUT NEVER ON RECORD),THE BAND
WAS SPONSORED BY THE LOCAL CIVITAN CLUB AT THE URGING OF FIRE CHIEF GEORGE COOLURES.
A BLUES-LOVING HARMONICA PLAYER(HEARD ON DO THE PIG AND FRAGILE),CHIEF" COOLURES GUIDED
HIS YOUNG CHARGES TOWARD MORE ORIGINALS AND R&B,EVEN JOINING THEM ONSTAGE AFTER
JACKSON LEFT BY THE SUMMER OF 1960,AFTER SOME PERSONNEL AND NAME CHANGES,THE BAND WAS
SET AS THE MERCED BLUE NOTES,WITH THE ORIGINAL WHITE MEMBERS REPLACED BY BLACK KEYBOARD
PLAYER BOBBY HUNT AND MASTER SHUFFLE DRUMMER CARL MAYS JR,MARIETTA ROBERTSON(VOCALS) AND
AND BLUES-INFUSED SINGER/GUITARIST KEN CRAIG,SAXOPHONIST BILL "TIGER" ROBERTSON AND
FUNKY MEXICAN BASSIST GILBERT FRAIRE.FOLLOWING SOME OBSCURE LOCAL RELEASES IN 1960-61
AND MODERATE SUCCESS WITH RUFUS ON ACCENT,THE GROUP CONNECTED WITH HARVEY FUQUA'S DETROIT
BASED TRI-PHI LABEL.THEIR SECOND TRI-PHI SINGLE RELEASED IN 1963,WAS THE THEMATIC
WHOLE LOTTA NOTHING,AN AMUSING AND HIP INTRODUCTORY MIX OF SELF-DEPRECATION AND MUSICAL
SELF-CONFIDENCE,BACKED BY THE BLUES INSTRUMENTAL FRAGILE.AFTER A STILLBORN ASSOCIATION
WITH THE MOTOWN-AFFILIATED SOUL LABEL AND A TWO-SIDED ROCKER ON MAMMOTH THE GROUP SAW TWO
EXCELLENT 45S APPEAR ON GALAXY BEGINNING IN '65,BUT THE ATTENDANT FRUSTRATIONS MAY
WELL HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR BREAKUP SOON AFTERWARD.SOME GREAT DANCERSON HERE,WHAT A BAND!

AMM

                                                                THE LEGENDARY DANCE TASTER BELOW!

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