Gary Gordon / Jim Elwyn / Del Herbert - Farm
Gordon: I was born Sept. 1, 1953 in Red Bud, IL. I spent my early years in the rural Sparta, IL. area. My dad worked on the farm and I was with him a lot. If we were around the barn we'd listen to a transistor radio which played pop, country and folk music. I remember riding in the truck into town and hearing "Wake Up Little Susie" from the Everly Brothers for the first time. Dad and I loved it upon first hearing. It was in those first few pre school years that I first bonded with songs. A mix of music from the folk boom, Peter Paul and Mary, country and bluegrass along novelty stuff like Flying Purple People Eater, and current rock of Elvis Presley. Most weekends we visited aunts and uncles or they came to our home to visit. One of my aunts was a fan of country music of the day and played acoustic guitar. It really impressed me when she'd play songs that we could sing along to. Our local "county fairs" featured stars of the Grand Ole Opry. I had a guitar teacher named Webb Welten, sometimes known as Spider Webb. He was a fine steel guitarist, good electric guitarist too. Webb took a special interest in helping me. Together we travelled to see some fine groups from the Opry. In those days like music wasn't loud. It was clear, clean and full sounding. The groups had good vocals beautiful Fender, Gibson and Gretch instruments, Wurlitzer electric pianos, Ludwig or Slingerland drum sets and splendid stage outfits.
Herbert: Born in Mt Vernon- not good at sports - saw Ed Sullivan Beatles - wasn’t until I heard a live band playing in 7th grade -2 guitars and drummer - probably playing Wipe Out and it really hit me - so took lessons Ludwig’s music in Mt Vernon- stayed with it like computer games today for kids - a good addition I guess - but not too much support from family because of the 60s thing- just a small faction were into new music- long haired people - then The Doors - Jimi Hendrix- Cream - the guys I played with liked psychedelic - guys I eventually meet liked the blues - when we eventually joined up - guys from Mt Vernon and guys from Sparta - we started writing songs - with combinations of - psychedelic + blues- always listening and looking at bands for ideas.
Gordon: The PAs were almost always Altec Voice of the Theater systems. Sometimes groups had Shure Vocalmaster PA systems which were nowhere close to the fidelity of the Altecs. One show that greatly impressed me was Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton along with Mel Tillis. Webb took me to the state fair where I saw Buck Owens and the Buckeroos. They had Fender Twin Reverb and Dual Showman amps. Powerful, super clear and the loudest band I'd heard up to then. Telecasters really project thru Fender Twin Reverb amps! Best of all was how well they played together and the vocals of Buck and Don Rich were killer. I heard a lot of top country groups, Earnest Tubb, Merle Haggard, The Wilburn Brothers, many who became legendary. There were tons of honky-tonks in our area. I would sneak into one called The Sark Club to hear The Gents. I fine rhythm and blues group with horns and Hammond B3. Over fifty years later I mixed and mastered their first single from the mid-sixties. At age 12 I was asked to start jamming with an older drummer and bassist.
Herbert: With radio stations playing country music or pop - little access to underground rock - on station in St Louis- FM - in our area a station that were not allowed to play Beatles, or rock and roll - it’s FM took the whole radio span - when Farm would play we were younger than 21 - no many options- sometimes we would book a gig and be sent home packing- mostly original music- we drove around in a farm truck or fans - that could afford a vehicle, but we were the only game in the area - which produced big crowds- long haired freaky people- we were fueled with youth and supporters- a subculture- them and us — not money ever - not “ sold out”.
Gordon: We'd play together several hours in the bassist's home each week. When someone great would come on the tv his Dad would holler downstairs and we'd come up and see artists like Bill Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, ect. Our trio did a few parties in the basement and went to a local tavern for a set where we had free sodas. We had good instruments by then. Slingerland drums, Fender Bass and amp, and I had Fender Mustang guitar with Delux Reverb amp. In 1963 The Beatles broke big in our area. We were quite a bit ahead of the rest of the country hearing "She Loves You" by August of '63. Most of my friends were turning on to The Beatles and so did I. I remember watching "Little Stevie Wonder" that summer on TV. A few years later Dad and I were at a wrestling match at the fairgrounds. The halftime entertainers were a local band with bass, drums, lead guitar and lead vocalist who played harmonica. I really enjoyed their sound. Less than a year later their singer was drafted. I auditioned and got the gig as vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
Gordon: At age 13 I began playing semi professionally for a decent wage. It was intimidating at first. I was always among the youngest in the crowd. I had been playing music with Jim Elwyn for some years when I met Del Herbert. We did several gigs at teen dances together. Our drummer went away to college and we teamed up with Mike Young on drums, Steve Evenchik on percussion and harp. We had a lead singer who played flute named Joe Cooper. Our first rehearsal was the day of the first moon landing! Immediately we felt it gel like never before. George Leemon came in to help with the PA and we were off and running. I especially remember how strong the rhythm section was and how rock solid the timing was. Del and I listened real closely and worked together well. Not trying to show off but to work together for the best sound. Jim and I had been working under the name Farm so when we teamed up with the Mt. Vernon boys we just kept the name. All of us were by then deeply influenced by the underground sounds of groups on FM radio at the time. Beatles, Stones, The Who, Doors along with black blues artists like Albert King. We rehearsed in Mike Young's home. It must have rocked the foundation pretty well. Our sound wasn't the buzzy, fuzzy sound most groups had.
