Hoodoo Rhythm Devils Vinyl Record Albums

Formed in San Francisco in 1970, this eclectic band featured several of the city’s best-known musicians. They revolved around Joe Crane (d. 1980; guitar, vocals, keyboards), a veteran of Texas’ thriving blues circuit, and Glenn ‘Hambone’ Walters (harmonica/vocals) while the original line-up was completed by John Rewind (ex-Grootna; guitar), Dexter C. Plates (bass) and Roger Clark (bass). Their early albums, although commercially moribund, contained several excellent songs, notably ‘All Tore Down’ (later recorded by Johnny Winter) and a rousing version of Bobby Fuller’s ‘I Fought The Law’, and featured cameos by the Pointer Sisters and Tower Of Power. The collapse of the Blue Thumb Records label undermined the Hoodoo’s career, but in 1976 Crane and Walters re-emerged with a revised band of Bob Flurie (ex-It’s A Beautiful Day; guitar), Boots Hughston (saxophone), MacCridlin (bass) and Scott Matthews (drums). Misfortune continued to dog their progress - their secretary was murdered in a frenzied axe-attack - and when Crane died of leukaemia in 1980, his partner then formed Glen Walters And The Neptunes. The vocalist resurrected the Hoodoos’ name in 1982, but the ‘new’ band remained low-key, playing local clubs with an ever changing pool of musicians.