Good Friend Coyote
Title: Lenox Music Inn 1973
Release Date: 2014
Availability: Very Good (Streaming)
Recording Date: September 1, 1973
Lineup:
Lineup:
Billy Voiers – Guitar, bass, mandolin, vocals
Rick Chamberlain – Trombone
Joe Najmy – Keyboards, accordion, piano
Robert Pogo Pyon – Drums, vocals
Dom Marino – Bass, guitar, vocals
Morris Powell – Mellophonium
Rick Tiven – Violin
Beverly Rohlehr – Vocals
David Ellis – Trumpet
Jane & Pam – Background vocals
Set List:
June Apple
June Apple
Jelly Roll Baker
I’m As Happy As Can Be
The String Breaking Tune
Brown’s Ferry Blues
Fawnella
Turkey In The Straw
Too Fast
Freight Train Boogie
SCOO-EE-OTTEN-DAV-BOP
Orange Blossom Special
Greasy Feet
In The Groove
Stay
In today’s age of instant information, it is highly unusual to not be able to find out anything about a band, especially one that is featured on Wolfgang’s Vault download list. But that is the case with Good Friend Coyote, a group that barely seemed to exist, except on Wolfgang’s Vault, at least from an internet standpoint. After hours of research, I did discover that they were based out of Berkshire, MA and toured New England for 18 months in the 1972 to 1974 timeframe. Their members were all highly competent musicians, with jazz, swing, country, classical, rock, and blues backgrounds. At least two of them attended New England Conservatory and nearly all of them had successful musical careers after the band dissolved. They reunited for an one time show in 2012 and they were closely associated with the jazz scene around the Lenox School Of Jazz and the Music Inn in Lenox and Stockbridge, MA.
Good Friend Coyote was formed by guitarist Billy Voiers and drummer Robert “Pogo” Pyon, who were members of the West Texas group Onion Creek in the sixties. Voiers had been mentored by guitarists Jim Mings and Johnny Richardson. The two moved to Massachusetts in the early seventies and founded Good Friend Coyote. Two members, trumpeter David Ellis and trombonist Rick Chamberlain had studied with the New England Conservatory. The third horn player, Morris Powell, played a mellophonium, which is a French Horn like sounding instrument played in marching bands.
Rick Tiven and Dom Marino handled violin and bass/guitar respectively. The group was rounded out by singer Beverly Rohlehr, who performs on the Wolfgang’s Vault recording with two female backup singers only credited as Jane and Pam. The band played an eclectic combination of jazz, bluegrass, swing, country, big band, New Orleans jazz, rock, and blues. Their ability to jump from style to style was impressive. There is nothing to indicate that they ever signed a record contract nor recorded anything. According to Chamberlain’s obituary, they toured for about 18 months before the members went their separate ways.
Many of the musicians in the band went on to have successful professional careers. Voiers has been a fixture in the Berkshires music scene his entire life. He formed a successful group called the Milestones and continues to perform to this day. In 2005, he played shows with Rick Tiven, another former member of Good Friend Coyote. As of 2016, he continues to perform live often, sometimes with musicians or as a solo artist.
Tiven has also made a successful living as a musician. In the eighties, he was a member of Shy Americans, teamed with Dave Lincoln in the Pickwell Brothers, and is also a member of Clean Living. He remains active as of 2016. Joe Najmy is presently (2016) a member of the successful CT club band, Otis And The Hurricanes. Before joining the group, Najmy played with Average White Band, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, and Robert Cray.
Beverly Rohlehr has also had a very successful career as a professional singer. For a time, she was the first, and only ever, female member of the Persuasions, recording one album with them. She has been the lead vocalist for big jazz bands like Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the National Jazz Ensemble. As of 2016, she is presently a member of the Colbys Band, another very successful New England based group.
David Ellis played professionally in New York until the early eighties, when he returned to his home in Vermont to help his father run a long standing and very successful music store. As of 2016, he continues to run the business with his sister. Rick Chamberlain graduated with a Bachelor Of Music Degree and moved back home to the Pocono Mountains to begin his professional career. He worked with resorts to book acts, founded the Delaware Water Gap Celebration Of the Arts in 1978 with mentor Phil Woods, played in NYC pit bands, recorded jingles, and worked, toured, and recorded with Louie Bellson, Engelbert Humperdinck, Chuck Mangione, Joni Mitchell, and Gerry Mulligan. He passed away on March 27, 2015.
Dom “D.B” Marino is involved with various bluegrass organizations and still active in music. I could not find any information about Morris Powell. Voiers, Najmy, Tivin, Marino, and Chamberlain reunited in 2012 under the Good Friend Coyote name at a Music Inn Center reunion. They were accompanied on stage by Dino Marino, Peter Adams, Charlie Tokarz, Scott Dufoe, and Mark Papas. It was the first time that the group performed under that name in thirty years.
