A poorly recorded little multi-track experiment from 21 years ago. Came up with a vamp and chord progression, then sat down and wrote some words. Laid down a rhythm track (no click track) and vocal with Diane's Gibson LG-2, then a bass (a Peavey through a small Ampeg) and two more guitars (the same Gibson). Finally added the harmony vocals. Whole thing just took a few hours. In retrospect I'd like it a bit faster and to shorten the guitar lead section but it's too much work to re-do the whole thing. This was and is for Diane.

Ring True

One of the last tunes we played at our last gig. Kilo's April 12, 1975. We tore into this one at top speed. Remembering The Killer today.

Unknown Album (1/9/2017 8:19:11 PM)

Great Balls of Fire

Another track from an imperfect recording of our 2-night gig at Kilo's in Murpysboro in January of 1975, as opening act for the late Luther Allison. This was played very loud (hence the distortion) and needs to be played back very loud - no cell phone/laptop speakers, please. Put on your Beats and crank it up. The bass and drums drive this one but the horns, Pete's guitar and Paul's vocals are spot on. Me and Pete do the backup vocals. Horn arrangement by Terry Ogolini. Don Cerpek on trumpet. Richie 'The Fatman' Roberts on bass. He was an animal, a very physical and deeply rhythmic player who used two big bass amps and a pick. I honestly don't know how any one could play his style without one. This performance captures the essence of what we were doing in 1975: dark, driving and relentless. This is before Eric Blomquist joined us on Hammond organ but it is probably one of our better performances of the tune. Just wish the sound was better.

13 I've Got To Use My Imagination

We kicked this McCartney tune into high gear with our semi-bluegrass treatment. One of our favorites. Recorded live at WTAO FM Radio in April of 1973. Pete Special vocal, with Dean and Russ harmonizing.

Eleanor Rigby - Scuttlebucket

The Chosen Few was my first band. Started the first day of High School at Glenbard West. Bob Baum (later of Grope) rhythm and lead vocals, Dave Swanson on lead guitar, Jack Engle on bass and Russ Ward on drums. This was recorded at the Thomas Organ store in Market Plaza, Glen Ellyn on December 6, 1966. 

The Chosen Few - Mister You're a Better Man Than I

In 1973 we were asked by Bob Kueker of Recycled Bicycles in Carbondale (now Phoenix Cycles) to record a jingle he had written. He came to our little house in Carterville and played the jingle for us. I can't remember what it sounded like, but we turned it into a bluegrass number. It is done fast because we had to squeeze into a 1 minute slot. This is a rehearsal take, done on my little Sony portable reel-to-reel, including our usual joking around. Dean Milano on bass and lead vocal, Mike Potter on mandolin, Pete Special on guitar and me on banjo. Not sure how we ended up arranging it, but on this take I put a high 2-part harmony on the 2nd verse and we did 3 part harmony with Pete on the chorus. It got a lot of airplay on WTAO. I guess this is the closest thing we ever did to a studio recording.

Scuttlebucket Radio Commercial

On April 10, 1973 Pete, Dean, Mike and I opened the show for Paul Butterfield's Better Days at Shryock Auditorium, SIU-C. We were billed as Pontiac Jones, but we started off with the acoustic act we called 'Scuttlebucket'. Although Mike usually played mandolin in this bluegrass-oriented quartet, on some tunes he played electric guitar. Mike has always been a bass player, but for a couple of years he switched over to playing lead guitar for us. I've never understood why he walked away from this instrument because, as you can hear on this track, he was damn good at it. Muddy recording was made from the balcony. Pete on 1st and 3rd verse and acoustic guitar, Dean 2nd & 4th verse and standup bass, me on high harmony and banjo.

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

Scuttlebucket live on WTAO radio. Murphysboro/Carbondale Illinois on November 4, 1973. Pete Special, Mike Potter, Dean Milano and Russ Ward. Dean and Pete vocals, Dean standup bass, Mike mandolin, Pete guitar, Russ banjo. Digital transcription by Alex Kirt. Song by the Stanley Brothers.


