Biography
Country Weather arose as one of the lesser-known outfits within San Francisco’s music community during the mid- to late 1960s. High school students Dave Carter on bass and vocals and Steve Derr on rhythm guitar and vocals launched the project in Walnut Creek, a suburb outside the city, forming a covers group called the Virtues in 1966. Paul White on lead guitar and Craig T. Nelson on drums, distinct from the actor of the same name, came aboard soon afterward but were replaced by Greg Douglass and Bill Baron. An audition before promoter Chet Helms in 1967 prompted the musicians to drop cover material and adopt the name Country Weather. Over the following years they performed often at the Avalon Ballroom, Fillmore Auditorium, and Winterland, sharing bills with leading acid rock acts of the period and appearing elsewhere along the West Coast, yet they never obtained a national recording contract. In 1969 the band pressed its own one-sided five-song disc, which gained airplay on local stations.
Country Weather dissolved at the start of 1973 when Douglass and Baron left to create the group Mistress. Douglass subsequently joined the Steve Miller Band and worked with Van Morrison, among others. Carter appeared in a lineup of Quicksilver Messenger Service and in the band assembled by former Moby Grape member Skip Spence. The original group reassembled in August 2000 to play a benefit show for a friend awaiting a liver transplant. What began as a single performance evolved into a permanent reunion featuring Carter, Derr, Graham Cooper on lead guitar and vocals, and Lloyd Ferris, an ex-member of Appaloosa, on drums and vocals. In 2003 the name changed to Weather after Ferris departed and Terry Ratza took the drum chair. Swiss label RD Records, devoted to unreleased recordings from the 1960s and early 1970s, issued the double-vinyl debut album Country Weather in 2005, drawing on vintage tracks cut between 1969 and 1971.
Country Weather dissolved at the start of 1973 when Douglass and Baron left to create the group Mistress. Douglass subsequently joined the Steve Miller Band and worked with Van Morrison, among others. Carter appeared in a lineup of Quicksilver Messenger Service and in the band assembled by former Moby Grape member Skip Spence. The original group reassembled in August 2000 to play a benefit show for a friend awaiting a liver transplant. What began as a single performance evolved into a permanent reunion featuring Carter, Derr, Graham Cooper on lead guitar and vocals, and Lloyd Ferris, an ex-member of Appaloosa, on drums and vocals. In 2003 the name changed to Weather after Ferris departed and Terry Ratza took the drum chair. Swiss label RD Records, devoted to unreleased recordings from the 1960s and early 1970s, issued the double-vinyl debut album Country Weather in 2005, drawing on vintage tracks cut between 1969 and 1971.
Albums