The Wolfgang’s Vault recording was made at the Music Inn on September 1, 1973. It is available through the Music Inn Archives project. The group was popular at the time, playing shows throughout New England. On this particular night, they were paired with Lou Reed. The band members apparently had a longstanding relationship with the Music Inn, although it appears that they only played there this one time. The recording quality is excellent.
The recording begins with a bluegrass-heavy version of “June Apple,” which features Tiven on violin and Najmy on piano. The bluegrass theme continues with a mandolin-heavy version of “I’m As Happy As I Can Be,” which features Voiers on mandolin and vocals. Tiven’s violin is also heavily present, as are Marino’s harmonic vocals. Najmy contributes a somewhat out-of-place keyboard solo.
“Brown’s Ferry Blues” is another fast-paced western swing song. It features Voiers, Marino, and Pyon on vocals. Voiers is on mandolin, and Tiven contributes another violin solo. After a brief snippet of “Turkey In The Straw” featuring Tiven and Najmy, as well as various animal sound effects, the group pulls out the electric guitar for a swing version of “Freight Train Boogie.” This one is played at an insane pace, with Pyon and Marino pulling the group on a wild ride. Tiven’s violin work is remarkable, and Voiers pulls off some nice rockabilly-like guitar work. Marino’s lead vocals are outstanding.
“Orange Blossom Special” features some nice speaker right/left shifts. Once again, it’s Tiven’s show with Pyon matching him note for note on drums. The ensemble vocals of the three men are outstanding. It is played at an insane pace.
The next several tracks feature the non-bluegrass/swing version of the band. Voiers leads off on lead vocals/harmonica in the New Orleans jazz based “In The Groove”. The song features Najmy on piano, Tiven on violin, and Voiers on guitar. It is a terrific piece of music from start to finish. “Jelly Roll Baker” continues the New Orleans theme and marks the first appearance of the Chamberlain, Ellis, Powell horn section. Voiers handles lead vocals. The song has plenty of blues influences, with solos by Najmy, Ellis, Chamberlain, Powell, Tiven, and Voiers.
“The String Breaking Tune” is a jazz guitar based instrumental, with Voiers showing off considerable technique. It is big band based, completely different from the swing and bluegrass music that leads off this set. In fact, you would swear that these are two different groups, a tribute to the consummate musicianship within this band. Najmy contributes a nice electric piano solo and the ensemble horn work is outstanding. Ellis’ trumpet solo is solid and blends in strangely well with Tiven’s violin solo.
“Fawnella” marks the first appearance of singer Beverly Rohlehr, who sings lead accompanied by two only first named credited backup singers, Jane and Pam. The piece is the most rock oriented on the album, with a strong guitar, bass, and drum blues based foundation. The three singers sound great, with tight lead harmonies. Rohlehr’s lead vocals are very strong, with a grit and intensity that matches the song perfectly. Voiers’ guitar solo is phased between the right and left channels and is outstanding. Najmy also pulls off a great piano solo while Tiven and Voiers have some fun with violin/guitar tradeoffs.
The three female singers hang around for a blisteringly fast version of the appropriately titled “Too Fast”. Tiven dominates with Marino featured on lead vocals. The song is fifties rock based with a nicely structured horn chart, which features bluesy trumpet and trombone solos, and frenetic soloing from Tiven. The band returns to the jazz mode with the Texas Swing based “SCOO-EE-OTTEN-DAV-BOP”. Voiers is somewhat stretched on lead vocals initially but hits his groove later in the song.
The group captures the music perfectly. The ensemble horn work is outstanding, Tiven is again features on violin, and the rhythm work of Marino and Pyon is powerful. The ensemble vocal work, including the three women, is solid.
The group’s encore is a drum and bass heavy instrumental version of “Greasy Feet”. Everything about this song is outstanding. Everyone takes a solo and the vibe is terrific. It showcases just how talented and tight this band was. While there is no indication that they wanted, or tried, to record any original material, they knew how to put on one heck of a show.
The tape ends with an incomplete version of a song called “Stay” from earlier in the set. It has a Flying Burrito Brothers like feel that is incompatible with nearly everything else in the performance. The torch like vocals of Voiers and the other five singers dominate and the song is played at a ballad like pace with a church organ solo from Najmy. It is yet another example of how this band could literally play anything.
In the end, Good Friend Coyote was a kick ass ensemble group that had so many identities and played so many styles of music that it is not surprising that they were not signed. I could easily believe that any A&R rep who attended their shows would walk away impressed but totally confused on how to market them and whether any of their records would sell. That makes this recording, which can now only be streamed on Wolfgang’s Vault, not an essential but an enjoyable romp by eleven musicians who knew their trade.