The Austin music scene in the mid-'60s was a rapidly growing one and its voice was radio station KAZZ-FM. The manager of the station Bill Josey and his son, Bill II, a DJ who went by the air name of Rim Kelly, had the first truly progressive radio in Texas. KAZZ was far ahead of its time; broadcasting live concerts on weekends and featuring separate shows for top 40, folk, jazz, and blues. Their live broadcasts usually emanated from the Jade Room or the New Orleans Club and featured rising stars from Townes Van Zandt/Nance Lipscomb to Janis Joplin/13th Floor Elevators. The Joseys were early boosters of the Elevators and the group got heavy airplay along with live appearances broadcast on KAZZ. KOKE, Austin's large AM station, refused to play Elevators records, even after they had a national Top 100 (see Elevators newspaper articles). But "You're Gonna Miss Me"/"Tried to Hide" stayed on KAZZ's playlist for months. Bill Josey even insisted on the group's behalf after their initial hard bust trial. The station/staff were also well acquainted with most of the other bands in the area from producing shows and benefits. All these circumstances served to make the Josey operation instrumental in the rapid expansion of Austin music.
There were other labels around Austin when Bill Josey and Rim Kelly (Bill II) decided to start Sonobeat. At first, it was just a local focus—the Joseys had always been on the scene at local stores like the Inner Sanctum and nowhere was a record store more necessary for local talent than in Austin. The Joseys were also tight with the Texas Union and the growing counterculture scene there was ripe for record production. Sonobeat was the first major operation in Austin to record original groups live and the production/recording skills they built as station owners and early DJs at KAZZ gave them an edge. Although the Joseys had been around bands for years and constantly signed artists, Sonobeat initially was almost completely unknown outside of Austin.
The label's first release, and its initial equipment, primitively taped by conventional means, was an instrumental live local group dubbed the "Babycakes." One of the first 45 Sonobeat initially produced co-featured a psychedelic country fusion by a bunch of ex-UT grads who called themselves South Canadian Export Sound. The strange, exotic mix of horn and guitar work caught on and the group signed with a fraternity-oriented band management team soon after. Another single by the Joseys' project was a hastily produced instrumental effort cut between odd bookings and festivals. "New sensations since, #101 'A Picture Of Me/Without You,'" was written by member Ernie Gammage and came out in early '66. The group had met the Joseys after earlier records, one for the brand labeled Allycat, secured play on KAZZ with favorable reactions. The Sonobeat release went top 20 with an LP follow-up, seller due to its quality excellence.
The Joseys released #102 "Air Travel" as a special arrangement and it sold out upon release. They went on to sign lesser known local groups like the Lavender Hill Express. The Joseys also helped other local artists to develop, even if they were not psychedelic. The group was known as one of the "free-form projects" among early Sonobeat singles. They built studio recordings at a barn in western Travis County. "Music's horse by itself," a lengthy imaginative term Josey used to describe '60s garage folk rock. Without the Joseys, many local musicians might have spent years attempting to find production facilities for their art and cut songs. Their third and final Sonobeat record, #110 "West Coast Sound," was originally scheduled by #104. The Joseys were quite active in other aspects of music production including live film syncing of a whole "music influencers" approach.
Sonobeat's real legacy lay in the creation of psychedelic folk and garage classics that represented Austin's underground musical growth of the late '60s. Many early signed artists that Josey worked with later went on to larger success and wide recognition.
The final release on Sonobeat, however, was the first to show a major label's interest in Austin culture. Contrevores was part of the psychedelic scene in Austin with Congreve's band that was about to blow up nationwide. After the Sonobeat release, the Josey family felt they had exhausted the "live band" circuit and some days found them at San Francisco studios recording more. Bill Josey, son of the manager, even brought Sonobeat sounding, far-reaching horn percussion and licks for Californians that added further credence to Josey's eclectic record releases, grounded in the past but eclectic. Their reputation for finding artists and reestablishing acts, like with Willie Nelson’s Sonobeat releases (under another name), and others like 13th Floor Elevators under the group and studio names Sonobeat highlights.
The last single #104 introduced another underground band to a wider audience. "The Thirteenth Floor Elevators" originated in Florida and were on their way to California to sign a major label with them. They played their version of hard rock around town and impressed the Joseys enough.