Elwyn: I was always into music. My mother was an accomplished pianist so music was the soundtrack of my youth. I started out on percussion in grade school and gravitated to bass around the age of 9. The first time I remember being influenced by the bass was at the county fair. There was a band playing in front of the grandstands that blew me away. I stood in front of the bass player hypnotized for the whole show. A Fender bass into a Fender Bass-Man amp! The power and feel was like nothing I had experienced before. A few years later Gary Gordon and I rode a greyhound buss to the city to see the Who in concert. It was totally life changing to witness John Entwistle live!! I was on a mission after that. Other influences were Jack Bruce and Berry Oakley.
Herbert: So many stories - the band only lasted 2-3 years after High school - with no way to playin bars legally- even though we did - our crowd at weren’t big drinkers- without gigs and management no place to turn - Jim Morrison sings - When summer’s gone - where will we be? - summer was gone the war was over for now - with Farm - it seems we never fought- we’d bitch together - but as young kids we couldn’t fight with each other- therefore we parted ways - but today it seems like bands don’t really break up - 40 years later we did a reunion- we had all still been active in music in other ways - and continued to play individually, or with a few of the farm boys - hard rock - bluegrass- blues - I was worried we couldn’t live up to expectations with a reunion- we rehearsed and rearranged our songs- an did jams from the 60s Allman brothers- Donovan’s season of the witch- real hippie shit lol - Psycho Del lic styles not experienced today — live since the 60s After the reunion - I overheard some people say- they are better than I remember- mission accomplished!! - It wasn’t until the COVID times isolating people to YouTube for new entertainment- new old garage band stuff- did I see the hits on farm album- ?
Gordon: We didn't use any pedals so our sound was very clear and powerful. Song ideas came to us, we experimented and played off one another had a song down by the time we'd honed it in on stage. Dynamic range was important to us. We bring the volume way down to way up depending upon the parts and the song. Nothing at all like what you hear from stages today where the music pretty much stays at one level. I don't remember any particular preparation for doing the record. We took our gear up to Crusade Studio and the roadies began to bring everything into the studio. Jerry steps in and says "Wait, no we won't be using all these amps". We only used one amp and one speaker cab each. I broke it down to just one 4x12 cab and Jim had one cab with 2x15 JBLs. Del was using a Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp with 2x10 speakers as I recall. We sat up in a large open room with insulated panels between us. We could see each other and were pretty close together. I think we did two takes of one of the songs. When we took a break to do the vocals and lay in an acoustic rhythm guitar.
Gordon: Jerry Milam (engineer and owner of Golden Voice) came over to me and said he'd just been recording REO Speedwagon. He went on to say we were much stronger and he felt we had a lot more promise. That meant a lot to me. Up in the control room I listened to some playback and asked Jerry how they got the sound so nice. He pointed to the API console and went over to a rack with some Pultecs and LA2a units. Saying "It's pretty much right here". The gear was great and still among the most sought after gear today. It seems to me that we had a short day's work in tracking. Just a part of a day, before noon till mid afternoon. Although more time was spent getting the gear in and tested, tuned up, etc. I tuned by ear and I don't recall a Conn strobe tuner being used. I don't know how many LPs were initially pressed. Some 8 track tapes were made as well. We went from the studio to doing what we'd been doing before.
Herbert: I remember-Farm would record on the reel to reel when playing live at all shows- afterwards- the first thing unloaded was the PA and reel to reel - it would be playing while - usually inner circle farm fans were gladly helping- those were the days lol - Farm players chillin an listenin’ - I remember walking in a hearin’ music I didn’t recognize? thinking we were probably listening to albums- when I would start to recognize- It was US in a long jam with double guitars playing lead at the same time- which we had done since the 60s in high school- - anytime listening back - one guitar would catch your attention and other would compliment— next time same song the opposite could occur- we later heard this done by Wishbone Ash -Allman bros - Blind Faith - sometimes one of us would say I like that let’s keep that flavor for next time and see where it goes - those days we’d play about 5-6 songs a set - like I said we were young and healthy and passionate- 3 of us married by the way- - I would also agree with Gary the singer guitar player- the Drums and Bass were solid as Motown - a metronome so to speak which if a band doesn’t have- they are done - no way to get around it - so looking back it happened so naturally a over so quickly- Like the seasons for a farmer - the album was recorded in -about 3 hours- it just barely captures us - no jamming- no playing together-just a structure- I thought that it will be a good sample for something possible bigger - never happened- YouTube revived the album- I’ve long understood that all the tape were in a house fire. To quote Homer — DOH !!!-
Gordon: Playing gigs where folks loved it. Folks were into the music in those days without the distractions of today. There were a lot of places that had live music. We had help with booking from Irving Azoff at Blytham Agency and Ike Haislar Booking Agency. Looking back on it today I'm so thankful we had the help of a great sound-man in George Leemon along with roadies that made our work together so much easier. I'm also thankful that we landed in the right place to record. I don't know quite how it happened but I do know that Jerry and his assistant had it together. We were in the right place. As for our breakup.... Del Herbert's baby died and I attribute that tragedy as having a big effect on his well being. In live performance, our guitar work was far greater than the sum of two. Each of us ignited the other. There was no-one we knew to fill his shoes.
https://www.instagram.com/guerssen/
https://farmband.bandcamp.com/album/farm
Dakota Brown
