Swamp Gas

Swamp Gas, a Long Island, NY, outfit, issued their sole album—an unremarkable specimen of period rock—near the outset of the 1970s. Shifting between hard-rock passages and folk-rock excursions, the self-titled LP reflected touches of the Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the brasher, blues-driven early hard-rock acts. Artie Kornfeld, best known for co-producing the Woodstock festival, signed the group, and he shared production credit with the band on the Swamp Gas record. Financial setbacks at Kornfeld’s label postponed its appearance; when Buddah Records, the parent concern, finally issued the album, Swamp Gas had already dissolved roughly twelve months earlier. Baird Hersey, the band’s guitarist and chief songwriter, subsequently performed with the jazz ensemble the Year of the Ear, recorded with FX and under his own name, and contributed guitar and vocals to projects by David Hykes. Vocalist Kim Ornitz went on to a thriving career as a sound mixer in film scoring.