In the Fall of '67 KAZZ-FM was sold to KOKE which ended progressive radio in Austin for a few years. Ironically enough later KOKE-FM became the trendsetting progressive country station and a very successful one. KAZZ-FM was just too early for its format and FM receivers not common enough for KAZZ to compete with the AM stations. The Joseys now devoted all their efforts to their record company and it paid off with their next group, who became Sonobeat's most successful and well-known act.
Johnny Winter had grown up in Beaumont, Texas and recorded many records for local labels in the early '60s, but real success had eluded him. In 1968 he decided to try the blossoming hippie scene in Austin with a hard driving blues/rock band called simply "Winter." Tommy Shannon and John Turner supplied the backings and the group played many shows around town. Bill Josey heard of this terrific band and in checking with Johnny found he was free of contracts. Josey immediately signed him to a short term deal and recorded several tracks at the Vulcan Gas Co. A single was released, #107 "Mean Town Blues/Rollin’ ‘n’ Tumblin'," but other people were amazed by his incredible guitar player and the Johnny Winter publicity campaign started rolling. Rolling Stone did a story on Texas that featured Johnny (Larry Sepulvado of Mother Magazine wrote quite a bit of that Texas issue for R.S.). Steve Paul, of N.Y.C., got interested and put Winter under an exclusive management contract, then a record company bidding began. Meanwhile Sonobeat pressed up a couple hundred demo LPs of "Winter" and passed them around. Some were sold through local stores and the mail but it was a simple white jacket advance album designed to stir up record company interest. After the dust had settled, Johnny was with Columbia and the Sonobeat LP had been bought by United Artists and issued on Imperial as "The Progressive Blues Experiment" and several years later reissued on UA as "Johnny Winter-Austin, Texas."
Plymouth Rock might be called the Sonobeat supergroup due to the fact that the members were from previous Austin bands, including Lavender Hill and the Sweetarts, but also because they were very very good. Their brand of hard rock even surpassed the Thingies and the single, #114 "Just A Start/Memorandum," was a great one by any standards. At any rate it had limited success when it was issued in '69 and the group never issued a follow-up.
As Sonobeat moved into the '70s their new hope was a group called Mariani after leader and drummer Vince Mariani. The band’s first single, #116 "Passage/ Rebirth/Booties," was a pair of drum solo psychadelics mixed with studio electronics and issued under simply Vince Mariani. A second solo was later issued wearing thin, even in early '70s, and sales were not good. A second single, #118 "Memories Reflashed/Birthday," succeeded better. It was a more commercial attempt with good songs built around Vince’s drumming and Erik Johnson’s guitar work. Johnson was only 16, an old guitar hero (with the Electromagnets) and the trio of guitar, bass, and drums began establishing a reputation as a powerhouse act onstage. They became so promising that Sonobeat became just another stepping stone to major record companies, as they had with Winter. For example it looked as though UA would again buy the album but negotiations dragged on and finally the group broke up. The LP became the only Sonobeat album that did not get commercially released.
Sonobeat was a small label but a very diverse one; they released records in almost every category of music besides the pop/rock/blues recordings already discussed. Wali and the Afro-Caravan were an extremely good soul/jazz band that preceded the mass popularity of this music in the '70s. The country-swing of Ronnie and the West Winds would be right at home with Asleep at The Wheel or Alvin Crowd. Ray Campi’s Sonobeat #15 is quite different from his usual style but it is still a dirty blues effort. Campi was rockabilly rebel of the '50s and made several good records in this style before and since the Sonobeat single. He even bridged the gap from the '50s to Austin in another company by recording for Domino in '58 and Sonobeat in '68. His record for Sonobeat is a rare one side, #13 "Civil Disobedience," and a Irving Berlin song, "He's a Devil," in a 1930’s style on the flip. The single was a poor seller to say the least. Jazz for Sonobeat was supplied by the Lee Arlano Trio, a pleasant cocktail club type group, but their real distinction was that they recorded the only LP commercially released on Sonobeat itself and that the cover art was Jim Franklin’s first attempt at album graphics.
The label became inactive through the early '70s except for a couple gospel releases by the Royal Light Singers. The studio stayed fairly busy as usual with custom work and demos by various artists and bands. Rim left to teach at the University of Alabama and Bill moved the studio to a rural location near Round Rock, a small town north of Austin. He bought an old stone church and turned it into a beautiful recording studio. Bill worked with many bands and artists but only one was released on Sonobeat. A folk/ country singer, Armad, whose single #121, "Plea For Freedom/Just One Too Many Times," was the last issued on the label in late 1975. Bill Josey became ill that year and died in September of 1976.
