Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band is known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, jazz, psychedelia, and space rock and for live performances of long musical improvisation.[1][4] "Their music," writes Lenny Kaye, "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists."

The fans of the Grateful Dead, some of whom followed the band from concert to concert for years, are known as "Deadheads" and are known for their dedication to the band's music.[1][4] Many referred to the band simply as "the Dead". As of 2003, the remaining band members have toured under the name "The Dead." Remaining band members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh formed "Furthur" in 2009. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann formed 7 Walkers with Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne in 2009. The Grateful Dead's musical influences varied widely; in concert recordings or on record albums one can hear psychedelic rock, blues, rock and roll, country-western, bluegrass, country-rock, and improvisational jazz. These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world."[6] They were ranked 55th in the issue The Greatest Artists of all Time by Rolling Stone magazine.

Mountain (band)

Mountain is an American pop-rock and hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today. Arguably best known for the song "Mississippi Queen", Mountain is one of many bands to be commonly credited as having influenced the development of heavy metal music in the 1970s.

The band was formed shortly after Leslie West, formerly of the Long Island R&B band The Vagrants, recorded a solo album titled Mountain (a reference to West's physical bulk) with bassist and former Cream collaborator Felix Pappalardi producing.[2] The album also featured former Remains drummer N.D. Smart. The album spotlighted West's raw vocals and melodic, bluesy guitar style, and Pappalardi's heavy and elegant bass lines were heavily in evidence throughout, and according to West when Pappalardi asked what would be next West suggested the pair go on the road. Though heavily inspired by seminal British blues-rock band Cream (with which Pappalardi had been a frequent collaborator: he produced Disraeli Gears, Goodbye and Wheels of Fire, also contributing viola, brass, bells and organ to the latter), keyboardist Steve Knight was added. Naming themselves after West's album, West, Pappalardi, Smart, and Knight played shows on the West Coast before getting to play their fourth concert as a working band at the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York.[2] Their first album as a band, Climbing!, would include a tribute to the festival, "For Yasgur's Farm."[2]

Mountain was received enthusiastically by the festival audience but the band did not appear in the film of the event, nor was their performance included on volume 1 of the festival's live album, though their performances of "Blood of the Sun" (from West's album) and "Theme for an Imaginary Western" (a song they planned to record for Climbing and co-written by former Cream bassist Jack Bruce) appeared on the second volume of Woodstock performances.

Soon after Woodstock, Smart was replaced by Laurence "Corky" Laing.[2] Climbing! was released in March 1970.[1] It led off with what became the band's signature song, "Mississippi Queen", which reached #21 in the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #17 in the Billboard 200.[2] Mountain began a hectic touring schedule in the middle of which they recorded a followup album, Nantucket Sleighride, released in January 1971. This album reached the #16, but failed to yield a hit single. The title track was used in the UK as the theme to ITV's Sunday political program Weekend World.[2] After these early releases the band continued to receive a certain measure of critical acclaim but never again achieved great commercial success.

Canned Heat

Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, USA, in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, who took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called "canned heat". After appearances at Monterey and Woodstock, at the end of the 1960s the band acquired worldwide fame with a lineup consisting of Bob Hite, vocals, Alan Wilson guitar, harmonica and vocals, Henry Vestine (or Harvey Mandel) on lead guitar, Larry Taylor on bass, and Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra on drums.

The music and attitude of Canned Heat afforded them a large following and established the band as one of the popular acts of the hippie era. Canned Heat appeared at most major musical events at the end of the 1960s and they were able to deliver on stage electrifying performances of blues standards and their own material and occasionally to indulge into lengthier 'psychedelic' solos. Two of their songs - "Going Up the Country" and "On the Road Again" - became international hits; both were re-workings of obscure blues. At the time all their albums were released for worldwide distribution.

Since the early 1970s numerous personnel changes have occurred and today, in the fifth decade of the band's existence, Fito de la Parra is the only member from the "classic" 1960s lineup. He has written a book about the band's career. Larry Taylor, whose presence in the band has not been steady, is the other surviving member from the earliest lineups. Harvey Mandel, Walter Trout and Junior Watson are among the guitarists who gained fame for playing in later editions of the band. British blues pioneer John Mayall has frequently found musicians for his band among former Canned Heat members.

Santana (band)

Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill. This initial exposure made their first, eponymous album a hit at the time, followed in the next two years by successful follow-ups Abraxas and Santana III.