Little Maggie

Another Scuttlebucket tune from the November 1973 radio gig. This one features Pete Special on vocal with Dean and Russ backing him in the chorus. An early Carter Family hit.

Wabash Cannonball

From our final gig at Kilo's, April 12, 1975. A dark and painful song about addiction and rejection written by the late Gil Scott-Heron. Our version is based on a jazzy recording by the late Esther Phillips, but we amp it back up to Heron's faster tempo and our own high volume funk. This tune meant a lot to Paul, and you can hear it in his powerful vocal performance. In the photo, that's the late Pete Special on the left and our wildman bass player, the late Richie Roberts, in the middle. Not pictured is our keyboard man, the late Eric Blomquist. God damn, we're dropping like flies. Tawl Paul in front, me in back, Terry Ogolini on the right. A bunch of kids, except for Paul. I'm not sure he was ever a kid. Also not pictured is our sometime brass man Don Cerpek, whose fate I do not know.  On this tune he blows a nice valve trombone. The instrumental breaks (built on a rolling drum riff that I also used elsewhere) are basically all of us soloing at the same time like in a Dixieland band. Not easy to keep the interest up during four bars of the same chord, but we did all right. Recorded live by John Christy and John Hardy, recently digitized by Alex Kirt.

Unknown Album (1/11/2017 10:52:47 AM)

Home is Where the Hatred Is

A very up tempo version of Bob Dylan's classic, performed by Pontiac Jones at Kilo's roadhouse on April 12, 1975. This was a set introduction number with Pete on vocal, before we brought Paul out for the last set the band ever played. Hardly the first and certainly not the last time Pete sang this tune. Fast and syncopated, with me and the late Richie Roberts gelling on a groove that would probably raise Dylan's eyebrows. We were a bar band, and our job was to get the hippies and rednecks onto the floor and up to the bar.  That's why Pete counted this one off at that tempo. Same philosophy that drove Levon & the Hawks to play them fast on Yonge Street.

Unknown Album (1/12/2017 9:46:27 AM)

Most Likely You'll Go Your Way...Pontiac Jones

January 22, 1975: Kilos' Roadhouse. Murphysboro, Southern Illinois.

I have at least three recordings of this tune, one (also on this page)with great Hammond organ work by the Late Eric Blomquist, and a couple of tracks where we did it as usual - Bass, Drums, Guitar and tenor saxophone - like on this track which also features Don Cerpek on trumpet. We were far from a Blues band, but don't say we didn't play the blues - old timey shuffle style. Paul brings out the true meaning of this old tune, and he does a different rap on all three recordings that I have. That pretty much confirms my opinion that he did it differently every single time we played it, and we are talking hundreds here. The tempo changes are from Pete signaling that he wanted to speed it up.  I liked it slower so we went back and forth.

This version is spare and brutal, true to the original, except maybe for Pete's demented but satisfying solo. Rated R - Not for the little ones. I'm afraid. This is also my favorite of the recordings I have of my band playing this tune..

Unknown Album (9/22/2017 2:11:50 PM)

Pontiac Jones Help Me, Baby

From February 1974 to April 1975 this version of Pontiac Jones played all over the Southern Illinois region, including a run down old dance hall in Sigel IL called the Iron Door. We recorded the whole gig on a crappy little tape deck, so the quality is not good. There were some gigs where we were joined by keyboards and horns, but this stripped down band, basically a power trio plus a saxophone and a singer, is the lineup that did most of the jobs we booked. Paul brought this tune to the band - a classic, though not very well known, Motown tune recorded in 1967 by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.  The late Richie 'The Fatman' Roberts drove the train on this one, as he often did with his P bass split into two huge amplifiers, one set for the bottom and the other for the top. He and I set the tone and the rhythm for all of our tunes, locked in on the beat, often looking at each other as in this photograph which I believe was taken at a later Iron Door gig. Terry was a one man horn section, Paul owned the stage, and Pete and I provided the Vandella backup vocals. It was rough and it was loud and I miss it.