Success is measured in many ways but, in the record business at least, the music speaks for itself.
Here is the transcription of the text from the image:
SONOBEAT DISCOGRAPHY
There are several singles in the discography that were not discussed and a short description follows each one:
45s
- 401 - Don Dean - "Night Life/Where Or When." A country vocal record issued with a picture sleeve.
- 501 - Lee Arlano Trio - "Meditation/Never Be Another." Issued with picture sleeve.
- 101 - Sweetarts - "A Picture Of Me/Without You." Issued with picture sleeve.
- 102 - Lavender Hill Express - "Visions/Trying To Live A Life." Issued with picture sleeve.
- 103 - Conquero - "I've Got Time/I, To 3." Issued with picture sleeve.
- 104 - Thingies - "Rainy Sunday Morning/Mass Confusion." The only early single not issued with picture sleeve.
- 105 - Lavender Hill Express - "Watch Out/Country Music's Here To Stay." Issued with picture sleeve.
- 106 - Wali and the Afro - Caravan-"Comin' Home Baby/Afro - Twist."
- 107 - Winter - "Mean Town Blues/Rollin' 'n' Tumblin'." Issued with picture sleeve.
- 108 - Ronnie and the West Winds - "Can't Win For Losing/Windy Blues."
- 109 - Bach - Yen - "This Is My Song/Magali." A female vocal record in an easy - listening style.
- 110 - Lavender Hill Express - "Outside My Window/Silly Rhymes."
- 111 - Ray Campi - "Civil Disobedience/He's A Devil." The label actually reads Ray Campi Establishment.
- 112 - Jim Chesnut - "About To Be Woman/Leaves." Country vocal record.
- 113 - Fran Nelson - "Yesterday/No Regrets." Female vocal with country flavor.
- 114 - Plymouth Rock - "Memorandum/Just A Start." A classic!
- 115 - James Polk and the Brothers - "Stick To It Ive Ness/The Robot." A soul record.
- 116 - Vince Mariani - "Pulsar/Boots." Drummer for the band on single #118.
- 117 - Lee Arlano Trio - "School Daze/Meditation." The B-side is from single #501.
- 118 - Mariani - "Memories/Re-Birth Day."
- 119 - Royal Light Singers. Gospel recordings.
- 120 - ""
- 121 - Arma - "Just One Too Many Times/Plea For Freedom."
LPs
- 1001 - Lee Arlano Trio - "Jazz To The Third Power." Only LP actually on the label, cover by Jim Franklin.
- 1002 - Johnny Winter - "Winter." Released as demo then sold to UA/Imperial Records.
- 1003 - Wali and The Afro - Caravan - "Home Lost And Found." Released as demo then sold to Solid State Records.
- 1004 - Mariani - "Perpetuum Mobile." Again released as demo but not sold.
These white jacket advance pressings all had stamped titles and were individually numbered.
A songwriter, Bill Wilson, also had a demo LP issued on Sonobeat but only to sell his compositions from the Sonosong publishing catalog.
A few Sonobeat group had records on other labels either before or after their association with the Joseys. The Sweetarts had the already mentioned single on the Vandan label of Dallas, #1895 "So Many Times/You Don't Have To Hurt Me," and Lavender Hill Express had a 45 on MVL Records, #101 "Mr. Peabody/Going Back To Mexico," that was done after their stay at Sonobeat. Also some of Conqueroo assisted on Austinite Gilbert Shelton's ESP Single, #4501 "If I Was A Hell's Angel/Shorten Stock Car Man." It was issued with a unique picture sleeve and the record was credited to The Gilbert Shelton Ensemble.
Of course Johnny Winter has had numerous records before and after Sonobeat, along with Ray Campi, and we can't list them all here. Rusty Weir made a couple of singles with The Wig then went on to his subsequently successful solo career. These are the most obvious standouts from the galaxy of Texas musicians that were associated with the Joseys and Sonobeat but there are very few bands in Central Texas today that don't have some tie to the Joseys and their record company. In future NFAs we plan to do features on some of the most interesting Sonobeat artists and their careers.
Source: Not Fade Away, The Texas Music Magazine Vol.1 No.1 1.00$
