Mal Robinson, of the Morning Dew: Something Else! Interview

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Based out of Topeka, Kansas, Morning Dew held ground as one of the most popular bands in and around the vicinity during the late 1960s and early ’70s. Fronted by Mal Robinson, the band boasted the ability and awareness to adapt to the chameleon-esque climate of the era, but developed their own readily recognizable sound. Morning Dew’s chops were tight and dynamic, and their songs, which were penned by Mal, bristled with melody and substance.

The band’s first two singles, “No More” and “Be a Friend,” were both released in 1967. Fueled by sneer and sauce, “No More” has duly come to be regarded as a garage-rock classic, where “Be A Friend” sparkles with radio-friendly folk pop sensibilities. The flipsides of these discs are just as catchy, with “Look At Me Now” favoring a crisp and crafty Beau Brummels-meet-Critters-styled pop flair, and “Go Away” carrying a rougher and tougher slant.



In 1970, the band’s eagerly awaited debut album appeared. Bold and powerful vocals, matched by strapping guitar work, sweeping keyboards, concrete drumming, and soaring harmonies cement Morning Dew, rendering it to be a magnetic mix of innovative textures and designs. Hard rocking rhythms, flecked with psychedelic frequencies, rub elbows with gleaming pop gestures in a most attractive way. Songs such as “Crusader’s Smile,” “Gypsy,” “Cherry Street,” “Then Came The Light,” and “Save Me,” which was co-authored with future Kansas guitarist Kerry Livgren, especially tap into Morning Dew’s varied strengths. Although the influence of bands like Spirit, Cream, Buffalo Springfield, Iron Butterfly, Procol Harum, and even the Bee Gees, penetrate the air, Morning Dew had enough novel drive and imagination to make a difference.

Over the years, the band’s music has been resurrected on a few occasions. The Cicadelic label, located in Tucson, Arizona, is a big supporter of Morning Dew, and the packages they’ve put together, No More 1966-1969 and At Last 1968-1970 are the place to go. Along with featuring the band’s singles and album, these collections contain piles of previously unissued cuts. Morning Dew was a great band, and their songs are as electrifying and enjoyable today as they were back then …

BEVERLY PATERSON: What are your earliest musical memories and what was the first record you ever bought?
MAL ROBINSON: My earliest musical memories were in the late ’50s — my grade school years — coming home from school every late afternoon and watching American Bandstand. This is when I got hooked on rock ‘n’ roll. During this same period of time, my Dad was a member of the Eagles Lodge and he would occasionally take me up there on a Friday or Saturday night. They had a stage mic and PA system and a jukebox of course. I would get up on stage and sing songs with the jukebox. The patrons seemed to like it and would give me a few bucks — in quarters. My parents had a few albums, the Ink Spots, Louis Prima, Al Jolson, Elvis, Eddie Arnold, etc. My older sister and brother had a few 45s. I usually bought 45s with my brother and he made the buying decisions but I would influence him to buy certain ones sometimes — Elvis, Eddie Cochran, some R&B. The first album I bought was when I was in junior high in the early ’60s, Surfin’ Surfari by the Beach Boys. I really honed in on primarily guitar bands and bought several surf groups in ’62, ’63 until the Beatles and British Invasion groups came in 1964 and later.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Did you have any formal music training or did you teach yourself to play?
MAL ROBINSON: I tried playing trumpet one year in grade school music class but didn’t like it. The chapped lips were a problem. I taught myself how to play guitar and never did take lessons nor read music, just played by ear — listening to and watching others play. My stepdad had a cheap acoustic guitar that he had bought but never learned how to play and I started picking that up and teaching myself songs in junior high.

BEVERLY PATERSON: If you had to pick which asset of music you like best, what would you choose — singing, songwriting, or playing instruments?
MAL ROBINSON: My first love is singing. In grade school, I started singing along with records and realized: Hey, I can sing in tune and hit most if not all the notes the guy on the record was doing. My motivation to learn guitar was so I could accompanied myself when I sang. The songwriting didn’t develop until high school. I used to write and sing parodies for the school assemblies — sort of the class jester. But I learned to come up with my own words/phrases to others melodies which led to developing my own melodies for my words. I love the creative aspect of writing a song and getting a group of musicians to play it and put their own touches to it. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much of that since the ’70s. Now that I’m retired, I might take it up again just for my own enjoyment.

