The Jay Hawkers came out of Bay City, Michigan and were led by Jay Walker, who was later a DJ on WKNX (1210 AM) in Saginaw, Michigan and WGRD, eventually changing his name as Sonny Fox.
I’ve sometimes seen them listed as a Grand Rapids band, but the promo photo above comes from Delta Productions in Bay City.
Discographies tend to list them as the backing band for a single by Dwight Douglas and the Jayhawkers on Astra 3008 – “Interstate ’45′” (L. Drake, J. Stokes) / “Mr. Big” (Lenny Drake). This is a pseudonym for Lenny & the Thundertones, who were based out of Detroit. Certainly the songs were cut several years prior to the Deltron records, so I have to believe this is a different band.
Delta Productions seems to have had their own label, Deltron.
Deltron 21 (1227) – The Jayhawkers – “Dawn Of Instruction” (Trusdale Music, BMI) / “Searchin'”
As I wrote in an article about certain topical songs of the mid-60s, the Jayhawkers’ “Dawn of Instruction” is a straightforward inversion of P.F. Sloan’s “Eve of Destruction”. With over-the-top lyrics like “even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’ … my blood’s so mad feels like coagulatin”, “Eve of Destruction” was an easy target. The Jayhawkers made the most of the hyperbole in their answer song, singing lines like “step aside, Mister Doom Peddler” and “[we’re] not old enough to vote, but ain’t young enough for runnin”.
The Jayhawkers version came out in October 1965, just a month after Barry McGuire’s recording hit #1 in Billboard. Interestingly there’s no song writing credit for this side, only Trusdale Music publishing, which, as Max Waller pointed out, is probably a dig at “Eve of Destruction” publisher Trousdale.
Deltron 1228 – The Jay Hawkers – “To Have A Love (As Sweet As You)” (T. Saputo, B. Kirener) / “Send Her Back” (Walker, Huntleigh)
Their second single came out in April, 1966, this time Jay Hawkers listed as two separate words. Both sides show a very different side to the band, and for me this is the best of their singles. “To Have A Love (As Sweet As You)” is catchy and very commercial. The song seems to be original to the band, though I don’t think the writers were members of the group.
“Send Her Back” is a slow and very affecting ballad. It may be the only song they recorded that was written by people in the band, namely Walker and Huntleigh.
The Jay Hawkers continued with two more singles, all cover songs in different styles:
Lucky Eleven 232 – “Come On (Children)” / “A Certain Girl” (produced by “Terry Nnight” aka Terry Knight, October 1966)
Lyke Til 4147 – “Love Have Mercy” / “Baby Blue” (Produced by Jay Walker, June, 1967)
The Deltron label
I can find three, maybe four, more releases on this Deltron label out of Bay City:
Deltron 812 – The One Way Pedestrians – “I’d Like to Say (I Love You)” (Rod Clowthier) / “Hey Miss Sally” (I haven’t heard either side yet)
Deltron 813 – The Bed of Roses – “Hate” / “I Don’t Believe You” (August 1967)
Deltron AR895 – Dick Rabbit “Take Me to L.A.” / “You Come on Like a Train” (both by The Thayber Brothers, produced by James Atherton, Package Music BMI)
Dick Rabbit also had “Love” (Phil Gordon, Rich Thayer) / “Trip” (Donavan) on Great Lakes GL-103, both published by Rabbit Music Co.
The Bed of Roses I will cover in an upcoming post.
Deltron SS-6518 – The Deltrons (Craig, Bob, Dan, Greg) – “I Found My Baby in Bad Axe” / “Tonya” (Dan Richards, Greg Young) from April 1966
The Deltrons single is crude and great garage single on “Tonya”. I doubted it was related to the Deltron label from Bay City but the group recorded in nearby Sebewaing, so it likely is. I cover the Deltrons in more depth here.
Photo at top from the West Michigan Music Hysterical Society.
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