Powell's new CD is available NOW from CD Baby!

Powell's new CD has been produced and now Powell and his wife, Toby (his manager) will soon be sending off a sample and press packet to the record labels that were suggested to her by Kyle Staggs from Bug Music. Most of the labels told Toby to go ahead and send the material. Hopefully, at least one (and maybe more) will want to sign a record deal. We'll keep you updated as soon as we know. Unfortunately, the CD is not yet available for purchase until a record company picks it up. Stay tuned for more information.

When I arrived in Austin in the summer of 1959 I thought I was there to pursue a university education and I had the naÔve expectation that I would someday graduate as an artist, probably a painter. I did not know, and could not have imagined the twists and turns of fate that would mark my life path during the next seven years. The decade of the1960s was a time of wrenching social change in America, a time of turmoil and upheaval. In short, the perfect time to be young and in college. Arriving in Austin at this time was my first stroke of luck.

The next stroke of luck for me was the people I met. It was my good fortune to be thrown into a dorm room with some individuals who opened my eyes to social and political realities of which I was totally unaware. So my education outside the classroom began. These associations led directly to the next great stroke of luck as I met and was befriended by members of the Unitarian Youth Fellowship and in particular one individual-Lannie Wiggins. Lannie was a guitar and banjo picker and a good one at that. I mentioned to him that I had been playing harmonica since I was 12, but I was at a dead end. How, I wondered, would I ever be able to convince a symphony orchestra to accompany me like John Sebastian Sr. was able to do? Lannie asked me if I could play the Ballad of Jessie James. I responded that everyone knew the Ballad of Jessie James and, of course I could play that. We took off on it, Lannie on guitar and me honking away on harmonica. My lifelong fascination with folk music and my musical career began at that moment. Lannie began calling ourselves "The Waller Creek Boys" and we played music at the drop of a hat.

In the summer of 1962 Lady Luck smiled on me again when, through mutual friends Lannie and I met Janis Joplin. Janis had come to Austin to attend the university and, being a folk and blues music aficionado we began trading songs. It was not long before Janis became a Waller Creek Boy herself. It was also around this time that I bought my first guitar and began writing and performing songs.

Within a year or so we moved our act to Threadgill’s Bar out on North Lamar. Threadgill was known as a great vocalist in the style of the legendary Jimmy Rodgers and he provided us with a friendly venue and the opportunity to play to larger and more enthusiastic crowds. This was a great experience and my association with Threadgill was another piece of luck that led me to entertain the notion that maybe I could be a full time musician and perhaps make something of a name for myself. I was still writing songs and people seemed to enjoy them.
All this time I was still in school and in fact did graduate with a degree in Art History and Criticism in 1964. I entered graduate school as soon as possible because I was not ready to cease being a student with a draft deferment. Remember, the Vietnam War was on and I knew I would be called up for use as cannon fodder if I were no longer in school. My local draft board called me up anyway but, as luck, (that word again) would have it I failed the physical. Too skinny they said, and besides I seemed rather mentally unstable, and just maybe I was.

With the threat of military service gone my interest in higher education waned and I began to entertain other notions. The British Invasion was on, Bob Dylan had gone electric, the folk music craze was losing steam and I was writing songs that were moving in the direction of rock and roll. Here enters lady luck once more. I knew this jug player from the folk music days who had a vision. His name was Tommy Hall and he was a follower of Timothy Leary. Tommy had a very bright idea. He proposed to form a band, an electric band to promote the insights he had gained through his use of psychedelics. Tommy wanted to get the message out to the whole world and he wanted the message to be loud and dramatic. He got his wish when he combined Roky Erickson and a band from Port Aransas called the Lingsmen to form the 13th Floor Elevators. Knowing that I was writing songs and thinking about the potential of the electric format, Tommy asked me if I had any material that might be appropriate for what they were doing. I did and when I heard my songs performed by this dynamite group my interest in pursuing a career in music became almost an obsession.

About a year after the Elevators formed I left Austin for San Francisco. That was where the music was happening at the time, my friend Janis was there already performing with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Chet Helms’ Avalon Ballroom was rockin’ and there was a sizeable community of expatriate Texans which I could join. In less than a year I had met Tracy Nelson and with the help of mover and shaker Travis Rivers we had formed our own band, Mother Earth.It is out of these times that the material on this CD emerged. On it are all the tunes that were recorded by the Elevators, the tune of mine that Janis did, and the one done by Boz Skaggs, plus several newer songs that are just now seeing the light of day. This CD in itself is perhaps the greatest stroke of luck of all. It is the fulfillment of a long held fantasy of mine, one that I never expected to become reality. Now, thanks to long time fan, George Gershen, and the production talents of Fred Mitchim and a host of exceptionally gifted musicians and technicians, the CD lives.
I hope you have as much fun listening to it as I did making it.

PEACE and LOVE

Powell St. John