the Royal Notes / Bill Logsdon and the Royal Notes
Amherst, 1959-1980s
March, 1964, in of all places, a Frank Sintara theme club...
William Carlos "Bill" Logsdon and Pat Nace were married about 1957/8. We don't know if they brought musical instruments to their reception, but they were a musical pair. BIll played guitar and Pat played bass, and sang. Bill was from Lorain (likely) and Pat from Norwalk. They lived in Amherst.
Together with a couple other Lorain area teenagers, they started a rock-n-roll band, the Royal Notes. The drummer was Mike Alan (Mike Hunter) from Birmingham, west of Amherst. The band also had a sax player and second guitarist.
The band worked the local dance circuit from Cleveland/Medina west to Sandusky and Fremont.
They recorded their 1st 45 in 1960, an Athena records custom recording. The record was re-released (with a minor edit) by Destiny. The songs were the raw rockin' "Come-To-My-House-Rock" with Pat singing and two loud primitive guitar breaks. The flipside was an instrumental, co-credited to Bill and S. Rogers, who was probably the other guitarist.
The band made another 45 in 1963, for Athena, with the more intense "Come Dance With Me". Pat sings lead and the band added a sax player. The on beat bass line and comtemporary rock style drumming give the record a proto garage rock sound. The other side is called "Cool It", slower instrumental. "Cool It" was a phrase used by Cleveland's Ghouladri who started in 1963, maybe the band drew some inspiration from him?
As the British Invasion hit the band contiuned working, adding some country music to their repetriore while keeping up with the latest top 40. The band got their own show on radio station WWIZ in May 1967, supposed to run for 13 weeks. A recording from the show exists, where the band tackles the central Ohio national anthem "LIttle Black Egg" among other songs from the times. The band at the time included Boyd Rogers (possibly the Rogers mentioned in writers credits, see above), and Ralph Jenkins on drums. The Logsdons were living in Elyria at the time (they were also living in Amherst for awhile).
The band contiuned into the early 1970s, when they changed to all country sound. Bill also played banjo.
April 1978
They recorded a third and final 45 in 1977, down in Cincinnati. The 45 included two original songs by Bill in a comtemporary country style. The record was released on Queensgate, a label from the QCA operation. The band included Bill, Pat, their 11 year old son Billy, Mark Green on rhythm guitar, Bill Holmes on fiddle, and Jerry Taylor on steel.
The band was still active in the 1980s. Bill and Pat divorced, but Bill was definitely still leading the band. He passed away in 1994, and Pat passed away in 1996.
Ad from 1968, 'promoting' a 5 year old record....
Discography:
Spitfire /
Come-To-My-House-Rock - Athena 729 / Destiny 501, 1960
Cool It / Come Dance With Me - Athena 201, 1963
Turning Back The Pages Of Time / Big Black Train - Queensgate no # (QCA master 7112Q15), Nov 1977