Goose Creek Symphony

Emerging from the Phoenix, Arizona vicinity, Goose Creek Symphony took shape as a country-tinged offshoot linked to Richie Hart & the Heart Beats. Vocalist and guitarist Charles Gearheart, also known as Richie Hart, had grown up “up Goose Creek Hollow” in Floyd County, Kentucky; when assembling his good-time country-rock outfit he therefore borrowed both the musical traditions of that region and the name of his childhood hollow. In 1970 Gearheart and several local studio musicians cut a batch of songs and offered them to Capitol Records. Once the label extended a deal, Gearheart had to recruit a working road band. Banjo player and fiddler Fred Weisz was added to round out the guitar section already occupied by Paul Spradlin (listed as “Paul Howard” on the album), Bob Henke (“Williard”), Mike McFadden—who had recently disbanded his psychedelic group Superfine Dandelion—and a shifting cast of bassists and drummers.

The resulting sound recalled the Band’s concurrent work, yet the musicians remained rock & rollers who rendered country material with notable fidelity while building rhythms and vocal textures in the manner of Buffalo Springfield and the Grateful Dead. They issued records through the mid-1970s; that run ended with a lengthy break that lasted from 1976 until the members regrouped in 1990 and resumed recording. The blend of rustic instrumentation and relaxed atmosphere has lent the group lasting appeal. Well into their third decade, Goose Creek Symphony still draws large audiences to summer festival dates in the fashion long enjoyed by the Dead and Jimmy Buffett. Founding drummer Mickey McGee died on July 20, 2020, at the age of 72 after contracting complications from the COVID-19 virus.