BEVERLY PATERSON: How did the members of Morning Dew meet each other?
MAL ROBINSON: Don Sligar, our drummer, and I attended the same junior high school. He contacted me in 1963 to come jam with some guys and we became the Impax. Don and I bonded musically and stayed together, going through various maturations of a band, until the demise of the Dew in 1971. After the Impax disbanded, Don and I met and auditioned (bassist) Don Shuford, who lived in the same neighborhood as we did. We three among others formed in succession the Runaways and The Durations. Then we went three-piece as the Toads, and finally formed the Morning Dew in 1966. The final piece of the band was added in that year, Don Anderson (rhythm guitar/keyboards), and he was a fraternity brother of Don Sligar at Washburn University in Topeka. I was just finishing high school and Shuf was still in high school. Eventually, we all four ended up attending Washburn University.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What were your initial goals? Were you aiming for fame and fortune, or did you just want to have fun?
MAL ROBINSON: By the time Don and I formed the Morning Dew, we were about as serious as any 17- or 18-year-old kid can be about making a career out of doing something with music. We enjoyed it immensely, had found the right makeup and chemistry, and wanted to see how far it could take us professionally. As I look back on it, things moved pretty fast. We spent 1966 playing a lot of gigs with cover songs, honing our skills and getting a tight sound. In late ’66 and early 1967, we started doing original material and had regional success with the two Fairyland releases. In 1968, went back to Fairyland Studios and recorded an album’s worth of material, peddled the master to some national contacts and got the Roulette contract in 1969.



BEVERLY PATERSON: Where did the first Morning Dew gig take place and what was the audience’s reaction?
MAL ROBINSON: Our first gig as the Morning Dew was in 1966, a party for a fraternity at Washburn University. The reaction was great, but most of the audience was friends and acquaintances. Most of our gigs in the first year of the band were fraternity and sorority parties, teen clubs, and high school dances.

BEVERLY PATERSON: How did Morning Dew hook up with Fairyland Records, the label that released your early work? What other artists were on the label?
MAL ROBINSON: We had a local Topeka booking agent by the name of Larry Knouft who became affiliated with Fairyland Booking Agency of Columbia, Missouri. This broadened our geographic connections into Missouri and Arkansas, as well. The booking agency was founded by Lou Rennau and some other investors in Columbia. Lou was the front man for Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a very popular rock band in the early ’60s and mid ’60s in Missouri. (Lou had long blond hair, hence the Goldilocks.) Lou and his band invested in and built a recording studio in Columbia. They recorded in it, as well as Plato and the Philosophers, Lavender Hill Mob, and rhe Thingies. Later, in the early ’70s, the studio changed its name to Lion Studios and recorded a couple of Kansas City bands — the Chessmann Square and Morningstarr. No national releases, just regional stuff. I think they discontinued operations in the early ’70s.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Morning Dew got off to a great start, as your first single “No More” received a lot of local airplay. Do you remember hearing the song on the radio for the first time? How did your lifestyle change after the record turned into a hit?
MAL ROBINSON: I first heard “No More” on the radio while riding in our van with the rest of the guys on the way to a gig in northeast Kansas. It is a weird feeling to describe. You giggle, you high five, you think: “Man, this is our first step to something bigger and better.” It was played on KEWI, based in Topeka but broadcast to much of Eastern Kansas/Kansas City area. The record was in the Top 10 for several weeks, and spent about 3-4 months in their Top 40 survey during June-September 1967. Day to day life went on pretty much as usual — going to school and playing in the band. But the band was definitely gaining more traction. We started renting out venues — National Guard armories, dance Halls and auditoriums — in smaller towns in the area and promoting our own shows, taking the admission fees. We did well with this. At the same time, Fairyland was booking us in Missouri. We got very busy, about 90-100 gigs a year in the ‘67-’68 period, plus going to school. I’m not sure we signed many autographs, but we did start getting fan mail. We performed “No More” at a fashion show in a local theater in Topeka to a capacity crowd, mostly girls. They went nuts when we were introduced, yelling and screaming. I don’t think we realized that we — or the song — was that popular. We did several local and regional TV shows that year. We also had a reporter from the local paper come to one of our rehearsal to interview us, which resulted in a full page story in the local paper in July 1967 titled “Fame Dawns for the Morning Dew.” So, all in all, the record really did change the dynamics for the band.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Did you go to school or have a day job at the time? If so, how did you manage to juggle everything?
MAL ROBINSON: To be honest, it was all about the band. We attended class, made our grades, generally were B students. But we coordinated our enrollments and class times, so to fit the band needs. This meant no night classes except Monday or Wednesdays — leaving Thursday nights open — and no afternoon classes on Fridays. We needed to allow up to about five hours for travel on Friday to get to some gigs. St. Louis was five hours from Topeka to the East, Omaha was three hours to the North, Oklahoma City was four hours to the South, and Western Kansas was about three to four hours. This was our area. The normal routine was to take off in the van on Friday afternoons, play Friday and Saturday night, and return home on Sunday afternoon and back to school on Monday. Some weekends we would play more locally or do a Thursday night at a local club then travel out of town for the weekend. If we had an off weekend, we would practice new songs. I studied on Sunday nights and some week nights, but hardly every studied on the road — unless it was finals week. It was hectic, but what a blast!

BEVERLY PATERSON: What can you tell me about your subsequent single? Unlike most bands back then, you were writing original material. What was your approach to writing songs?
MAL ROBINSON: In September of 1967, we released “Be A Friend/Go Away” on Fairyland. “Be A Friend” ended up being the A-side. The motivation was to show we had some versatility and could do a softer sound. On hindsight, it was probably a mistake. The record didn’t do nearly as well. We probably should have stayed with the more hard-driving rock style for this release, which would have been “Go Away.” The motivation for my songwriting was the creative aspect of it, as well as the realization that to really make it big, to sustain, and leave your mark you need to do original material and not be another cover band. Although we never made the big time in the ’60s, I doubt there would have been Morning Dew recordings re-released in the ’90s and 2000s — or you doing this interview for that matter 45 years later — if it weren’t for our original material. My approach to songwriting was to develop a chord structure on guitar then overlay a melody to the structure and develop the lyrics last. Whether a slow ballad or fast rock song depended generally on my mood at the time. Once I had this done, I’d take the raw song to the band and they would help with the arrangement — tempo, breaks, endings, etc. Sometimes, I would take a chord progression from another artist’s song and put our own touch to it. For instance, when we go to the lead guitar solo in “No More,” we’re using the same chord progression that Paul Revere and the Raiders did for “Just Like Me” — but, if I recall, a different key.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Did Morning Dew get much airplay outside Kansas?
MAL ROBINSON: Our Fairyland singles received airplay just in Kansas and Missouri, to my knowledge. There may have been some airplay in other adjacent states, but I’m not aware of it. The Missouri airplay was primarily St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri which is just across the border from Eastern Kansas.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Did you ever struggle with stage fright?
MAL ROBINSON: Not really. Ever since I was a young boy, I was getting up in front of an audience to sing and play guitar. Now, don’t get me wrong, I generally get a little nervous at first but definitely not stage fright. I’m not the life of the party type, nor one to go out of my way to engage others in conversation, but when I do get on stage or in front of an audience my psyche tends to shift into a different gear, if you know what I mean.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What would usually go through your head when performing a show?
MAL ROBINSON: We never got famous enough to get booked for the short 60-90 minute concerts. With few exceptions, our shows were three hours or more. Generally, my thinking on stage was to make sure I was interacting with the other band members, and engaging the crowd. I’d try to ascertain what the crowd reaction was and whether positive or not, and if not whether we should shift some songs around in the set list to better get the crowd engaged. Early on, I would think about remembering lyrics to the cover songs. I developed a bad habit of forgetting lyrics — still do to this day — but if I forget I just make up my own lyrics on the fly. I’m not sure most in the audience recognize it. Sometimes, I get called on it.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Morning Dew was eventually signed to Roulette Records and released a self-titled album — how did you hook up with the label?
MAL ROBINSON: An agent/promoter from Columbia, Mo., Pete Shanaberg was referred to us by Fairyland. He was looking to represent several regional acts in an attempt to get record deals. He took our Fairyland recordings to New York and met with several companies, among which was Roulette. He got us the contract. He also represented Don Cooper and Morgan Mason Downs. Both were inked with Roulette and from Missouri. Interestingly, Pete also represented an actress by the name of Trish Van DeVeer (from Columbia, Mo.) who later married George C. Scott.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Were you satisfied with the final results of the album?
MAL ROBINSON: At the time, we were generally satisfied with it, but we wish we could have had more time to record and put two or three more songs on the album. It was a whirlwind experience. We all got in our Chevy band van — equipment and all — and drove to New York, stayed at the Hotel Albert in the Village for about a week in August 1969. I spent my 21st birthday in New York City. We recorded the album in about 30 hours at Bob Gallo Studios on 42nd Street. We basically played the songs live and then overdubbed the vocals.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Was there any talk of doing a national tour?
MAL ROBINSON: Roulette made several promises, including a national tour and a second album in the studio, by contract. But, they never came to fruition. It was frustrating, as things seem to stall after the recording sessions and then again later after the album was released in 1970 — about a year after the sessions. Little did we know at the time, of the financial and legal problems at Roulette.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Do you have any interesting road stories to share?
MAL ROBINSON: There are a ton of road stories over the five years we traveled between 1966-1971. Probably not much different than most rock bands during that era. Matter of fact, I think there have been a couple books written about rock ‘n’ roll band road disasters. A Few of ours: 1) We occasionally would pick up hitchhikers, and they would be a roadie for the night. It seems they would invariably get in trouble of some sort — get drunk or stoned or hit on some guy’s date. 2) Our van broke down in Ohio on our way to the Roulette recording sessions, and we thought we’d never make it to New York on time to do the session. I’d like to give a big shout out to our road manager Cliff Wiksten, who saved the day for us. 3) We were doing a gig in Knobnoster, Missouri, one evening that was booked by Fairyland and, while we were doing our sound check, these guys show up claiming they are the Morning Dew — and it’s their gig. Band pirates! Come to find out they were the Mourning Dew, and we had the written contract so they beat it. So many stories, and many I shouldn’t tell. Maybe I should write a book!

