I haven't seen this thread before, but let throw in a group from the 60's to 70's. The Wes Steven's Trio. Wes played the base fiddle. He also played the trumpet for Al Good's band. Wes is my brother-in-law.
C. T.
C.T. I may have just put two and two together on where your oldest got his given name...his mom's maiden name..? I've always known him by his middle name but know his first is actually Steven.

I don't know if they played in the 60 's, maybe someone can tell me, but I remember a band in the early to mid 's 70's, I think their name was Maya.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

^^^^^^^^
They played in the mid-late seventies and throughout the eighties and even into the very early nineties. They lost their bandleader/drummer to a car wreck in '89, but they soldiered on for a few more years. Definitely a cover band ethos for most of their existence, but VERY tight and polished. Speedy West, Jr. (R.I.P.) was a member. I recall being dragged out to their home base at Cajun's Wharf a time or two by older friends in the late 80s and being surprised by how much fun I had, despite being 21 or 22 and having a pretty different musical preference at the time.

They came pretty close to being a major label success of sorts. Near miss. Here is an Oklahoman article from 1983: https://www.oklahoman.com/article/2047467/whos-that-knockin-on-the-door-its-maya

i've seen maya mentioned on okctalk before but was curious what they sounded like... i searched youtube and they have some recordings. while doing that, i found this collection of 80's bands from okc, which might be interesting to some of you: link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07z-4e7HyY4&list=PLB1lmb6DzXZ1EH7_HNCGntQ9eO3fvPNAZ&index=1)

Maya played several high school dances when I was at Putnam City in the '70s.

And then we hired them for our 10-year class reunion in 1988.

They were awesome; great sound and good presence on stage.


There was another popular local band from that era called Osage. They were more a straight-rock act.

Urbanized,
Actually, I named him after my favorite uncle, Uncle Lafe. His name was actually Eliphalet, a bible name and I believe he was the third son of King David. My uncle went by Lafe so that's what I named my son. You are correct, his first name is Stephen but only because we couldn't decide on a middle name to go with Lafe.
C. T.

While not a 60's band in fact more a 21st century band, whatever happened to "Pinky and The Snakeshakers"?
Pretty good blues band. I think "Pinky" is aka Diane West

Urbanized,
Actually, I named him after my favorite uncle, Uncle Lafe. His name was actually Eliphalet, a bible name and I believe he was the third son of King David. My uncle went by Lafe so that's what I named my son. You are correct, his first name is Stephen but only because we couldn't decide on a middle name to go with Lafe.
C. T.
Ah, always wondered what the origin of Lafe’s name was. One of my very favorite friends through the years; I wish I saw him more often.

Early 70's band out of Norman named "Sahara" was a very good regional band playing jazz/funk/rock. Lot's of Chick Correa, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, etc. Really good. Played often at Sooner Broadcast (main street Norman - Old furniture store turned performance hall/bar). Was the house band at Uncle Charlie's on 36th and Shartel for about a year. Played several times at the Blue Onion.

Anybody remember a cat named Jesse Ed Davis? A Kiowa guy from Anadarko area that eventually played with Taj Mahal and on solo albums of John Lennon and George Harrison.

Also found this about him...


"Davis began his musical career in the late 1950s playing in Oklahoma City and surrounding cities with John Ware (later Emmylou Harris' drummer), John Selk (later Donovan's bass player), Jerry Fisher (later Blood, Sweat & Tears vocalist) Mike Boyle, Chris Frederickson, drummer Bill Maxwell (later Andrae Crouch and Koinonia) and others.

Jesse Ed Davis went to Northeast H.S. Mike Brewer, of Brewer and Shipley, was also at NE at the same time. He started out playing with Conway Twitty and then later with Taj Mahal. He played the solo in Jackson Brown's Doctor My Eyes. I took guitar lessons from him in Norman in around 1965 when he was teaching at Mike Ritchies Guitar shop. He was just Ed Davis at that time. He's buried at the cemetery at Memorial and Kelley in Edmond. Used to go see Jerry Fisher and The Timepiece play at the Blue Onion. Great voice.

Does anyone remember The HoDads from the 60's? They had members from Harding High School, John Marshall High School, and Cassidy. I went with them to Purcell once. So they had about a fifty mile range of influence.

Aside from that, once you got north of the Kansas border, you were in a different world of music. Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, for whatever reason they specialized in horns, and just a bit less on guitars. Those groups billed themselves as "show bands", as they had steps, and bows, and stage techniques. I loved their sounds. Sort of MoTown.
So true about the show bands and horns. Remember the Roaring Red Dogs and The Fabulous Flippers? Great horn bands. They stayed north of Ok for the most part.

Tim Ballard and The 50 Foot Hose.