A.B. Skhy (originally New Blues) was an American

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

band from

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

formed in 1968. They recorded two albums before splitting up in the early 1970s.

History

Formed in Milwaukee in the late 1960s as New Blues, the band comprised Dennis Geyer (guitar, vocals), Jim Marcotte (bass guitar), Terry Anderson (drums), and

Howard Wales Howard Wales (February 8, 1943 – December 7, 2020) was an American keyboardist who worked in a wide variety of styles. He was a collaborator with Jerry Garcia in the early 1970s. Wales was a session player for many musical acts, including Ronn ...

(keyboards).Joynson, Vernon (2004) ''Fuzz Acid and Flowers Revisited'', Borderline Productions, , p. 2 Wales had previously played with artists such as

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

and

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...

.Jackson, Blair (2000) ''Garcia: an American Life'', Penguin Books Australia, , p. 186 They relocated to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and changed the band name to A.B. Skhy, building a following with live performances. They were signed by

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

and worked with producer

Richard Delvy Richard Delvy (April 20, 1942 – February 6, 2010) was an American music entrepreneur. He started in the music business as a drummer who played with The Bel-Airs and took his experience to broader appeal with The Challengers, who were in the f ...

on their self-titled debut album, released in 1969. The album featured contributions from guitarist

Russell DaShiell Russell DaShiell (born July 23, 1947) is an American guitarist who has recorded as a solo artist as well as playing in bands such as Crowfoot and the Don Harrison Band, and with Harvey Mandel, Phil Everly and Norman Greenbaum. Russell was also on ...

, harmonica player Jim Liban, and flautist Otis Hale and spawned the single "Camel Back", which reached number 100 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.Ruhlmann, William
A.B. Skhy Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved June 30, 2013 The group then split, with Andersen and Wales leaving, the latter going on to play with

Harvey Mandel Harvey Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career. Early life Mandel was born in Detroit, Michigan, a ...

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

, and

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

. Geyer and Marcotte recruited drummer Rick Jaeger and guitarist James "Curley" Cooke (formerly of The Versitones and

The Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles t ...

), and the new lineup recorded a second album, ''Ramblin' On'', in March 1970 with

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

and Michael Lloyd producing. The album included a mixture of

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s and original songs by Cooke. A third album was started but the band split up before it was completed. Cooke went on to play in Cat and the Fiddle and with

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...

and

Ben Sidran Ben Hirsh Sidran (born August 14, 1943) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer and ...

(who had played harpsichord on ''Ramblin' On''), and released the solo album ''Gingerman'' in 1980. Jaeger joined DaShiell in

Crowfoot Crowfoot (1830 – 25 April 1890) or Isapo-Muxika ( bla, Issapóómahksika, italics=yes; syllabics: ) was a chief of the Siksika First Nation. His parents, (Packs a Knife) and (Attacked Towards Home), were Kainai. He was five years old when ...

and recorded with several artists as a session player.

Discography

Albums

*''A.B. Skhy'' (1969),

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

*''Ramblin' On'' (1970), MGM ;Compilations: *''A.B. Skhy featuring Howard Wales'' (1994),

One Way One-way or one way may refer to: * One-way traffic, a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction *One-way travel, a trip that does not return to its origin Music *One Way (American ba ...

*''Clear Blue Sky'' (2010),

K-Tel K-tel International Ltd is a Canadian company which formerly specialized in selling consumer products through infomercials and live demonstration. Its products include compilation music albums, including ''The Super Hits'' series, ''The Dynami ...

In 2016 Shady Grove released a 3-CD various artists 'live' album featuring A.B. Skhy along with the Grateful Dead, Joy of Cooking, Sal Valentino, Ron Elliot and Lydia Philips, Congress of Wonders, It's A Beautiful Day, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The album, containing all previously unreleased live recordings was called ''Curiosities From The San Francisco Underground, Volume One''.

Singles

*"Camel Back" / "Just What I Need" (1969), MGM -

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

#100

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:AB Skhy American blues musical groups Musical groups from Wisconsin