Rich here. You think you know who The McCoys are, right? They were the band of teenagers whose record "Hang On, Sloopy" stormed the charts back in 1965 and was subsequently adopted in the set list of every teenage dance band for years to come. However, except for a single or two nudging into the lower reaches of the charts in the next year or two, The McCoys mostly disappeared after "Sloopy."
But in the late Sixties, a handful of listeners of the newly emerging free-form FM radio format may have heard "Jesse Brady" -- a surprising single that featured an extended blues guitar solo, a brassy horn section (thanks to producer Fred Lipsius, who was the saxophonist for Blood, Sweat & Tears), and the macho bragging sentiments of "watch out, fellas; your girl knows me 'cause I get around." The FM deejays asked, "This is The McCoys???"
Obviously, The McCoys weren't the teen-dance group of "Hang On, Sloopy" fame, anymore, and their 1969 album, "Infinite McCoys," was full of the kinds of experimentation associated with the post-"Sgt. Pepper" Era of Rock. Psychedelia, blues, jazz, and folk all combined to demand that this new iteration of The McCoys be taken seriously. And in the middle of it all was the band's leader, a hotshot guitar player who would later become a star in his own right when he changed his name from Rick Zehringer to Rick Derringer.
Here's a taste of the psychedelic McCoys:
