In the early 1970s, Clay Spurz was living in Princeton, NJ, under an assumed name and doing research in I Ching studies. While there, he’d come under the spell of Buddy Miller, who played “high speed honk” in local bars with a 5 piece band called the Desperate Men and sometimes sat in with a bluegrass band called Strait Grain.
Spurz sang lead on bluegrass standards for Strait Grain and adapted tunes like Sam Cooke’s “Good News” to their instrumentation along with Waylon Jennings and Beatles songs. He loved Buddy’s harmonies and, of course, the guitar mastery for which later The American Music Association named him “Instrumentalist of the Year” in 2007 and 2008.
After a couple of years poring over rare editions of the I Ching in Taiwan, Spurz returned to Princeton and started writing C&W songs that he thought might be good enough for Buddy’s band. Buddy had decided to try his luck in Austin. Still, he said he’d bring his band to the wood framed attic above the Cabinet Shop in Princeton and back Spurz on a demo. So Spurz called his pal Britt Dean in Atlanta--he of the sweet, high harmony--to see if he’d come and sing on it. It was minimally miked and recorded by Ken Burger, who had what Buddy called "the best half-track machine around." Here's "I'll Never Love Someone (the Way that You Love Me)," Spurz's first Desperate tune, from that session.
Spurz sang lead on bluegrass standards for Strait Grain and adapted tunes like Sam Cooke’s “Good News” to their instrumentation along with Waylon Jennings and Beatles songs. He loved Buddy’s harmonies and, of course, the guitar mastery for which later The American Music Association named him “Instrumentalist of the Year” in 2007 and 2008.
After a couple of years poring over rare editions of the I Ching in Taiwan, Spurz returned to Princeton and started writing C&W songs that he thought might be good enough for Buddy’s band. Buddy had decided to try his luck in Austin. Still, he said he’d bring his band to the wood framed attic above the Cabinet Shop in Princeton and back Spurz on a demo. So Spurz called his pal Britt Dean in Atlanta--he of the sweet, high harmony--to see if he’d come and sing on it. It was minimally miked and recorded by Ken Burger, who had what Buddy called "the best half-track machine around." Here's "I'll Never Love Someone (the Way that You Love Me)," Spurz's first Desperate tune, from that session.
And "Play Me One More Song " in high speed honk ":
All music, lyrics, and other content Ⓒ 1976-2016 by Larry J. Schulz
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