Over the next few years, lineup changes were common and although retaining a basis of latin rock, Carlos Santana's increasing involvement with guru Sri Chinmoy took the band further into more esoteric music, which continued for many years, although never quite losing the initial latin influence.

In 1998, the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Carlos Santana, Jose Chepito Areas, David Brown, Mike Carabello, Gregg Rolie and Michael Shrieve being honored.

Santana has achieved a total of eight Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards which were all awarded in 2000. Carlos also won two Grammy Awards as a solo artist in 1989 and 2003.

The band was formed in 1967 in San Francisco as the Carlos Santana Blues Band with the help of Tom Fraser.[1] The first established members were Carlos Santana (lead guitar), Tom Fraser (lead vocals & rhythm guitar), Mike Carabello (percussion), Rod Harper (drums), David Brown (bass guitar) and Gregg Rolie (Hammond Organ B3). The group's first audition with this line up was at the Avalon Ball Room in the late summer of 1967. After the audition, Chet Helms the promotor, in concert with The Family Dog, told the band that they would never make it in the San Francisco Music Scene playing Latin fusion and suggested Carlos keep his day job washing dishes at Tick Tock's Drive-In on 3rd St.

John Benson Sebastian, Jr.

John Benson Sebastian, Jr. (March 17, 1944, in Greenwich Village, New York City) is an American songwriter and harmonica player. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. His tie-dyed denim jacket is prominently displayed there.

Sebastian's father, John Benson Sr., was a noted classical harmonica player and his mother was a radio script writer. He is the godson of Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy). He grew up surrounded by music and musicians, including Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie and hearing such players as Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt in his own neighborhood.

One of his first recording gigs was playing guitar and harmonica for Billy Faier's 1964 album The Beast of Billy Faier[4]. He also recorded with Fred Neil on the Bleecker & MacDougal album in 1965. He came up through the Even Dozen Jug Band and The Mugwumps, which split to form the Lovin' Spoonful and The Mamas & the Papas. Sebastian was joined by Zal Yanovsky, Steve Boone and Joe Butler in the Spoonful, which was named after a Mississippi John Hurt song. Sebastian also played autoharp on occasion.

The Lovin' Spoonful became part of the American response to the British Invasion and was noted for such folk-flavored hits as "Jug Band Music," "Do You Believe in Magic", "Summer in the City", "Daydream", "Nashville Cats," "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind," "Six O'Clock," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," and "Younger Girl." The band, however, began to implode after a 1967 marijuana bust in San Francisco involving Yanovsky, a Canadian citizen. Facing deportation, he gave up the name of his dealer, which caused a fan backlash and internal strife. Neither John Sebastian nor Joe Butler was involved in the matter; they weren't even in San Francisco at the time. Yanovsky subsequently left the band and was replaced by Jerry Yester.

Country Joe McDonald

Country Joe McDonald (born Joseph Allen McDonald; January 1, 1942) was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe & the Fish.

Country Joe has recorded 33 albums and has written hundreds of songs over a career spanning 40 years. He and Barry Melton co-founded Country Joe & the Fish which became a pioneer psychedelic rock band with their eclectic performances at The Avalon Ballroom, The Fillmore, Monterey Pop Festival and both the original and the reunion Woodstock Festivals.

Their best known song is his "The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag," a black comedy novelty song about the Vietnam War, whose familiar chorus ("One, two, three, what are we fighting for?") is well known to the Woodstock generation and Vietnam Veterans of the 1960s and 1970s. He is also known for "The Fuck Cheer" which was a cheerleader-style call-and-response with the audience where Joe spelled out "fuck" ("Give me an F!").

Joan Chandos Baez

Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer, songwriter and activist. Baez has a distinctive vocal style, with a strong vibrato.[1] Her recordings include many topical songs and material dealing with social issues.

Baez began her career performing in coffeehouses in the Boston-Cambridge area, and rose to fame as an unbilled performer at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. She began her recording career in 1960, and achieved immediate success. Her first three albums, Joan Baez, Joan Baez, Vol. 2, and Joan Baez in Concert all achieved gold record status, and stayed on the charts for two years.[2]

She is well known for her hit "Diamonds & Rust", her covers of Phil Ochs's "There but for Fortune" and The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Other songs associated with Baez include "Farewell, Angelina", "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word", "Joe Hill", "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "We Shall Overcome" (three of the songs she performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival). She helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment.[3]

Baez has performed publicly for over 50 years, released over 30 albums and recorded songs in at least eight languages. She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the 1960s, encompassing everything from rock and pop to country and gospel. Although a songwriter herself, Baez is generally regarded as an interpreter of other people's work, having recorded songs by The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, The Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and many others. In recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of modern songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Steve Earle and Natalie Merchant.

