Although Sonobeat owners and producers Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) generally kept detailed notes of the dates and other particulars of recording sessions, the following sessions either slipped through or documents were lost and, therefore, many dates for these recording sessions are unknown.

Al & Alec tape box circa spring 1976

The Sonobeat master tape library is filled with reels in which unrelated one-off recordings, outtakes, and trial mixes were strung together for archival purposes, often in haphazard ways. While cataloging the Sonobeat master tape library in 2008, we discovered one such reel in a 7-1/2" tape box that previously also contained White Light and Michele Murphy material. But both White Light's and Michele Murphy's names were scratched out, and Al & Alec was written on the box instead. The handwriting is distinctly Sonobeat owner/producer Bill Josey Sr.'s, and the note "Take 2 (near end of tape)" may have indicated he had picked that take for one side of a potential 45 RPM single release.

The Michele Murphy material that had previously been stored in the Al & Alec tape box was dated April 17, 1976, so we're speculating that the Al & Alec material was recorded in spring '76 at Bill Sr.'s "Blue Hole Sounds" studio in Liberty Hill, Texas. This was about the same time Austin's progressive, or "outlaw", country music scene was approaching its zenith, and, of course, Liberty Hill was the site of one of "outlaw" country icon Willie Nelson's famous Fourth of July concert events.

There are only two songs on the tape (three takes of a song we believe is called The Fox and two takes of Rebecca Lynn, which we originally thought -- because of the markings on the tape box -- was another artist Bill Sr. had recorded). Both tunes are good indications that Bill Sr. was looking to take Sonobeat, whose roots were rock and jazz recordings, more toward the Austin progressive country sound. We know nothing more about the recordings or the sessions that yielded them; neither Al's or Alec's last names, whether these were Al & Alec's original compositions, and whether any other musicians contributed to the session. So, without further ado, here's a sound bite from Al & Alec's Rebecca Lynn.

In summer 2008, while cataloging the Sonobeat archives, we discovered a recording entitled Bill stored in an unmarked quarter-inch tape box. The singer tells us his name (yes, it's Rick Dinsmore) at the beginning of the tape and gives the date as July 11th, but he doesn't mention the year. He tells us the song is his original composition and is about a friend named "Bill"; hence, the title. The recording's instrumentation is sparse: just standard guitar and electric bass accompanying Rick's story song about a man, a bar, and a gun. Naturally, the story doesn't end well.

Dinsmore, whose recording career began in Los Angeles in the early '70s, moved to Austin in the mid-'70s, where almost immediately he performed and was a winner at the 1975 Kerrville Folk Festival. This leads us to believe Sonobeat co-founder and producer Bill Josey Sr. (who we're absolutely certain is not the subject of the song) recorded Dinsmore to help him enter the Folk Festival, which was run by Bill Sr.'s friend Rod Kennedy. Bill Sr. had helped singer/songwriter Michele Murphy (see entry below) apply to and prepare for her performance at the 1973 Kerrville Folk Festival. Although there's no documentary evidence in the Sonobeat archives, we're fairly sure Dinsmore's song was recorded at Bill Sr.'s "Blue Hole Sounds" recording studio near Liberty Hill, Texas.

Rick returned to L.A. in the '90s but now lives in Georgetown, Texas, where he headlines Americana-country band Rick Dinsmore and the Donner Party.

Geneva

One of the Geneva master tape boxes, sporting a Liberty Recorders tracking sheet

Jazzy pop combo Geneva, with an appealing female vocalist whose name as well as those of her bandmates are not documented in the Sonobeat archives, recorded covers of pop favorites with Sonobeat co-owner/producer Bill Josey Sr. sometime in an 18 month period period beginning in January 1969. We're able to bracket the time frame for the Geneva sessions because the master tape box is labeled using a Liberty Recorders tracking sheet that the Joseys snagged when they delivered the Johnny Winter album master tapes to Liberty Records in Los Angeles at the end of 1968; Rim left to attend law school in August 1970. Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) recalls engineering the sessions, which were recorded on Sonobeat's half-inch 4-track Scully 280. Rim believes the sessions may have been recorded at the Club Seville at the Sheraton Crest Motor Inn (now the Radisson) on Austin's Town Lake, Sonobeat's favorite venue for recording pop and jazz artists, including The Lee Arlano Trio, Don Dean, Bach Yen, and Fran Nelson.

The 4-track session master contains five cuts; two are instrumentals. We're pleased to present sound bites from Geneva's languid take on the classic Nobody Else But Me from the Broadway classic Showboat, by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, and the jazz classic Mood Indigo composed by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard with lyrics by Irving Mills. We've created new mixes from the original 4-track master to show off fine examples of a group that had great potential on the jazz club circuit that spanned California to Colorado to Texas in the late '60s. We'd love to know more about Geneva -- who the members of the group were, the dates of their Sonobeat sessions, and where the sessions were held.

