Mitchell, Mitch 2011-11-11
Austin music in the golden era of the 1960s. Mitch Mitchell’s musical career and interests
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Mitch Mitchell
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 11, 2011
Location: McKinney, Texas
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 01:02:56
Abstract
Background, Has a 45 On Mars record, Likes the 45 better, It’s really scratchy as if they were in the garage, Went to Thomas Jefferson High School, Born May 17, 1955 in Dallas, Texas, Where he became interested in music, How Mitchell became interested in music, Listening to the radio, KNUS, Listened to Cliff, Mostly listened to AM radio because you had to have a special receiver to get FM, Was repellant to Country, That changed when he went to college, Classic rock, Went to live music venues when he was in high school, Live music venues, Big rock road shows, The Almond Brothers in 1972, The stones, Had the worst seats, Stevie wonder, Everyone went to Fort Worth then, At that time, there were not a lot of venues, First concert he ever went to was a Will Rogers, Saw Traffic in the 70s, John Barley Corn, Saw Pink Floyd, Wanted to see Elton John, Had a Pink Floyd Album, Ended up getting 2 tickets on the third row, Pink Floyd was like theatre rock, The concert was great, They played the whole Dark Side of The Moon album, Saw Led Zeppelin in the early 70s, Saw Yes twice and well as Jetthrow, After graduating high school, Mitchell went to UT, Graduated in 1973, In 73 the drinking age was lowered to 18, Mitchell was able to go to clubs, Went to a Commander Cody show, At the Armadillo, This is how he started to like country rock, That next year FM started to become popular, It played country rock, Chestnut Mayor, Played the Texas Trilogy, Clubs in Austin, Armadillo, Austin Apery House, Soap Creek, Uranium Savages, Did a bit on the tonight show, Did little theatrics, Did a lot of cover songs, Originally not very many of their own songs, Saw Michael Murphy, Cosmic Cowboy, Dan and Dave’s on Riverside, A lot of guitarists played there, Red Neck Mother, Jerry Jeff and Willy Nelson in Luckenbach, Picnics, When they were really getting into country music, Heard the picnics were really popular after the second one had happened, Took place at College Station, In the middle of the Texas International Speedway, It was very hot, The music at night was very good, Was a three day event, Brought a tent and beer, Kinky Friedman, First B.W Stevenson album was a great album, Under appreciated, Not a long album, only 32 minutes, Did not sing his own songs, El Camino, Didn’t write many songs, Meatloaf, Allen Adai, Freddy Fender, Mitchell went to UT for four years and then medical school in Galveston then 6 years residency, Medical school, Formed a band with a friend, Roger was a good guitarist, Bill Holland, Code Blue, Long Branch Bar, Mitchell had an acoustic guitar and couldn’t really play all that well, Played gigs in Galveston, Played Red Neck Mother, Two guitars and a bass, Who do you love, Chestnut Mayor, Stage would hold three people standing up, Played at a place called the Den, Their country bands name was the Desperado’s, Texas Crude, The drug band, They played “drug music”, Born To Be Wild, Played at the convention center for the medical school, First medical school in Texas, Punk rock band was called Brain Stem, Got paid 500 dollars, Band used to do a lot of country, They could do a whole country set as well as a rock set, They all became doctors, Music, Tests on black Monday, The week after they would relax and have fun, Freddy Fender came to Galveston, They saw Ray Charles in Galveston, Not many white people there, Ray Charles was really good, Went to Houston, Saw Randy Newman, Captain B Fart, Mitchell had broken his leg, Got Captain B Fart to sign his cast, Had B Fart sign something else but he lost it, Bill still has his autograph on his draft card, Trout Mask, Had a poster of a fake band that B Fart created called the Tragic Band, Rolling Stones album autographed, Austin, Texas, Were still into rock and roll, Listened to Jazz, UT had a cultural entertainment committee, You paid about 20 dollars, Beach boys came, Back up band was the turtles, Flowing Eddie, Return to forever, Had no idea that this kind of music existed, Saw the rolling thunder review while in Austin, Kinky Friedman, Saw Ray Hubbard in Dallas, Austin in the Early 70s, 6th street was developing, Hill country, Luckenbach, Jet Bass for Jerry Jeff, Cosmic Cowboy, Wished he could have stayed in Austin
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