The Youngbloods: Two Trips

In early 1965, Jesse Colin Young recorded an excellent solo album on Mercury (now out-of-print) called Young Blood. Truckin' along in relative obscurity in the folk field, Jesse nevertheless was the subject of a three-page article in the November 1965 Hit Parade: "The Rockfolk Revolution: Jesse Colin Young and Fred Neil." (!) Shortly thereafter in Boston, Jesse met bluegrass musician Banana, jazz drummer Joe Bauer, and folkie Jerry Corbitt of Tifton, Georgia and ragtime fame. They all got together, amazingly, and said, "Hey man, why don't we all play together and be the best American rock group there'll ever be?" And so they were, hassles and all.