Boones Farm were an early 1970s country rock band who were signed to the Columbia label. Releasing an album and two singles, they had some chart success with the song " If You Can't Be My Woman". Two of the group's members would later become the

Dalton & Dubarri Dalton & Dubarri was an American rock band active in the 1970s, led by Gary Dalton and Kent Dubarri. They mainly played as support acts for artists such as The Beach Boys, Elvin Bishop, The Doobie Brothers, Loggins and Messina, Dave Mason, Boz S ...

duo.

Background

The history goes back to an

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

band, Churchill Downs, which included Fred Darling and guitarist

Gary Stovall Dalton & Dubarri was an American rock band active in the 1970s, led by Gary Dalton and Kent Dubarri. They mainly played as support acts for artists such as The Beach Boys, Elvin Bishop, The Doobie Brothers, Loggins and Messina, Dave Mason, Boz ...

in their line up. Finishing school, Darling and Stovall moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. There they were doing reasonably well playing in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

clubs during the late 1960s. This ended when Darling was drafted into the army. Darling returned to Los Angeles in 1971, having done his time in the army. Stovall had put together a group and invited Darling to join. The group became the quartet, Boones Farm featuring

Kent Sprague Kent Sprague aka Butch Dubarri is a singer, drummer and composer. During the 1960s, his band Kent & the Candidates backed Brenton Wood, playing on two of the singer's hits. He was also a member of Boones Farm in the early 1970s and later one hal ...

on vocals, Darling on drums, Stovall on guitar, and bassist Brad Palmer.

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

eventually got wind of this group and signed them up. They had some chart success with their composition, " If You Can't Be My Woman" which was produced by Jim Messina. Their booking in 1972 was handled by Associated Booking Corp which was located on 445 Park Ave, New York. At some stage they took on board ex-

Chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase Co ...

drummer, Jay Mitthauer.

Career

By June 3, 1972, their self-titled album ''Boones Farm'' had been released on Columbia KC 31408. With the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' reviewer calling it modified country-blues rock, it was described as a flawless production by Jim Messina. The reviewer also said that the total feel was exhilarating and enlivening, with the song picks being, "The Me Nobody Knows", "Livin' Together" and "Good Ole Feelin'". The musicians who played on the album were, Kent Sprague on vocals and percussion, Gary Stovall on vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, Brad Palmer on vocals, bass and acoustic guitar, Fred Darling on drums, and Milt Holland on percussion.

"If You Can't Be My Woman"

The single, "If You Can't Be My Woman" was a ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' Single Pick in the June 17 edition. The reviewer noted the soft harmonic vocals and acoustic guitar strumming with the instruction for the listener to ''"Get into it"''. Along with " Motorcycle Mama" by Sailcat, "

You Don't Mess Around With Jim ''You Don't Mess Around with Jim'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Jim Croce, released in April 1972. History and release The album was recorded over a three to four-week period for approximately $18,000, with most fundi ...

" by

Jim Croce James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pa ...

and "

Beautiful Sunday ''Beautiful Sunday'' () is a 2007 South Korean crime drama film.
''Koreanfilm.org''. Retrieved 13 April 2008.

...

" by

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

, their song, "If You Can't Be My Woman" was on the Top 40 station KLEO Wichita play list for the week of July 8. On July 15, it was still on KLEO's play list. It was on the WIXY-Cleveland play list by July 22. By July 29, it was on the WMEX-Boston play list. It was also charting and at #124 in the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' Looking Ahead Chart, just behind "

Baby I'm For Real "Baby, I'm for Real" is a soul ballad written by Marvin Gaye and Anna Gordy Gaye, produced by Marvin and recorded and released by American Motown vocal group The Originals for the Soul label issued in 1969. History The Originals version By t ...

" by

Esther Phillips Esther Phillips (born Esther Mae Jones; December 23, 1935 – August 7, 1984) was an American singer, best known for her R&B vocals.Santelli, Robert (2001). ''The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Penguin Books. p. 376. . She ...

. The following week it was at #114.

Further activities

It was reported by ''

'' in the September 9 issue that the group were looking for a new manager. They had also got the attention of wine manufacturing heir

David Gallo David Gallo (born January 10, 1966) is an American production/scenic designer, media/ projection designer, and creative director for Broadway, international productions, television, and arena shows. Gallo won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design ...

over the use of the name, Boones Farm. He was considering taking legal action against the group. Along with Black Oak Arkansas, the Eagles,

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wit ...

etc., they played at the

Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival also known colloquially as the Bull Island Rock Festival, was a rock festival held on the Labor Day weekend of 1972 near Griffin, Indiana on Bull Island, a strip of land in Illinois but on the Indiana side of the W ...

which was held on Bull Island, Indiana on labor Day in September. The concert had between 200,000 and 300,000 attendees. They appeared at the KGB-AM sponsored concert at the San Diego Stadium on November 12 which also had the

J. Geils Band ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

, Foghat,

Jesse Colin Young Perry Miller (born November 22, 1941), known professionally as Jesse Colin Young, is an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the The Youngbloods, Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972 ...

and Quicksilver lined up. The event was attended by a record crowd of 51,778. On March 5, 1973, they were set to play at the Lakeland College campus in Wisconsin. At that time the line up consisted of

, Brad Palmer,

and Jay Mitthauer.

Later years

After Boones Farm broke up, Gary Stovall aka Gary Dalton and Kent Sprague aka Kent Dubarri formed the duo

in 1973, releasing four albums and having a hit with " I Can Dance All By Myself".

Discography

Musicians

* Gary Stovall - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars * Brad Palmer - vocals, bass and acoustic guitar * Fred Darling - drums * Kent Sprague - vocals and percussion * Milt Holland - percussion * Jay Mitthauer - Drums''The Sheboygan Press'', Thursday, March 1, 1973
Page 11 Lakeland Board Books Boone's Farm Quartet
/ref>

References

{{reflist

Links

Discogs: Boones Farm

Joe Bonamassa, Topic: Boone's Farm

Columbia Records artists American country rock groups Musical groups from California Dalton & Dubarri

Background

Career

"If You Can't Be My Woman"

...

Further activities

Later years

Discography

Musicians

Further reading

References

Links