A Belmer Wright photo of Bob Brown

Songwriter/singer Bob Brown was a guitarist in the Conqueroo, one of Austin's best known bands of the Vulcan Gas Company and Armadillo World Headquarters era of the '60s and early '70s. The Conqueroo was an eclectic band, performing a fusion of jazz, rock, folk, and blues.

Sometime during the span of 1971 to 1973, Sonobeat owner/producer Bill Josey Sr. recorded sessions mysteriously identified in the Sonobeat archives as "Kingfish (Bob Brown)". We take this to indicate that Bob Brown was the leader of the band and, indeed, after auditioning the Kingfish master tape, we've concluded that the Bob Brown in Kingfish is the same Bob Brown of Conqueroo fame.

The Kingfish master tape includes nine cuts: five vocals (all featuring Bob on lead) and four instrumentals. All were recorded at Sonobeat's studio in the KVET building on North Lamar in Austin. Unfortunately, the names of the songs, composers, and other musicians in the band are not documented, although we believe some if not all songs were Bob Brown originals, since Bob wrote and sang 1 to 3, the "B" side of Sonobeat's Conqueroo single released in 1968.

With Kingfish, Bob takes off in a direction that the Conqueroo had occasionally and cautiously explored: country-rock. There are no stereo mix-downs of the Kingfish material in the Sonobeat library, so we've taken the liberty of creating some from the original 4-track masters, which were recorded on Sonobeat's Scully 280 half-inch recorder. We wish we knew the names of the other members of Kingfish; they formed a solid band and performed tight vocal harmonies. We're pleased to give you a taste of the über talented Bob Brown and Kingfish in the '70s.

We know nothing about blues vocalist Jean Manor except that the July 4, 2003, Austin Chronicle lists Jean among two dozen Eastside MVPs: singers and musicians who made their mark in East Austin before the Seventies. Unfortunately, that doesn't help us pinpoint the date of Jean's session with Sonobeat that produced only one song, a cover of B.B. King's Woke Up This Morning (My Baby's Gone). The Sonobeat archives contain no information about the session, so we don't know who backed Jean in this smoky lounge-style performance. Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) does not recall producing or engineering Jean's session, so we feel certain Bill Josey Sr. recorded Jean sometime in the period from mid-1970, after Rim left Sonobeat, to mid-1973. Jean was a contemporary of James Polk, who recorded a 1969 Sonobeat 45 RPM release, and she may have been related to '50s Austin blues musician A. J. Manor.

There is no stereo mix-down of Jean's recording in the archives, so we've created one from the odd three track master tape: tracks 1 and 2 on the master contain a stereo instrumental backing that may have been bounced down from a 4-track master no longer in the Sonobeat archives. Track 3 contains only Jean's vocal. The recording has a live feel, but that was a common Sonobeat technique mastered during the 1967-69 era when Sonobeat used Austin-area nightclubs and concert halls as remote recording studios. We really like this recording of Jean's masterful (or, perhaps, mistressful) rendering of B.B.'s blues classic. If only we knew more...

Pall Rabbit

Pall Rabbit master tape box

Pall Rabbit, which enjoyed a run as house band at Austin's popular Action Club in the early '70s, recorded with Sonobeat at the beginning of their career in 1969. Unfortunately, the Sonobeat archives contain no information about the band's personnel, the tracks recorded, or the session location, except to indicate that the recorded material was a monaural demo mix.

Although the Sonobeat archives contain no information about the band, fortunately, drummer Tommy Taylor -- who now plays with Austin-based NewMatics -- and Bob Trenchard, who played bass with Pall Rabbit, recall that Pall Rabbit consisted of Trenchard, Ronnie Hudgins (drums), Chuck Greenwood (guitar and vocals), Steve Grimmit (vocals), and Steve Simon (rhythm guitar). The band underwent a substantial personnel change soon after recording with Sonobeat: Clay Hemphill (B3 organ) replaced Simon, Joe Don Davidson (guitar and vocals) replaced Greenwood, and Kukla Kaigler (vocals) replaced Grimmit. Even Austin guitar legend Eric Johnson did a short stint in the band early in 1970. Greenwood played in Georgetown Medical Band before he co-founded (and named) Pall Rabbit (which simply means "dead rabbit"), and Hudgins later left Pall Rabbit to join Georgetown Medical Band for its Spring '69 session with Sonobeat.

Trenchard recalls that Paul Rabbit's Sonobeat demo consisted of the songs The Ship, which he wrote, and Shores of Treachery, penned by bandmate Chuck Greenwood. Trenchard also worked with Sonobeat on the first Sonobeat Mariani recordings earlier in '69, before Hudgins invited him to join Pall Rabbit.

Sonobeat co-owner Bill Josey Sr. ordered a 10" acetate disc made from the Pall Rabbit master tape. The acetate was submitted to Clive Davis, then head of Columbia Records, but Columbia didn't buy the master and Pall Rabbit's Sonobeat recordings hve remained unreleased.

