Effortlessly capturing the mellow-down, Laurel Canyon essence of ’70s folk-pop, Robenalt, Craven, Mates & Sandusky are after nearly 50 years, finally getting some love.
The quartet—Christopher Mates (vocals, guitar), Jim Robenalt (guitar), Dave Craven (keys and banjo), and Tim Sandusky (pedal steel and harmonica)—sprung from college music-town Oxford, Ohio (home to ’60s popsters the Lemon Pipers) and entered the studio in fall ’77, the year James Taylor topped charts, Jackson Browne captured road life, and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours rewrote pop history. This group crafted a sound all their own.
“We were college kids,” Chris Mates says decades later from his Chicago home. “We wanted to just memorialize what we had done in college.”
Now, nearly 50 years later, Fervor Records has unearthed the original master tapes. Following a restoration process, two standout tunes have been rescued from the archives. Recording at Rusty York’s legendary Jewel Recording Studios in Cincinnati, the band dropped a hard-won $200 for two hours, arriving armed with songs and a synth snagged from school. With but six minutes left in the session, Mates used the time to record bare bones: live with acoustic guitar, no accompaniment. “The Going” is a beautifully executed ballad of separation and longing, his rising whisper and tenor recalling J.D. Souther and Browne. But easy comparisons reduce the song’s gentle power—how rare to hear anyone pen and perform a stunner: emotional truths, exquisite guitar picking—could’ve soundtracked a ’70s Laurel Canyon sunset.
The other is a hilarious ear-bending a cappella take on Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” It’s curious no one else ever thought to give this a barbershop-quartet sendup.
Sure, they covered folk-pop greats like the Eagles, Loggins and Messina and John Prine, but Mates remembers a show where audience members sang along to their songs. RCMS hadn’t released anything, and aside from gigs—including a Miss Miami pageant and a few radio shows on local WOXR—that’s testament to the songwriting.
“We were pretty well known at the time,” he says. Laughs, adds, “We even out-drew Kenny Rankin. Of course, we charged 25 cents, he charged two bucks!” The sessions were eventually shelved; the group weren’t keen to risk all for music. “I wanted to go to L.A. with the band, but it never happened.”
Mates became a lawyer in the world of financial regulation and securities exchanges. He continues to write and record. Robenalt became a lawyer and author on American politics and law. His TV appearances have drawn audiences in the millions. Craven became a well-known educator and administrator in Colorado. Sandusky became an American diplomat and career foreign service officer.
– Liner notes by Brian Jabas Smith
