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Sorry I’ve been neglecting rock for so long. Here’s a good Michigan garage nugget: Traverse City’s The Rod Wilson Group on Glass Records. I actually wrote about this a few years ago, but I didn’t include the entire “Back To Mulberry Road”, and I didn’t post the B side. Here’s what I wrote then:

The Rod Wilson Group, Back On Mulberry Road/Why Is It, Glass Records.

This group was from northern Traverse City, Michigan, down on Mulberry Road.  Mulberry Road seems like a sacred place, a good ol’ place, a dirty, dusty place, a place where rock n roll meets Sunday morning gospel and got all mixed in and swirled around with beer, smokey bars, and smoked out recording sessions that produced tracks like on this 45. 

I know Traverse City.  I had a good friend, a crazy friend from Traverse City named Josh.  I went up to visit for a week back in college, mowing lawns during the day for his brother’s business and hanging out at the local bars at night.  The music was great - kind of a hippie blend of bluegrass, funk, and rock and roll.  I think I blew everything I made mowing lawns out at night, but it didn’t matter.  We stayed up til 4 in the morning every night, then woke up at 7:30 and worked a 10 hour day and did it all over again. 

The Rod Wilson Group must have graced those same bars back in the 70s, drawing burned out crowds who must have gone crazy over the song about Mulberry Road.  The lead singer is super raw, but the groove is there and they jam it out pretty well, and you can really hear the distinctive Michigan garage sound in the music.

The B Side is even stranger, it’s all instrumental but has this weird sort of faint voice in the background.  Maybe if I play it backwards it’ll tell me the secrets of the universe or something.  I don’t know.  My wife can appreciate it, but she thinks it’s kind of bad.  It is, kind of, but it’s really pretty sweet.  I like it, it’s a good find.  I’m not sure if I’ll sell it yet.  I think I’ll just stick it in the 45 box for a while, and bust it out to try to out-obscure someone.  I bet Max will like it.

I think it’s worth another listen when the night is right.

Anyone from Traverse City that knows about Mulberry Road? Is there something we should know? And after listening to the 45 a bunch of times now, it seems like the B side, “Why Is It”, isn’t instrumental as I had suggested in my previous post - sounds like someone just effed up the recording. Max did listen to the record and liked it (particularly Back to Mulberry Road) - so much he keeps asking me to trade for it. And he noted that the lead singer was probably super pissed that his vocals got all muddled on “Why Is It”. I kind of think it adds to it a bit though. There’s also some crazy sounds that come in at the end of the song, maybe that’s the whole point? In any event, “Mulberry Road” is a good one, and I believe, un-comped.

“Back to Mulberry Road”

“Why Is It”