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| Minneapolis folk blues picker Spider John Koerner cut one rockin' single with Blues Project members issued by Elektra UK in '66. |
Despite the initial opposition Bob Dylan faced from his folkie fans for exploring that heathen rock 'n' roll, the record buying public at large were much more welcoming of his decision to expand his horizons. The exponential increase in sales Dylan enjoyed didn't escape Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman who had a guitar-picking folk blues enthusiast of his own on the roster named Spider John Koerner which he thought might benefit from a similar bit of rock 'n' roll retooling.
Dylan and Koerner actually had some history together back in Minnesota although you won't see any of it recreated in the recent Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown." The gregarious Koerner is credited as being the first musician Dylan met on the Minneapolis coffeehouse scene who took the aspiring young musician under his wing, schooling Bobby Zimmerman on the pre-war blues that helped shape Dylan's musical vision. Koerner also introduced Dylan to his Dinkytown pals, 12-string ace Dave "Snaker" Ray and harp blower Tony "Little Sun" Glover who would share local bills. Later, they would band together as Koerner, Ray and Glover and release a number of records both solo and as a group starting with Blues, Rags and Hollers in 1963.
Although Koerner, Ray and Glover's releases sold well with the coffeehouse crowd and like minded musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, by 1966, the times were a changin' and the teen garage band explosion touched off by The Beatles and Rolling Stones was in full-effect. Holzman saw the writing on the wall and Koerner was dispatched to a New York recording studio with the Blues Project's guitarist Al Kooper & drummer Roy Blumenfeld along with future Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi deputized as his backing band. The rollicking results, "Won't You Give Me Some Love" and "Don't Stop" were coupled together as a single for Elektra which was released in the U.K. to coincide with Koerner's brief overseas tour.
Unfortunately, due to the glut of similar sounding rave-ups at the time, Koerner's promising release failed to raise a ruckus with the Brits and was quickly forgotten. In fact, Elektra's man in London Joe Boyd – who typically has a remarkable facility to remember events which occurred five or six decades earlier in minute detail – had no recollection about about Koerner's lone Elektra UK single which wasn't issued in the U.S. or Canada at the time.
Writes Joe Boyd: "I remember Spider John's visit to the UK, but nothing about a single. I think there was an idea that Britain was more receptive to singles - that it would be good publicity to coincide with his UK tour. No point in releasing singles in the US of folk music unless it was far more commercial than Koerner's music."
To be fair, when the single was in the works in 1966, Boyd had one foot out the door of the Elektra office, soon moving on to bigger and better things with the UFO Club, Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention and Nick Drake. He's a great storyteller and you should definitely read his excellent memoir White Bicycles: Making Music In The 1960s and check out his latest book, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain which he'll be launching in Canada at The Rivoli (334 Queen St. West) on April 13.
Since Koerner sadly passed away in 2024 – and the bassist on the session Felix Pappalardi was shot dead by his wife, Gail Collins in 1983 – any attempt to glean more information about the recording from the original participants has been made that much more difficult. There was a chance that Blues Project drummer, Roy Blumenfeld might be able to fill in some of the details about how the recording initially came together... but maybe not.
When I mentioned the Elektra UK single to Blumenfeld, he responded: "That was quite awhile ago. I kind of remember the session, but I don't recall where or much about the recording. Spider John must have been playing at the Gaslight Cafe or the Cafe Au Go Go.
Felix was backing up different folk artists and producing Cream before he played bass with the band Mountain. That's possibly when the session was created.
That's about all I remember."
For now, the story behind "Spider" John Koerner's elusive Elektra UK single will remain a mystery. Both sides of the single were compiled on the "Spider John" LP issued in a limited edtion of 500 copies by the Nero's Neptune label available via Forced Exposure right
here.
If Jac Holzman, Al Kooper or anyone else who has some pertinent information about the recording they'd care to share, feel free to drop me a line here on on Facebook. In the meantime, you can listen to the enjoyable top side "Won't You Give Me Some Love" below.
