The Beat Goes On
HOW BROWN WAS MY RAWHIDE? SACRAMENTO, CA—Sacramento is not exactly a hothouse for the nurturing of Young Raw, Rock ’n’ Roll Talent. But consider, friend, all that frontier history lying around, glowing practically—inspiration for the asking.
The Beat Goes On
DEPARTMENTS
HOW BROWN WAS MY RAWHIDE?
SACRAMENTO, CA—Sacramento is not exactly a hothouse for the nurturing of Young Raw, Rock ’n’ Roll Talent. But consider, friend, all that frontier history lying around, glowing practically—inspiration for the asking. And God knows, if there’s anything a band needs to keep itself going nowadays, it might as well be the sort of pioneer spirit that’s got to haunt these parts thicker than the fur up a bear’s armpit.
Was it perhaps not this spirit that enabled True West— guitarist/songwriter Russell Tolman, vocalist Gavin Blair, lead guitarist Richard McGrath, bassplaying Kevin Staydohar and drummer Steve Packenham—to look beyond their inhospitable environs to “the people around the country who’d be interested” in what they wanted to do? To look beyond Sacramento, beyond ’Frisco beyond even the stone’sthrow-down-the-road U. of Cal at Davis where you can actually earn a degree in beer (no lie), and where in 1978 Tolman and old pal Blair joined forces with collegeradio colleague Steve Wynn and Kendra Smith to form “pretty much everybody’s first band,” the Suspects.