The Bluemont Singers

The group began as the Bluemont Singers, a folk group created in 1962 at K-State by Dimmitt and three of his fraternity brothers, Dimmitt said. They performed for university and fraternity functions and other organizations in Manhattan and the surrounding area. They even won a spot on Ted Mack’s “The Original Amateur Hour,” appearing on national television Jan. 6, 1963. However, a bigger break for the group came that summer when the New Christy Minstrels recruited the regular folk group at the Castaways Lounge in Kansas City, Mo. (Gene Clark, who would later become part of the Byrds, was one of the singers the Christys recruited.) The Castaways, suddenly left without entertainment, hired the Bluemonts to play out the month, then occasionally on the weekends and the following summer. About the same time, Schlosser, a talented bass player, joined the Bluemonts while still in high school. A Kansas City record company recorded them for a live LP album, “The Bluemont Singers at the Castaways.” Another highlight of the summer of ’64, Dimmitt said, was when Connie Stevens, who performed at Starlight Theater, stopped by and sang a couple of songs with the Bluemonts nervously backing the star of “Hawaiian Eye.” The group continued to play the Castaways and the Vanguard Coffee House, also in Kansas City, through their college days, but disbanded as they pursued graduate school and careers. However, Dimmitt and Schlosser, both attorneys, continued to play together in other groups, such as the Kaw Valley Skillet Lickers, the Barristers and the Shyster Mountain Gang.