Unknown Album (5/20/2016 8:08:26 AM)

Honey Chile

In spite of his undeserved right wing reputation, these squirrely draft dodgers were huge fans of Merle Haggard. Here is Dean crooning one of Merle's most beautiful tunes, with Pete and Russ doing the chorus harmonies. Mike Potter on electric guitar.  Live on WTAO radio. November 1973.

Unknown Album (5/20/2016 6:31:57 AM)

Scuttlebucket: Sing Me Back Home

Pete and Dean and I loved everything about John Prine. He was from the Chicago suburbs like we were. He sang about our lives. This tune is from his first album that came out in 1971. In 1972 we started an acoustic act in Carbondale called Scuttlebucket and we played several tunes off of that album, including Paradise. Pete Special sings this with me on harmony. Dean Milano plays his accordion, Mike Potter is on mandolin and I am on bass. This was recorded off of WTAO FM radio on November 4, 1973.

Scuttlebucket Paradise

Live in studio at WTAO FM Murphysboro November 4, 1973. Pete sings this one in his own style. Our friend and roadie Randy 'Spike' Pelzer had recently acquired a violin but really did not know how to play it, as you can hear on this track. But it did provide a nice backwoodsy sound. I can't hear Dean's accordion on this song so he must have been playing bass. Mike is on electric guitar and I might have been plinking some high chords on the banjo. I did a bit of high harmony here and Dean did the Cajun calls. A better mix would have helped this track.

Scuttlebucket Louisiana Man

On a hot August night in  a forgotten Southern Illinois town 46 years ago. The Iron Door in Sigel was once a popular dance hall with big bands. It was a roadhouse when we played it and now it is a warehouse. This is a tune we loved to play. And this is the configuration that we played most of our gigs with. Basically a power trio, with most of the power coming from our big bass player and his two big amps. We shook the windows and rattled the walls. Pete Special on guitar, Tawl Paul on vocals, Terry Ogolini on sax, Richie Roberts on bass and me on the drums. Pete and I also did the backup vocals. None of us wanted to do the falsetto "Ha ha ha" part so Terry did the line on his horn. This really needs to be listened to through big speakers or headphones. Not that we were particularly loud, in fact there were no drum or amp mics involved. This is just Pete and Ritchie through their amplifiers, Paul and Terry (plus me and Pete on backup vocals) through the rented PA, and my drums just like they sounded in the room. This is why we cared about room acoustics. To hear all of it, it needs to be heard through good speakers (with sub woofer) or headphones. But it the distortion is pretty bad. We used a cheap tape deck to record gigs just we hear what the tunes needed. Music starts about 30 seconds into this.

Pontiac Jones Mr. Skin

Paul brought Lou Reed  and David Bowie to us. We were very grateful for this, because it gave us a whole new genre to experiment with.  This was played very loud in a little Murphysboro road house in early 1975. If you want to experience it, you need to listen to it loud with full dynamic range. Our friend and future producer extraordinaire John Christy recorded this for us. We were something of an anachronism: rock, R&B, punk, funk, and God only knows what else. Put on your headphones or turn up your sub-woofer and enjoy this mayhem.

We played this tune so many times that we put little easter eggs in it for fun, like the James Brown reference in the Hey White Boy verse, and the happy dance drum beat when the junkie sees the man coming. Pete's maniacally inspired solo is a marvel. Had to keep it interesting for each other.

Just when you think we might be done with this tune we drop into a funky  rhythm section groove and then veer off into an alternate dimension for a few dozen bars. In fact the bars and the measures, the beats and the tempo become a disembodied sentient entity that escapes, leaving behind all the rules and beckoning us to follow.  And somehow she kept us together, till the end of the song anyway...

Russ Ward 3

Popular tracks