Black Oak Arkansas
| Black Oak Arkansas | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Black Oak, Arkansas |
| Genre (s) | Southern rock , hard rock |
| founding | 1965 as 'The Knowbody Else' , 1984 |
| resolution | 1980 |
| Website | Jim Dandy's Black Oak Arkansas |
| Founding members | |
singing |
James Mangrum |
guitar |
Rickie Reynolds |
guitar |
Harvey Jett |
guitar |
Artis Brewer |
bass |
Pat Daugherty |
Drums |
Sam Schattenberg |
management |
Ronnie Smith |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
James Mangrum (1965–1980, since 1984) |
singing |
Sammy B. Seauphine (since 2015) |
guitar |
Rickie Reynolds (1965–1977, since 1984) |
guitar |
Hal McCormack |
bass |
George Hughen |
Drums |
Johnnie Bolin |
| former members | |
Drums |
Sam Schattenberg (1965-1969) |
guitar |
Artis Brewer (1965-1969) |
Drums |
Wayne Evans (1969-1972) |
guitar |
Harvey Jett (1965-1975) |
Drums |
Tommy Aldridge (1972-1976) |
bass |
Pat Daugherty (1965-1977, 1999) |
guitar |
Stanley Knight (1969-1977) |
guitar |
James Henderson (1975-1978) |
guitar |
Greg Reding (1977-1978) |
guitar |
Jack Holder (1977-1978) |
bass |
Andy Tanas (1977-1978) |
Drums |
Joel Williams (1976-1978) |
Black Oak Arkansas is a southern rock band from the United States , named after their hometown Black Oak in the state of Arkansas . The band celebrated their greatest success in the 1970s when they were able to place a total of ten albums in the American charts. Her style is characterized by playing several guitars and the scratchy voice of singer Jim 'Dandy' Mangrum .
Band history
The Knowbody Else (1965-1969)
The origins of Black Oak Arkansas go back to the early 1960s, when some youngsters from Black Oak in Craighead County of Arkansas formed a band called 'The Knowbody Else'. The lineup consisted of singer James Mangrum (nicknamed 'Jim Dandy'), three guitarists Rickie Reynolds, Harvey Jett and Artis Brewer, bassist Pat Daugherty and drummer Sam Schattenberg. Ronnie Smith was supposed to take over the position of singer in the beginning, but since Mangrum proved to be better for this position, Smith became the manager of the band instead.
In January 1966, Mangrum, Reynolds and Smith were sentenced to four to eight years in prison at Tucker Prison Farm for stealing a sound system for the band from their high school. The parents paid for the damage, so the sentences were suspended and none of the three went to jail. Some time later the band moved to Memphis . There she got her first record deal with Stax Records and in 1969 released the self-titled album The Knowbody Else . However, the success failed and in the same year Mangrum and his colleagues went to Los Angeles , where they finally renamed themselves 'Black Oak Arkansas' after their hometown.
Promotion and successes (1969–1976)
In LA, the band signed a new record deal with ATCO Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic . The move also led to the first line-up changes, as Sam Schattenberg was replaced by Wayne Evans on drums and Stanley Knight joined the band for Artis Brewer. The debut album under the new name was released in March 1970, followed by Keep The Faith two years later. Evans got out after this record, so that for the album If An Angel Came, which was also released in 1972 ... the drummer Tommy Aldridge , who was still unknown at the time, was engaged.
From their increasing income, the band soon bought a large piece of land in Boone County near Bull Shoals Lake, Arkansas, where they lived as a community for some time in self-built wooden houses . In addition, not inconsiderable sums were donated for charitable purposes and community projects in the neighboring communities. Musically things continued to improve. Especially the album High On The Hog , released in late 1973, was a commercial success. It reached number 52 on the American Billboard charts and contained the band's biggest hit, the LaVern Baker cover “Jim Dandy”, in which the singer friend Ruby Starr was also involved for the first time.
After two more records with ATCO, Black Oak Arkansas switched to MCA in mid-1975 , where the album X-Rated was released that same year . In addition, there was the first line-up change in a long time, with guitarist James Henderson joining Harvey Jett. But the most creative phase of the band was over and with the following albums Balls Of Fire and 10 Yr Overnight Success (both 1976) the musicians could no longer build on the successes of the previous years.
Departures and dissolution (1976–1980)
From 1976 the band also showed serious signs of disintegration. Starting with Aldridge, a large part of the cast migrated this year and next, so that Mangrum and Henderson, the only remaining members, had to set up an almost completely new lineup. The guitarists Greg Reding and Jack Holder, the bassist Andy Tanas and the drummer Joel Williams are hired. In this line-up they called themselves only 'Black Oak' and recorded two studio albums, Race With The Devil (1977) and I'd Rather Be Sailing (1978), for the Capricorn record company, which however no longer reached the Billboard charts.
At the end of the 1970s, there were a number of other changes. The guitarist Shawn Lane , who was only 14 when he joined, should be mentioned here, who played numerous concerts with the band and later appeared mainly as a solo artist. Black Oak, however, consisted almost entirely of musicians accompanying the singer Mangrum and when he suffered a heart attack in 1980, he finally broke up the band for the time being.
Reorganization around Mangrum (from 1984)
When Mangrum had recovered after some time, he set about reactivating the band, which from now on operated under his nickname 'Jim Dandy'. He was also able to win over his old companion Ricky Reynolds for the reorganization, but he did not succeed in establishing a stable lineup for a long time. In 1984 and 1986, two more studio albums, Ready As Hell and The Black Attack Is Back, were released, which stylistically orientated themselves more towards hard rock and metal of the time.
These records did not achieve any notable sales success again, so that Black Oak Arkansas could never really establish itself in the new decade. With changing line-ups, they continued to be present on stage and even released a new album called The Wild Bunch at the end of 1999 after thirteen years , on which the original bassist Pat Daugherty could be heard again alongside Mangrum and Reynolds. The band is still active today and has repeatedly performed in clubs and at festivals
In 2015, Sammy B. Seauphine joined the band as the second singer alongside Mangrum to jointly release Underdog Heroes in 2019 , which is the band's first studio album after a 20-year hiatus.
Occupations
In their classic phase until the late 1970s, Black Oak Arkansas played in at least five different line-ups:
| Lineup | time | singing | Guitars | bass | Drums | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TKE | 1965-1969 | James Mangrum | Ricky Reynolds | Harvey Jett | Artis Brewer | Pat Daugherty | Sam Schattenberg |
| BOA I | 1969-1972 | James Mangrum | Ricky Reynolds | Harvey Jett | Stanley Knight | Pat Daugherty | Wayne Evans |
| BOA II | 1972-1975 | James Mangrum | Ricky Reynolds | Harvey Jett | Stanley Knight | Pat Daugherty | Tommy Aldridge |
| BOA III | 1975-1976 | James Mangrum | Ricky Reynolds | James Henderson | Stanley Knight | Pat Daugherty | Tommy Aldridge |
| BOA IV | 1976-1988 | James Mangrum | Greg Reding | James Henderson | Jack Holder | Andy Tanas | Joel Williams |
other band members:
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Discography
Studio albums
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Live albums
Compilations
|
proof
- ^ AllMusic: Black Oak Arkansas Billboard Albums
- ↑ Classic Rock Bands: Black Oak Arkansas ( Memento of the original from March 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- Art. “Black Oak Arkansas”, in: Barry Graves, Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Rock-Lexikon , completely revised. u. exp. Neuausg., Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 86-7.