After All

In 1969 a quartet of seasoned Tallahassee musicians from Florida assembled After All on short notice, with the ensemble lasting only a few months and registering as little more than a passing reference in accounts of late-1960s Florida rock. Their solitary studio venture nevertheless delivered an atmospheric specimen of progressive pop laced with acid-rock textures that recaptures the decade’s full measure of rhythmic ease and spontaneous daring, even if it falls short of the era’s most celebrated rarities. Every participant had already logged years in rhythm-and-blues and jazz units reaching back to the late 1950s, appearing at clubs and gatherings throughout the Tallahassee vicinity. Drummer Mark Ellerbee, newly returned from Vietnam and freshly graduated from the Florida State School of Music, crossed paths with keyboardist Alan Gold, another Florida State alumnus then working in one of the region’s leading nightclub outfits. Bassist Bill Moon and jazz guitarist Charles Short, both established figures on the local circuit, completed the roster. The musicians hoped to shape a concept album that would fuse several then-current idioms—acid and classical rock, elaborate formal designs, and dreamlike verse. They enlisted local poet Linda Hargrove, still in her early years, to supply words for the bulk of the material. Because a Nashville producer they knew agreed to cut a speculative album at no charge provided the sessions moved rapidly, the group entered the studio in 1969 and tracked After All in a matter of days. Once Athena Records issued the album, the instrumentalists headed back to Florida and resumed their separate livelihoods, whereas Hargrove remained in Nashville and built a quietly distinguished career as a country singer, songwriter, and performer.