I saw this band in 1968 at La Cave nightclub in a basement on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. They did a set, then yielded the stage to Taj Mahal and his band. The club where Taj was supposed to play had been raided by the police and closed because there was pot. Linn County Blues Band (as they were known then) played well, though the vocals were rough. I saw this record years later at a used record store and had warm memories.
It’s mostly covers of blues standards by the likes of Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, and Lowell Fulson; a classic Merle Haggard tune; and four songs by the band. The music is fine, the vocals meh.
They played regularly in Chicago, then the record company thought they should drop the ‘blues band’ from their name and move to San Francisco. They played the Fillmore and opened for some big-name bands, but they never had a hit, never really built a following. (There were a lot of bands in San Francisco.) The drummer quit to play in the Full-Tilt Boogie Band behind Janis Joplin and the guy who provided piano, organ, and vocals joined with Elvin Bishop.
converselyspeaking 