BEVERLY PATERSON: Why did Morning Dew break up?
MAL ROBINSON: It was May 1971. We were just stalled, waiting for something to happen with Roulette — frustrated, broke, and burnt out. No national tour or gigs, and we had priced ourselves out of the local/regional market because of all the fingers in the pie from promoter/agents, etc. Don and I had our degrees and were married and decided to move on with our lives. Just as an aside, Don’s wife and my wife became good friends — they lived together when single — and are still good friends today. We all stay in touch, although they live in Florida.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What musical activities did you pursue after Morning Dew?
MAL ROBINSON: I wrote several songs in the ’70s, and recorded them on my home recorder with an acoustic guitar for my own enjoyment. Nothing really came of them. I did recall sending one to a national songwriting contest and received an honorable mention recognition. Entertained my daughters mostly, but nothing professionally until 1993. Then, I got a wild hair to join up with a bunch of local guys doing ’50s, ’60s, ’70s cover music — and we’re still playing to this day, the Bop Daddies.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Are you surprised there’s been such a renewed interest in Morning Dew and your music has been reissued?
MAL ROBINSON: At the time, most definitely. Then I discovered the growing niche of folks who were into the lesser-known regional bands of the ’60s and realized we were one of many being reissued. Hopefully, we stand out some in that group. I’m so thankful to those who dug us up, and reissued our work. I think it has given me and others in the group some closure and validation of our brief music career.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Morning Dew was inducted into the Kansas Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 — congratulations! The band even got together and played. What was it like to perform together after all those years? Was the magic still there?
MAL ROBINSON: It had been about 40 years since we performed together live. It went better than we expected. It helped that we only could perform for about 20-25 minutes and did only six songs. We performed “No More,” “Money Honey Blues” and “Sportin’ Life” from the Fairyland recordings and “Country Boy Blue,” “Young Man” and “Crusader’s Smile” from the Roulette album. We only had one rehearsal all together, and that was the day before. Don Sligar was living in Florida and Dave Howell in Virginia, and they couldn’t get back to Kansas to rehearse until the day before the ceremony. Don Anderson, Blair Honeyman and myself still lived in this area, so we got together two or three times to go over arrangements and sent a recording to Don and Dave for them to practice to. The performance went without a glitch, and I thought we were well received. It was a real rush to get back together and play some of our stuff. The theater was at capacity. Kerry Livgren from Kansas was our guest at our table, which was neat. Don Sligar and Kerry are good friends and lived together for a while back in the late ’60s. It was Kerry’s first venture out in public since he had suffered a stroke about a year before that.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Are there any plans for Morning Dew to record new music? I sure hope so!
MAL ROBINSON: There are no plans for us to record new music or perform again. We have talked about having a band reunion some time in the next few years. It would probably be in Topeka, and just a jam session with friends and families, nothing major. I don’t know, the farther from the KMHOF ceremony we get, it seems we are less motivated. Human nature, I guess.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What are you and the other members of Morning Dew currently doing?
MAL ROBINSON: I’m retired here in Topeka after 35 years with a financial services company. My wife and I of 44 years travel a lot, volunteer, and I perform in my cover band in and around the area. Don Sligar is retired in Florida — he was an education specialist for the state of Oregon — and he too travels a lot. He has taken up the dobro and jams with some old farts at the Villages in Florida. Don Anderson is retired here in Topeka, where he worked as an accountant for the state of Kansas. He plays upright bass in a very popular blue grass band in the area, Pastense. Don Shuford is retired from an energy company and not performing. He lives in Topeka. Blair Honeyman still lives and works in the KC area in retail for a paint company, and is not performing. Dave Howell is retired in Virginia. He was an HR executive for the federal government, and is not performing. Bill Stahlin, the bass player in our last line up, lives and works in Portland and to my knowledge doesn’t play professionally. He does quality control checks for Fender Music Co. Ferdy Baumgart, keyboard/guitar in our last line up, unfortunately passed away in 2006. Ferdy worked for IBM for many years. He played with me in the Bop Daddies until he passed away.

