Black Oak Arkansas

Performer: Black Oak Arkansas
Engineer: Stan Ross; Brian Bruderlin
Producer: Lee Dorman; Mike Pinera
Distributor: Bayside Record Dist.

Notes: Black Oak Arkansas: Jim "Dandy" Mangrum (vocals, washboard); Harvey "Burley" Jett (guitar, banjo, piano); Stanley "Goober" Knight (guitar, steel guitar, organ); Rickie "Ricochet" Reynolds (12-string guitar); Pat "Dirty" Daugherty (bass); Wayne "Squeezebox" Evans (drums). Recorded at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, California. Personnel: Harvey Jett (vocals, guitar, banjo, piano); Jim "Dandy" Mangrum (vocals, washboard); Jim Dandy, James Mangrum (vocals); Ricky Reynolds, Stan Knight (guitar); Wayne Evans (drums). Audio Remixers: Jay Senter; Doc Siegel. Liner Note Author: H.J. Simon. Recording information: Gold Star Recording Studios, Ho; Paramount Recording Studios, Ho. Photographer: Eve Babitz. Arranger: Black Oak Arkansas. Produced by Iron Butterfly's Lee Dorman and Mike Pinera, Black Oak Arkansas introduced a three-guitar thunderstorm underpinning the scary basso profundo growls of lead singer Jim "Dandy" Mangrum. This was a sound unlike any other on the then-nascent Southern rock scene. With songs like "Hot and Nasty," "Lord Have Mercy on My Soul," and an otherworldly cover of Guy Mitchell's hit "Singing the Blues," Black Oak found a cult following through incessant touring with the likes of the Allman Brothers Band. This is not pretty music, but it does have a propulsive kick to it, with the guitars going in several directions at once while Jim Dandy's Howlin' Wolf-influenced vocals lay out a strange blend of macho sexual and religious imagery. Although the sound would quickly become cartoonish over subsequent releases, this initial release contained the spark of the new and different. ~ Jim Newsom

Rolling Stone (5/27/71, p.48) - "...consistently a treat of epic size proportions....makes for the most exciting rock and roll moment I've encountered on record in 1971..."

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