The Chemical Times Try to Tangle His Mind

Artists: Pott. County Pork & Bean Band

Album: Spreadin' It

Song: "Some Other Road"

Fifty songs into Corduroy Mountain, and the time has come to recognize the genesis record for this pursuit of forgotten albums and unknown musicians. Lost in a row of dollar-bin overflow at Vinyl Solution in 2002 was Pott. County Pork & Bean Band, a name so ridiculous and captivating that I fell prey to its immediate charm. The hirstute band members on the cover—four in all—are holding court in a pig pen, the earth as dark as the pigs' coarse hair. They are clothed in denim and plaids, cowboy hippies stuck in their tiny Kansas farm community. But a flip of the cover proves more revealing and tantalizing; Jim Richardson's photography captured the local kids gathering at the local auditorium for a Saturday night of music, dancing and other shenanigans among the discarded cans of Colorado Kool-Aid.

I wanted into this world, circa 1975, where the success of a weekend night could be quantified by the number of hoots, hollers, and handclaps. Until Doc Brown makes his DeLorean available for sale, Pott. County Pork & Bean Band's Spreadin' It album will have to serve as my auditory time machine. Mixed between their set of covers—songs by Merle Haggard, Peter Rowan, and David Bromberg—were two original compositions, including "Some Other Road." The back cover features the subtitle "Alive in Belvue (pop. 176)." Listening to this song I imagine that population increasing by one.