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Used Parts, page 2
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Early poster
One of our posters, designed by Mike Barlow, who often worked for barter.
 I may have traded him an old Chevy truck or a Kawasaki motorcycle for this poster design.
I like the guy drinking from an oil can.
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Jim Wilson joins the band.

Jim Wilson with CS&B
 In 1979, we added Jim Wilson.  Buddy and John knew Jim from their playing together in Country Strings and Brass; Jim was the "brass" part.  Jim played (plays) tenor saxophone and sang a few numbers.  At the time, Jim owned a little grocery store in downtown Eudora.  He was a little older than the rest of us, with a wife and two teen-aged daughters, but we didn't hold that against him.  He'd been playing in the area since around 1959, his first band being
The Sliders, who were very popular in their day.

We all played in more than one band at the time; I played with the Richmen Express and/or Billy Spears; John, Jim, and Bud played with Country Strings and Brass; and we all had "pickup" and miscellaneous gigs going on.

The photo to the left is from the Lawrence Journal World, probably 1977 or so.


Here are some MP3s from a 1979 gig at the Off-the-Wall Hall with both Lee and Jim playing.

This recording was made on a recorder which turned too fast, so playback was too slow.  I had to jump through some hoops to get it to the right speed!
Nobody But You - Becky sings this Little Walter tune
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag - the band gets a good groove on this James Brown song.  You can tell that it had been a while since Jim had played this kind of music.  He got the hang of it pretty quickly.
Funny But I Still Love You - a great ballad from Ray Charles's Atlantic-Records era.
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You) - this up swing number was on Elvis's first album, and it's a good one.
"Just a Little Bit" followed with "Goin' Out of My Head" - Lee singing the former, Becky the latter.
Don't Let Go - Lee sings this fun old song, written by Jesse Stone.
I Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters classic.
Flip, Flop, and Fly - Andy's perennial greatest hit, a medley of lyrics from Big Joe Turner.

Lee left the band - amicably - at the end of 1979, so we were back to five members.  I recall that we added Greg Mackender on piano and organ for maybe a couple of gigs.  He was excellent and fit right in musically, but I think we just didn't have enough work to keep him interested.  After all, we all had something else to do; Used Parts was pretty much a part-time thing.
*** NOTE:  Along with Billy Spears, Lee McBee is being inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame March 7, 2009! ***
*** Bill Lynch (see below) was inducted in 2007 as a member of Tide. ***

Used Parts Deluxe JW ad
 At any given gig, we might have friends sitting in.  Lee McBee and Bill Lynch often sat in, together or separately.  Bill Lynch had been in the area since around 1970 and had played in a bunch of bands, including Tide.  He'd also played on occasion with Mike Finnegan.  He was a super-dynamic singer and fine guitar player (still is, as far as I know - I last talked to him in about 1999, and he was in the L.A. area playing in a zydeco band).

See the ad for "Used Parts Deluxe" playing at the Off-the-Wall Hall, featuring guests Bill Lynch and Jim Wilson.

I included some of the other ads on this page for a reason.  Notice that Country Strings and Brass, featuring Jim Wilson, were at the Knights of Columbus the following night, and "The Sensational Dwane Richardson and the Richman [sic] Express" were at the Topeka K of C - but no date is given!


Sonny and Terry poster
 We also were the band most often called on to warm up for any visiting blues artists appearing at the Opera House.  We warmed up for Muddy Waters, Flash Cadillac, Asleep at the Wheel, John Mayall (whom were better than IMHO), Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. 

Sonny and Brownie I will always remember, as they made a sound you would consider unbelievable coming from an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.  GREAT STUFF.  Hard to believe they didn't even like each other.

Jim Wilson said that Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel tried hard to get him to join his band when we warmed up for them.  I don't doubt it a bit (although the rest of Jim's story, as is so often the case, is suspect).

We also warmed up for Homesick James and the Dusters at the Off-the-Wall Hall.

None of these warm-up gigs paid worth a damn, but it was a chance to hear some real giants up close and personal, play to large crowds, and maybe get a nice mention in a review.

Here's a review of the Muddy Waters concert from "The Catchword," a Kansas City weekly entertainment magazine.  Muddy was good, of course, but he was old and tired compared to the time the Penetrations warmed up for him seven and a half years earlier.
Muddy Waters review

Although it wasn't Used Parts per se, "the boys" plus Jim Stringer were hired to play with Eddie Harris, the jazz saxophonist, at the Opera House.  It was the dead of winter and, apparently, the Opera House had neglected paying the gas bill.  It was damned cold.  Here's what Jim Stringer wrote about that gig:
"The other memorable (or NOT) gig that you and I, John and Buddy did was the thing with Eddie Harris at the Dog (or whatever it was at THAT time), though I've certainly tried to erase that from memory! I think we all expected he'd play "Listen Here" and "Compared to What", but he had a book of be-bop, none of which I'd ever even heard before, though I'd been playing nothing but be-bop at the time! Eddie showed up about 15 minutes AFTER the gig was supposed to start... I don't recall that there were many people there anyway. I think he was pretty miffed by the whole thing -- I mean TWO guitar players? All white boys!"
Here's a picture of Eddie Harris, with John Lomas in the background, at that gig:




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Copyright 2006 by Andy Curry