BEVERLY PATERSON: The music scene in Kansas during the ’60s was very healthy. What bands particularly stick out in your mind?
MAL ROBINSON: The Blue Things from Lawrence were already established when we started, and had a great psych sound but did some good straight-on rock ‘n’ roll too. They did a lot of original material. They signed with RCA, which got our attention at the time. Mike Finnegan and the Serfs were a great R&B group in the mid ’60s, with a Spencer Davis sound. Finnegan went on to play Hammond with some giants in the industry and is still playing today. The Flippers were an R&B show band with horns that were very popular, especially at the colleges, but did mostly cover songs. I liked the Chessmann Square out of KC; they did great covers of Beatles tunes plus some original stuff. Kerry Livgren headed up a band called Saratoga before Kansas that was very good — no commercial recordings to my knowledge. And of course, Kansas. That’s probably the most successful band ever to come from here. We actually got our national record deal before they did, but the rest is history. Any way, these are a few that stand out to me.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What are some of your favorite Morning Dew songs and why are they your favorites?
MAL ROBINSON: I’ll break this question up in three parts: Fairyland Sessions, Roulette, and Audio House — our last recording. From Fairyland: “Money Honey Blues.” It’s got a driving bass and piano with fuzz integrated, a song we just made up on the spot as a filler. Lou Rennau of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is on piano. Gotta go with “No More,” because it was our first cut at the studio and its punkness — and my mousey little voice. After that it is more difficult for me, but probably “Lady Soul.” It has a catchy lyric and good drive. Plus it stands for all those girls in our audiences that wanted us to play soul music. (Now, did we look like a soul band? Really.) From Roulette: “Crusader’s Smile,” because less is more. Only three chords and a few lyrics but the band made it go, especially Don’s percussion. Also “Gypsy.” It is pure psych and much better song under the influence. “Country Boy Blue,” because the lyrics hit so close to home and the rolling rhythm to it. Of the last Audio House recording, I’ll go with “Flying Above Myself.” I like the organ solo and overall drive of the song. We recorded those songs in about four hours on a Sunday after we’d played Friday and Saturday nights, so my voice is a little shot but it worked OK.

BEVERLY PATERSON: Have you heard any cover versions of your songs?
MAL ROBINSON: None to my knowledge. If you hear of one, please let me know. That would be cool.

