Biography
Little concrete information survives about this ensemble, which may have been either two separate outfits or successive versions of one. What stands out is that a Baton Rouge-originated unit known as Cold Grits crossed paths with notable figures over a period of roughly three or four years.
Its story reaches back at least to 1968, when the musicians served as the live and recording backing band for John Fred, the artist behind “Judy in Disguise,” on Uni Records releases. According to a post on Lafayette, LA-based researcher Dan Phillips’s blog, the lineup included Hog Cowart on bass, Jimmy O’Rourke on guitar, Billy Carter on keyboards, and Tubby Ziegler on drums.
The group was later absorbed into the Uni Records soul act the Sister and Brothers, fronted by Geraldine “Sister Gerry” Richard. That outfit issued three singles produced and co-written by Ron Shaab, with co-production credit listed under “Cold Gritz” (sic). The same year Atco Records released an instrumental treatment of the Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” backed with “Bring It on Home to Me,” issued under the Cold Grits name.
By 1969 the musicians had parted from John Fred and relocated to Birmingham, AL, where they accumulated extensive studio hours and performed countless live shows, at first in connection with recording entrepreneur Bob Grove of Prestige Recording Studio and Unity Records. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler encountered their work and arranged for them to move to his label’s Criteria Studios in Miami; there they supplied backing tracks for Wilson Pickett and Jackie Moore, among others, and cut their lone 45.
The narrative grows tangled at this stage because another Baton Rouge group called Cold Gritz & the Blackeyed Peas also appears. One unnamed contributor to Phillips’s blog states that “the Blackeyed Peas” included Candy Staton and her sisters along with additional friends, while the identity of the accompanying Cold Grits players remains unclear; they may have been assembled by Grove to trade on the earlier group’s name. The original Cold Grits, meanwhile, spent time in Miami supporting Brook Benton on “Rainy Night in Georgia” and numerous other high-profile artists and recordings.
Around 1970 the situation grew still more convoluted when Cold Gritz (or possibly some of its former members) moved to Los Angeles, signed with Lou Adler’s Ode Records label, and released the single “Bayou Country.” New Orleans-based soul singer Luther Kent joined the lineup, yet “personnel problems” caused the band to dissolve before the single could gain traction or the album’s worth of material they had recorded could see release.
Further complicating matters, the Los Angeles group’s guitarist during the early 1970s was Duke Bardwell—Luther Kent’s cousin and onetime bassist with the Baton Rouge garage band the Basement Wall—who also worked with Tom Rush, Bonnie Raitt, and Elvis Presley. Whether any direct connection existed between the two ensembles is unknown. What is evident is that both units, assuming they were distinct, vanished around 1971.
On a clearer note, Ziegler and Cowart went on to substantial careers in the 1970s: Ziegler worked with Stephen Stills, and both musicians contributed to major recordings by the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, and Dolly Parton, among other prominent artists.
Its story reaches back at least to 1968, when the musicians served as the live and recording backing band for John Fred, the artist behind “Judy in Disguise,” on Uni Records releases. According to a post on Lafayette, LA-based researcher Dan Phillips’s blog, the lineup included Hog Cowart on bass, Jimmy O’Rourke on guitar, Billy Carter on keyboards, and Tubby Ziegler on drums.
The group was later absorbed into the Uni Records soul act the Sister and Brothers, fronted by Geraldine “Sister Gerry” Richard. That outfit issued three singles produced and co-written by Ron Shaab, with co-production credit listed under “Cold Gritz” (sic). The same year Atco Records released an instrumental treatment of the Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” backed with “Bring It on Home to Me,” issued under the Cold Grits name.
By 1969 the musicians had parted from John Fred and relocated to Birmingham, AL, where they accumulated extensive studio hours and performed countless live shows, at first in connection with recording entrepreneur Bob Grove of Prestige Recording Studio and Unity Records. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler encountered their work and arranged for them to move to his label’s Criteria Studios in Miami; there they supplied backing tracks for Wilson Pickett and Jackie Moore, among others, and cut their lone 45.
The narrative grows tangled at this stage because another Baton Rouge group called Cold Gritz & the Blackeyed Peas also appears. One unnamed contributor to Phillips’s blog states that “the Blackeyed Peas” included Candy Staton and her sisters along with additional friends, while the identity of the accompanying Cold Grits players remains unclear; they may have been assembled by Grove to trade on the earlier group’s name. The original Cold Grits, meanwhile, spent time in Miami supporting Brook Benton on “Rainy Night in Georgia” and numerous other high-profile artists and recordings.
Around 1970 the situation grew still more convoluted when Cold Gritz (or possibly some of its former members) moved to Los Angeles, signed with Lou Adler’s Ode Records label, and released the single “Bayou Country.” New Orleans-based soul singer Luther Kent joined the lineup, yet “personnel problems” caused the band to dissolve before the single could gain traction or the album’s worth of material they had recorded could see release.
Further complicating matters, the Los Angeles group’s guitarist during the early 1970s was Duke Bardwell—Luther Kent’s cousin and onetime bassist with the Baton Rouge garage band the Basement Wall—who also worked with Tom Rush, Bonnie Raitt, and Elvis Presley. Whether any direct connection existed between the two ensembles is unknown. What is evident is that both units, assuming they were distinct, vanished around 1971.
On a clearer note, Ziegler and Cowart went on to substantial careers in the 1970s: Ziegler worked with Stephen Stills, and both musicians contributed to major recordings by the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, and Dolly Parton, among other prominent artists.