Rex Sherry master tape box

Country and blues singer and guitarist Rex Sherry recorded with Sonobeat sometime from mid-1969 to mid-1971. No session notes have been found in the Sonobeat archives to pin an exact date to Rex's sessions, so we've used the master tape box stock number (681-151111), which also appears on other master tape boxes that we know were recorded during the same period, to establish the general time frame. Although other sessions bearing the same tape stock number were recorded as early as mid-1969, Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) left Sonobeat at the end of summer 1970 and doesn't recall Rex's sessions occuring before he left, so we've assumed Bill Sr. produced and engineered Rex's sessions sometime after mid-'70. We also believe Rex may have been in a band called Rocking Horse that also contributed to Bill Sr.'s 1973 sessions with Gary York & Evelyn.

Rex, who had a vocal delivery similar to Johnny Cash's, recorded four songs at Sonobeat, but the titles of the songs and composers are not documented in the Sonobeat archives. At the time of his Sonobeat sessions, Rex worked for the Texas Department of Health in Austin. He began recording at other studios in Central Texas as early as 1967, and in the '80s formed country band The Thoroughbreds. After retiring from the Texas Department of Health in 1993, Rex opened a private investigation firm in Austin, which he still operates. And, of course, he's still pickin' and grinnin'.

Whistler

Whistler master tape box

Although the session date is not documented in the Sonobeat archives, Whistler recorded with Sonobeat sometime from mid-1969 to mid-1970. The master tape box bears the same stock number (681-151111) in the bottom right corner that Georgetown Medical Band's, Phoenix's, and Fast Cotton's bear, helping bracket the general time frame for the session. Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. produced and co-founder Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) engineered the session, but because Rim left Sonobeat in August 1970, summer '70 is the latest the sessions could have occurred.

Like Phoenix (see above), the Whistler sessions were likely recorded at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. The sessions yielded two tracks -- Jean Harlow and We Crossed the Line, both written by the band's guitarist and lead vocalist, Roy Robinson -- that appear to have been intended as a demo of the group, since there is no other session detail indicated on the box. The Sonobeat archives contain only monaural mix-downs of Whistler's songs, a further indication that the session was probably not intended to produce a Sonobeat single release. There is no indication in the archives of whether Bill Sr. offered the group's material to any national record labels, although that had become Sonobeat's pattern by 1969.

Whistler was formed in Austin during 1967 by Robinson, Jenkins Garrett, Bill Dorman, and Linda Blackmon, and played together for three years. With instrumentation and vocal harmonies reminiscent of '60s groups the New Christy Minstrels, the one-hit wonder We Five, and even the Mamas and Papas, Whistler performed in a folk style heavily influenced by Austin's strong rock music scene. Whistler was the opening act at Austin's iconic Armadillo World Headquarters as well as at the original Soap Creek Saloon.

Thanks to Jerri Lynn Robinson for details about the band.

Note from Bill Josey Sr. to Rod Kennedy, founder of the Kerrville Folk Festival, promoting Michele Murphy

Multitalented Austin singer/songwriter/guitarist/dancer Michele Murphy began recording an album of covers and original compositions for Sonobeat owner/producer Bill Josey Sr. in 1971. An unmarked 4-track half-inch master, discovered in the Sonobeat archives in May 2008, features 10 songs performed by Michele. The master contains no information by which we can determine the session dates, but we're able to discern that these songs were recorded at the Sonobeat Studios in the KVET building on North Lamar in Austin, Texas, during 1972 and 1973. By 1973, Bill suggested to friend Rod Kennedy, founder of the Kerrville Folk Festival, that Michelle perform at the 2nd annual event. On the strength of Michele's demo tape that Bill sent Rod, Michele got the gig.

When Bill's lease at the KVET building was expiring in 1973, Michele suggested that he move the Sonobeat studios to Liberty Hill, a quiet rural community some 30 miles north of Austin where Michele lived. Harking to Michele's suggestion, Bill outfitted an old stone AME church just outside Liberty Hill as his "Blue Hole Sounds" studio. It was also in Liberty Hill that Michele opened her first full-time music school, in 1975, offering a mixture of piano, guitar, and dance instruction. (And, of course, Liberty Hill is where country music icon Willie Nelson's 1975 Fourth of July Picnic and music festival was held.)

Michele picked some dramatic songs to cover for her Sonobeat recordings, and we present one of her finest, Summertime from Porgy and Bess, in the sound bites below. Her languid interpretation is inspired. In the second sound bite, we present a clip from what we believe is one of Michele's original songs. Both sound bites demonstrate her talent as guitarist and singer, and, in both, her performances are impeccable. We don't know why Michele's recordings were never released on the Sonobeat label, but we suspect that Bill Sr. circulated demo tapes to the national labels, seeking an album deal that never materialized.

Michele, now known as "Mike" Murphy, has performed throughout Central Texas and runs the Natural Ear Music camp and school in Austin, which she founded in 1991. Her web site modestly acknowledges her remarkable early recording work with Bill Sr.

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