A Long Lost Relative of the Crimson King?
Listen – The Gentrys – Stroll On – MP3
Greetings all.
I hope the beginning of a New Year finds you well.
The tune I bring you today is something that’s been chilling in my crates for years, and was something of a surprise (and initially disappointment) when I found it.
Back in my garage punk days, the Gentrys loomed semi-large as the group that laid down ‘Keep On Dancing’. Though that record is hardly garage punk, it got lumped into the wider Nuggets-related category due to its chart success. I always dug the tune, and was psyched when I turned up the ‘Keep On Dancing’ LP which did in fact contain some punkish material.
It was during that same period that I turned up the group’s self-titled 1970 LP, from which today’s selection originates. At first glance I figured I had happened upon some psyched-out rarity, and the fact that it was a later rock LP on the Sun label was also intriguing.
Of course, when I got it home (these were after all the pre-portable days) and put needle to wax I discovered that that what I had was in fact fairly standard 1970 hard rock. I was still somewhat pleased with myself for turning up what appeared to be a rarity, but the decided lack of fuzz made me resleeve the disc and put it away.
Silly me, because as the years went on, my hair got longer and my taste for Grand Funk-ery grew, the Festival Circuit sounds of this particular LP got more attractive.
It includes some interesting covers, including Neil Young’s ‘Cinnamon Girl’, Mountain’s ‘South Bound Train’ and today’s selection, the Yardbirds’ ‘Stroll On’.
A cursory listen to the tune will reveal that ‘Stroll On’ is in fact yet another iteration of Tiny Bradshaw’s ‘Train Kept a Rolling’, retitled ‘Stroll On’ when the Yardbirds performed it in Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘Blow Up’.
The Gentrys give the tune plenty of kick, with a nice bit of unison lead guitar. The production by Sam Phillips’ son Knox has a nice, hard edge to it.
I hope you dig it, and I’llbe back later in the week with something cool.
Peace
Larry
PS Head over to Funky16Corners for a couple of soulful Cream covers
PSS Check out Paperback Rider which has actually been updated!
Iron Leg 
no comments? maybe everyone is still on their holidays…great track!, quality is high as always.
Larry;
Love the blog – just a note on the Gentrys; their volcalist was a guy named Jimmy Hart who reincarnated himself in th World Wrestling Federation in the 80’s as “The Mouth Of The South Jimmy Hart, manager and sideman for some minor wrestlers. Met him at a match in Tennesse, and had him autograph my Gentrys album.
Heep up the posting, love the tunes
Yeah cheers again Larry. Thanks for the terrific uploads and you’ve been a big part of whats been a glorious 2008 for music. Roll on 2009!
Those Lindy Blaskey & The LaVells tunedrops have to be the biggest revelation for me. Happiest of New Years to you and yours!
Actually the Gentrys Cinnamon Girl came out as a 45 and stayed on the charts longer and also charted higher than Young’s.
I was wondering if this was the same Gentrys that Jimmy Hart was in. Thanks for the confirmation, bookman43.
Hart actually started his career in the wrestling biz in Memphis, TN. He was there for many years in the 70s and early 80s before moving to the WWF. In the 90s, he moved to Ted Turner’s WCW promotion and composed a bunch of the wrestlers’ theme music. I think he was also involved in the WWF’s Wrestling Albums of the 80s.
Quite a career he has had!
there are several bands named The Gentry’s…so, it’s the band from Memphis that did a cover of the Zombies, You Make Me Feel Good?
this is probably a stupid question, but did they also do, Don’t Send Me No Flowers [I Ain’t Dead Yet]?…
anyway, thanks for the great version of Train Kept A Rollin…nice sound quality on that …
ana..
Ana
This is the band that did a cover of ‘Don’t Bring me No Flowers’, which you can find here:
Larry
My uncle played lead guitar in The Gentrys after they reformed. His name was Wes Stafford. He died before I was born. I do not feel like he’s recognized like he should. He co-wrote five songs that are on the Cinnamon Girl album. They include: Friends, God Save Our Country, Wooden Hearts, Goddess of Love, and Sunshine.
i knew wes very well carol and i miss him.
I just saw this post. Nice to know somebody remembers him. Wish I could have known him. My dad was the younger of the brothers. Wes was his second older brother of him.
I knew Wes when he played at with the Gentry’s at “Big Daddy’s” Daytona Beach, 1975. He was very quite and a very nice person. I have 1 picture of him on the beach in Daytona. I was a bartender at Big Daddy’s.