Arlo Davy Guthrie

Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer.[1] Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice. One of Guthrie's works is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song of about 18 minutes in length.

Arlo Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of folk singer and composer Woody Guthrie and his wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. His sister is Nora Guthrie. His mother was a one-time professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of the Committee to Combat Huntington's disease, the disease that took her husband's life in 1967. Arlo Guthrie received religious training for his bar mitzvah from Rabbi Meir Kahane, who would go on to form the Jewish Defense League. "Rabbi Kahane was a really nice, patient teacher," Guthrie later recalled, "but shortly after he started giving me my lessons, he started going haywire. Maybe I was responsible." Guthrie graduated from the Stockbridge School, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1965, and briefly attended Rocky Mountain College. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Westfield State College, in 2008.

As a singer, songwriter and lifelong political activist, Guthrie carries on the legacy of his legendary father. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award on September 26, 1992.

His most famous work is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a talking blues song that lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds in its original recorded version. Guthrie has pointed out that this was also the exact length of one of the famous gaps in Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes. He has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert. The Alice in the song is Alice Brock, who now runs an art gallery[4] in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The song, a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft, although Guthrie stated in a 2009 interview with Ron Bennington that Alice's Restaurant is more an "anti-stupidity" song than an anti-war song, is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie is called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record — consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering and creating a public nuisance on Thanksgiving Day in 1965, when Arlo was eighteen years old. On the DVD commentary for the film, Guthrie states that the events as presented in the song are true to real-life occurrences.

For a short period of time after its release in 1967, "Alice's Restaurant" was heavily played on U.S. college and counter-culture radio stations. It became a symbol of the late 1960s and for many it defined an attitude and lifestyle that were lived out across the country in the ensuing years. Many stations across the States have made playing "Alice's Restaurant" a Thanksgiving Day tradition.

A 1969 film, directed and co-written by Arthur Penn, was based on the story. In addition to acting in this film, also called Alice's Restaurant, Guthrie has had minor roles in several movies and television series. Guthrie's memorable appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival was documented in the Michael Wadleigh film Woodstock.

Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk

Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (born February 3, 1947) is an American singer-songwriter.

Usually known professionally as Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and "What Have They Done To My Song Ma".

Melanie grew up in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York.[2]

She made her first public appearance at four on the radio show Live Like A Millionaire, performing the song "Gimme a Little Kiss". Melanie was a student at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts when she began singing in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village and signed her first recording contract.

Initially signed to Columbia Records in the United States, Melanie released two singles on the label. Subsequently she signed with Buddah Records and first found chart success in Europe when her 1969 song, "Bobo's Party", reached Number 1 in France. Her debut album received rave reviews from Billboard which heralded her voice as "... wise beyond her years. Her non-conformist approach to the selections on this LP make her a new talent to be reckoned with."

Later in 1969, Melanie had a hit in the Netherlands with "Beautiful People", before performing at the Woodstock Festival. The inspiration for her signature song, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", apparently arose from the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her set. The recording became a hit in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States in the spring and summer of 1970. The B-side of the single featured Melanie's spoken-word track "Candles in the Rain". "Lay Down" became Melanie's first Top Ten hit in America, peaking at #6 on the Billboard singles chart, and achieving worldwide success. Later hits included "Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday".

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar (Bengali: রবি শংকর; born 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the most well known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.[1]

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for sitar and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Timothy James "Tim" Hardin

Timothy James "Tim" Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well as his own recording career.

Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon and attended South Eugene High School. He dropped out of high school at age 18 to join the Marine Corps. He spent part of 1959 in Vietnam as a military advisor.[citation needed] . Hardin is said to have discovered heroin in Vietnam.

After his discharge he moved to New York City in 1961, where he briefly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was dismissed because of truancy and began to focus on his musical career by performing around Greenwich Village, mostly in a blues style.

After moving to Boston in 1963 he was discovered by the record producer Erik Jacobsen (later the producer for The Lovin' Spoonful), who arranged a meeting with Columbia Records. In 1964 he moved back to Greenwich Village to record for his contract with Columbia. The resulting recordings were not released and Columbia terminated Hardin's recording contract.

