Too Smooth - Live & Kickin

If you were fortunate enough to live in Austin in the 1970s, you experienced firsthand one of the most bountiful musical eras in American history. The thing is, if you were there, you knew it was special while it was happening. You didn't need a historian fifteen years down the road to let you know what you'd been through. The scene was anchored in the explosion they called Outlaw Country, which comfortably rubbed shoulders with a solid blues scene. One of the most popular acts in the city, though, was the rock band Too Smooth. Formed in 1973, Too Smooth featured stunning songs and twin guitar runs; intricate time changes and fall-off-the-cliff dynamics; riverine vocal melodies, close gospel harmonies and bubbling musical improvisations. These were elements of what was coming to be called progressive rock and associated with acts ranging from Yes to Wishbone Ash - yet Too Smooth also offered a decided tip of the hat to the proud tradition of Lone Star boogie, blues, and hard rock. Too Smooth should have become one of the most successful rock acts in the world; as it turned out, they had to settle for simply being one of the best. BIOGRAPHY The genesis of Too Smooth came from the fortuitous collision of two groups, the Austin band Phoenix, with guitarist Jeff Clark and drummer Tom Holden, and Applejack from Beeville with guitarist Brian Wooten and bass player Danny Swinney. Clark and Holden were the primary vocalists and songwriters, and each had a distinctive compositional flair: Holden wrote with a bluesy, barroom energy while Clark's tunes were more fluid and melodic. Wooten co-wrote many of the early years' staple songs and quickly developed into a songwriter of equal prowess to Clark and Holden. Swinney contributed to the material, as well, and each song underwent a filtering process wherein the entire group arranged and imprinted the songs in rehearsal and live performance. As such, despite a diversity of sonic possibilities on any given song, there was a without question an exuberant and distinct "Too Smooth sound." This was polished, early on, in what must have seemed a prescription setting for a young rock band; the quartet lived on a 42-acre farm outside Austin, paying $500 a month rent and subsisting largely on a diet of vegetables that had everything to do with poverty and very little with any attempts at nutrition. Though the lushly fertile Austin scene was at the time drunk - literally and metaphorically - on the whole redneck rock movement, Too Smooth became hugely popular almost overnight, filling the big name clubs of the day and establishing a virtual residency at the town's most famous venue, Armadillo World Headquarters. In 1974, the band signed a deal with the Just Sunshine label and recorded an album in Sausalito - work was being completed at the same time as Just Sunshine was engulfed by ABC/Dunhill as part of a larger corporate takeover. Too Smooth returned to Austin wiser and optimistic - and continued a gradual conquering of not just Central Texas but the whole state. In addition to record crowds in nightclubs, they began to perform with national touring acts. They appeared with - and frequently destroyed - headliners such as Ted Nugent, Spirit, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rush, Judas Priest, Ten Years After, Roxy Music, Foreigner, Rory Gallagher, and The Kinks. Gigs at the Armadillo became concert events, and Too Smooth drew over 6000 people in one of the most successful shows of the city's famous outdoor music series at Zilker Hillside. The guys continued to write new material and, about a year after the Just Sunshine fiasco, the Artists & Relations exec who had originally signed them for that label surfaced at Buddha Records, which at the time was a considerable force in the music industry as home to such acts as Charlie Daniels and Gladys Knight & the Pips. This time Too Smooth was flown to the legendary Criteria studios in Miami where they began to record. The idea was for the company to release a Too Smooth single, develop some momentum and name recognition for the band, and then follow up with a full length album.A Brian Wooten tune, "Song For the World," was selected as the inaugural single. It was released in February, 1976, and Billboard magazine immediately proclaimed it a "Pick of the Week." In what must have seemed a spookily familiar occurrence, and in a development that would later become routine in the music industry, Buddha underwent swift and significant changes in management personnel, which included the A&R exec leaving immediately. This resulted not only in a quagmire in the label's talent roster but also ultimately ushered in fatal financial problems for the company. So, even as "Song For the World" began to score some airplay from scattered distribution (and no company promotion) in markets across the country - and was heard as far away as Japan - a complete album was never recorded and the band's contract was terminated. Before Too Smooth had much time to develop full-scale depression over the situation, Mercury Records came calling. Reps flew to Austin and the band put on a blowtorch of a show before 1,300 screaming fans at the Armadillo. Unfortunately, though label personnel raved about the band, confusion in the company's organizational hierarchy grew into a massive headache - and once again, for reasons that had nothing to do with talent, Too Smooth was left without a deal. In '78, understandably frustrated by ill fortune, the band explored the idea of recording their own album with the hopes of either selling it to a national label or perhaps forming their own record company. They also came up with the novel concept of performing a concert featuring an expansive set list of songs from their catalog -- and allowing fans to vote on which tunes would actually ended up on the record. By this point, Too Smooth had and could perform live over 80 original songs - including a handful of selections from a 19-tune rock opera penned by Clark called "Man of Fortune." But despite good intentions, the stress and disappointments over their meteoric rise and Job-like run of bad luck started to take it's toll. Labels were still expressing interest, but the wide-ranging diversity of Too Smooth's material, which had once been such an attraction, was suddenly a liability. Record companies were starting to focus on a new definition of what was commercial and began to target a lowest-common-denominator demographic. And suddenly, the first shift in personnel occurred. In the Fall of '78, Holden, whose songs had always defined the band's most basic rock sound, left the group and was to be replaced by the renowned drummer Chris Skiles from the popular Dallas band Lightning. At the same time, Too Smooth decided to expand the cascading and melodic textures of the band by adding guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Don Townsley, another Lightning veteran. Prior to beginning rehearsals, Skiles withdrew from Too Smooth to explore a recording opportunity on the West Coast. Luckily the band found Phil Dalmolin from San Antonio who quickly learned the material and Too Smooth was up and running again. Skiles returned and committed to the band in March of '79. It was this five-piece lineup that recorded and released a single for the burgeoning Armadillo label, the house record company for Armadillo World Headquarters. Clark's "Mamie Mama" was on the A side; if the band had a designated anthem among fans from it's dozens of popular songs, "Mamie Mama" was it. On the B side was a catchy Townsley track called "Don't Stop Lovin' Me." But despite new material and energy and a regional single, the band's original core continued to dwindle. Wooten, following a spiritual calling, was the next original member to leave the fold. Months later Danny Swinney took an offer to go on the road with old friend Christopher Cross - leaving Clark the last original member. Ronny Ward, who had played with both Skiles and Townsley, answered the call and the las