The Celebrated Renaissance Band

Columbia, Missouri band active 1968 - 1969 and 1974 - 1976. In 1962, three high school students in the Missouri Ozarks, Jerome Wheeler, Dan William Peek and Dwain "Inky" Peoples, formed a band with the purpose of auditioning for a spot in a seasonal musical revue in Osage Beach, Missouri, "Lee Mace's Hillbilly Hootenanny". The boys got the job and for the next 14 years, Peek and Wheeler toured the country with their bands, "Finklestein & Katz" and "The Celebrated Renaissance Band". With John Mathis (John Evan West) on harp and a changing cast of talented back-up musicians, The Celebrated Renaissance Band created a unique genre of American traditional-based music which they dubbed "Psychedelic Old Time" music. Their stage shows became legendary and their 1969 single "Vibration 2.2" was well received. In 2003 a CD of live recordings was released "REAL LIVE American Music", with most of the tracks culled from a 1974 concert at Boston University, at which time the group had returned to their acoustic roots.