An album entitled This is Tim Hardin, featuring covers of "House of the Rising Sun", Fred Neil's "Blues on the Ceilin'" and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", among others, appeared in 1967, on the Atco label. The liner notes indicate the songs were recorded in 1963–1964, well prior to the release of Tim Hardin 1 by Verve Records. Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, released in 1968, was a collection of live recordings along with re-makes of previous songs; it was followed by Tim Hardin 4, another collection of blues-influenced tracks believed to date from the same period as This is Tim Hardin.

In 1969, Hardin again signed with Columbia and had one of his few commercial successes, as a non-LP single of Bobby Darin's "Simple Song of Freedom" reached the US Top 50. Hardin did not tour in support of this single and a heroin addiction and stage fright made his live performances erratic.[citation needed] Also in 1969 he appeared at the Woodstock Festival where he sang his "If I Were a Carpenter" song. He recorded three albums for Columbia—Suite for Susan Moore and Damion: We Are One, One, All in One; Bird on a Wire; and Painted Head.

Bert Sommer

Bert Sommer (February 7, 1949 – July 23, 1990) was a folk singer who performed at Woodstock in 1969 and had a hit with the song "We're All Playing In The Same Band." He was briefly a member of baroque-pop group the Left Banke, co-writing and singing lead on the "Ivy Ivy"/"And Suddenly" single.[1]

Sommer also played Woof in the original Broadway production of Hair and "Flatbush" of Kaptain Kool and the Kongs on The Krofft Supershow in 1976. He did not reprise the role in the second season.[2]

Sommer died in Troy, New York on July 23, 1990, after a long battle with respiratory illness. His last performance was in Troy on June 11, 1990, with his friend Johnny Rabb.[3]

The Incredible String Band

"The Incredible String Band was indeed what the sixties and those that were called "Hippies" was all about. Spirituality and Love.

"When you find out who you truly are..."


The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966.[1] The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974. The group's members are musical pioneers in psych folk and, by integrating a wide variety of traditional music forms and instruments, in the development of world music. The group reformed in 1999 and continued to perform until 2006.

By early 1968 the group were capable of filling major venues in the UK. They left behind their folk club origins and embarked on a nationwide tour incorporating a critically acclaimed appearance at the London Royal Festival Hall. Later in the year they performed at the Royal Albert Hall, at open-air festivals, and at prestigious rock venues such as the Fillmore auditoriums in San Francisco and New York. After their appearance at the Fillmore East in New York they were introduced to the practice of Scientology by David Simons (aka "Rex Rakish", once of Jim Kweskin's Jug Band). Joe Boyd, in his book White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s and elsewhere[7], describes how he was inadvertently responsible for their "conversion" when he introduced the band to Simons who, having become a Scientologist, persuaded them to enrol in his absence. The band's support for Scientology over the next few years was controversial among some fans, and seemed to coincide with what many saw as the beginning of a decline in the quality of their work.[citation needed] In an interview with Oz magazine in 1969 the band spoke enthusiastically of their involvement with it, although the question of its effect on their later albums has provoked much discussion ever since.[citation needed]

Their November 1968 album Wee Tam and The Big Huge recorded before the US trip, was musically less experimental and lush than Hangman's but conceptually even more avant-garde, a full-on engagement with the themes of mythology, religion, awareness and identity. Williamson's otherworldly songs and vision dominate the album, though Heron's more grounded tracks are also among his very best, and the contrast between the two perspectives gives the record its uniquely dynamic interplay between a sensual experience of life and a quest for metaphysical meaning. The record was released as a double album and also simultaneously as two separate LPs, a strategy which lessened its impact on the charts.

At this time most of the group lived communally at a farmhouse near Newport in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where they developed ideas for mixed media experiments with Malcolm Le Maistre and other members of David Medalla's Exploding Galaxy troupe and the Leonard Halliwell Quartet. There, a film was made about the ISB, Be Glad For the Song Has No Ending. Originally planned for BBC TV's arts programme Omnibus, it featured documentary footage and a fantasy sequence, 'The Pirate and the Crystal Ball', illustrating their attempt at an idyllic communal lifestyle. It made little impact at the time, but reissues on video and DVD have contributed to the recent revival of interest in the band.

Sweetwater (band)

Sweetwater was a rock band originally from Los Angeles. They were the act scheduled to play first at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, although due to problems within the band, solo folksinger Richie Havens became the first performer. Sweetwater performed next, becoming the first band to play the festival.