BEVERLY PATERSON: If you were given the chance to do it all over again, is there anything you would change?
MAL ROBINSON: You know, having the reissue success has helped me a lot in coming to closure on the Dew experience. So I’m fine with it. Now, without it, there would be more uncertainties in my mind about what we did or accomplished. Some aspects I second guess, for instance, are relocating the band to the East or West coast, or dealing tougher with Roulette, or even cutting away from them and trying to hook up with someone else before we broke up. Also, I always wished we would have recorded more — at any studio — and taken some video of the band.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What are some of the high points and low points of your Morning Dew years?
MAL ROBINSON: We had so many great times in the group but my highlights would be: 1) The summer of ’67 success with “No More” and that feeling of really getting traction as a band on a regional basis. 2) The whole process of getting the national recording contract with Roulette. 3) The week stint in New York City, recording the Roulette album. The only true low point for me was the way it ended. We just stalled, fused out, and broke up. It seemed greatly out of our control, but I look back I think maybe we should have done some things different in the final months of the band. But you know, sometimes when you see the writing on the wall, you just read the writing and go on down the road — because “there ain’t no future for ‘Country Boy Blue’ singing his whole life through.”

BEVERLY PATERSON: Have you ever thought about writing an autobiography? I know I would be the first in line to buy it!
MAL ROBINSON: Not a whole book per se, but I did get an outline from my cousin that has tips and questions on how to document your life story. I think it came from the genealogy society. It’s more to document aspects of your life for your family’s benefit. I’ve thought about getting that started. But it looks like it could take some time and work. I need a writer. Any volunteers? Not sure my life would be that interesting to others. Maybe the music aspects, but the rest is about my career, my wife, raising my kids, retiring, etc. However, I find everyone’s life somewhat interesting, don’t you? They all take these twists and turns based on certain decisions you make, and sometimes at the time you don’t look at the decision as life changing.



BEVERLY PATERSON: If you had the opportunity to collaborate with any artist, who would it be?
MAL ROBINSON: This is your toughest question, because there are so many artists I love and that have influenced me. I’ve always wanted to hear other artists perform the songs I have written who might take the song in a different direction or to another level. But today, getting with someone to create music, probably Van Morrison. He’s got style, soul, and variety — the things l value and look for.

BEVERLY PATERSON: What is the most interesting or touching comment you have heard about Morning Dew?
MAL ROBINSON: I think I’ve gotten more interesting, touching comments from fans of the reissues than I did back in the day. All the superlatives are great! I do recall a fan letter in the summer of ’67 from a young girl in grade school. It was two pages long and included a pencil sketch of the band playing live, with little personal notes written beside each of our characters and telling about how neat her experience was at our show. Just the fact she must have taken so much thought and time into writing that and how important it must have been to her in her life at that particular time. Today, she probably looks back on it as a bit silly.

BEVERLY PATERSON: How would you describe the music of Morning Dew to someone who has never heard your music before?
MAL ROBINSON: I’m not real keen on labels — psych, punk, garage, all of which we have been labeled. I guess they do communicate certain styles to collectors, but I probably would not use them. I would probably say “good, solid, original rock tunes influenced by many popular styles of the late ’60s.” Music that holds its own with many of the more popular acts of the time period.

BEVERLY PATERSON: I can answer this question myself, but it’s always better to hear it direct from the musician — what is the appeal of Morning Dew and why does your music still hold up today?
MAL ROBINSON: Personally, I feel it is the raw, in-your-face rock ‘n’ roll for the most part. Young guys with amps, guitars, a keyboard, and some vocals putting out a sound with a few catchy tunes that are fun to listen to and understand. The maturation of the band from 1966 to 1971, a relatively short time, is interesting too. Not too many gimmicks — just a fuzz tone which is standard fare today — nor superior musicianship for that matter, but put it all together and it works at some level. And at a time when you had all these great musical influences in the ’60s coming at you, and they sort of get filtered through the music of the band to the recording. Am I making sense? I do think the major artists from 1955 to 1970 period will rival any of all time in rock ‘n’ roll. I think that’s proving out, and the regional, lesser-known bands of those years were in the mix — but at a different level of popularity, of course.

Beverly Paterson