The Sherwoods (2)

The Sherwoods were a late 60's Psychedelic,Garage Band, based in Houston, Texas. This Corpus Christi,Texas quintet became popular from 1968-69, releasing two 45's on Smash Records in 1969. The Sherwoods were: Michael Claxton (lead & backing vocals) Johnny Clary (drums, lead & backing vocals) David Franklin (lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals) Jim Frye (lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals) Kenny Blanchet (bass). Essentially a psychedelic punk outfit, patterned after bands such as the Moving Sidewalks (featuring Billy Gibbons), the Chocolate Watch Band and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, there music featured lots of extended jams on guitar, alternately spaced-out, languid vocals and intense, R&B-inspired pieces. Their live shows were always impressive and it was one such performance in Austin,Texas that got them signed by Mercury Records. The band recorded three singles on the Smash label for Mercury Records during a session in LA in 1969. Off the three singles only two were ever released and all to little success. The first and best known release was "I Know You Cried" with the flipside "If You Could See", the second single "No Deposit, No Return" with the B side "Ride Baby Ride" was released in 1970 and the unreleased third track was a slow song called "Things are Gonna Change". After two years together, the group broke up in early 1970 amid personal difficulties and members' problems with the Vietnam-era draft. Three members of the band remain active in music in the 1990s, Franklin and Frye in Feo Y Loco, and Blanchet in the Houston-based group the Hightailers.