Sweetwater were early developers of the psychedelic rock/fusion style that was popularized by Jefferson Airplane to be regarded as the archetype "60s Sound". In 1968-69, the band often toured with The Doors. They were also one of the opening acts for Eric Burdon & The Animals in 1968. One of their best-known recordings is a version of the traditional folk song "Motherless Child".

The original members of the band were Nancy Nevins (lead vocals/guitar), August Burns (cello), Albert Moore (flute/backing vocals), Alan Malarowitz (drums), Elpidio Cobian (conga drums), Alex Del Zoppo (keyboards) and Fred Herrera (bass).

Three days after Sweetwater performed on The Red Skelton Show (December 1969), singer Nancy Nevins was severely injured in a car accident, which stopped the progress of the band. Due to the accident, Nancy experienced brain damage for a number of years following the collision, and permanent damage to one of her vocal cords.

The group reunited for Woodstock '94 in 1994 with three original members - Nevins, Herrera and Del Zoppo. August Burns died in the 80s, Alan Malarowitz was killed in a car crash near 1981, Albert Moore died of pneumonia in 1994. Elpedio Cobian works as a film statist. In 1999, the story of the band was depicted in a VH1 TV-movie called Sweetwater: A True Rock Story. Amy Jo Johnson portrayed Nancy Nevins, while Michelle Phillips portrayed a much older Nancy.

Richard P. "Richie" Havens

Richard P. "Richie" Havens (born January 21, 1941) is an American folk singer and guitarist.[1] He is best known for his intense rhythmic guitar style (in open tuning), soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children. At an early age, he began organizing his neighborhood friends into street corner doo-wop groups and was performing with The McCrea Gospel Singers at 16. At the age of 20, Richie left Brooklyn to seek out the artistic stimulation of Greenwich Village. “I saw the Village as a place to escape to in order to express yourself,” he recalls. “I had first gone there during the beatnik days of the 1950s to perform poetry, then I drew portraits for 2 years and stayed up all night listening to folk music in the clubs. It took a while before I thought of picking up a guitar.”

Havens' reputation as a solo performer soon spread beyond the Village folk circles. After joining forces with manager Albert Grossman, Havens landed his first record deal with the Verve label, which released Mixed Bag in 1967. This debut album featured tracks like “Handsome Johnny” (co-written by Havens and future Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr.), “Follow”, and a version of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman”. By 1969, he had released five more albums (Something Else Again (1968) became Havens' first album to hit the Billboard chart and also pulled Mixed Bag onto the charts).

Woodstock or The Woodstock Festival

Woodstock Music & Art Fair (informally, Woodstock or The Woodstock Festival) was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music", held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha, 0.94 mi²) dairy farm near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.

During the sometimes rainy weekend, thirty-two acts performed outdoors in front of 500,000 concert-goers. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most pivotal moments in popular music history and was listed among Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award. "It worked very well," he says of the event. "I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot [21 meter] towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people. Of course, 500,000 showed up." ALTEC designed 4-15 marine ply cabinets that weighed in at half a ton apiece, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) straight up, almost 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, and 3 feet (0.91 m) wide. Each of these woofers carried four 15-inch (380 mm) JBL LANSING D140 loudspeakers. The tweeters consisted of 4x2-Cell & 2x10-Cell Altec Horns. Behind the stage were three transformers providing 2,000 amperes of current to power the amplification setup. For many years this system was collectively referred to as the Woodstock Bins.

Performing artists

Thirty-two acts performed over the course of the four days:
Friday, August 15

* Richie Havens
* Swami Satchidananda - gave the invocation for the festival
* Sweetwater
* The Incredible String Band
* Bert Sommer
* Tim Hardin
* Ravi Shankar
* Melanie
* Arlo Guthrie
* Joan Baez

Saturday, August 16

* Quill, forty-minute set of four songs
* Country Joe McDonald
* John Sebastian
* Santana
* Keef Hartley Band
* Canned Heat
* Mountain
* Grateful Dead
* Creedence Clearwater Revival
* Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band [25]
* Sly & the Family Stone
* The Who began at 4 a.m., kicking off a 25-song set including Tommy
* Jefferson Airplane

Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18

* The Grease Band
* Joe Cocker
* Country Joe and the Fish
* Ten Years After
* The Band
* Blood, Sweat & Tears
* Johnny Winter featuring his brother, Edgar Winter
* Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
* Paul Butterfield Blues Band
* Sha-Na-Na
* Jimi Hendrix