Boz and The Merrymen

Come with me now to the Stockholm, Sweden. 

It's 1965 and one of the top groups in town are The Merrymen. Known as the Swedish Rolling Stones, they released one of the best of all the Swedish-Beat singles, "Walking Down Lonesome Road" b/w "Spider".
To quote from the cool site: Swedish Beat and Psyche:
"The Merrymen came together in 1965 and had instantly a huge success when they won a pop competition that gave them the epithet; the Rolling Stones of Sweden. First price was to play with the Stones on their tour in Sweden.

(Members were:) Bill Öhrström did the vocals, Perre Brickman played bass, Åke “Budda” Berg did the drums, Bo Hansson, Leif Sundberg and Birger “Biggen” Sivertsson all played guitar.
The band had a rough rhythm & blues sound, by chance, it sounds quite similar to Rolling Stones. Bill was one of the few singers in Sweden at this time that could handle the English language because of his former studies overseas. Merrymen did not even exist a year but managed to release two singles - (On the) second release they were joined by Boz Scaggs who later became a member of the Steve Miller Band.
"Did they say, Boz Scaggs?
The Lowdown, Lido Shufflin', We're All Alone, (gasp!) Boz Scaggs?
I never paid much attention to The Boz, but upon a second look, he does have an interesting back-story: From his official website:
William Royce “Boz” Scaggs started playing in bands during high school in Dallas in the Sixties. He entered college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and soon after decided instead to devote himself to journeyman playing around campuses and various clubs and resorts. Scaggs’ guitar and voice provided his self-described “ticket to ride” as he left the States to travel with his guitar in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He developed a club following in Sweden and began his recording career there in 1965 with a solo album for Polydor. Curiosity along with yearning for a blues and R&B band brought him to San Francisco in 1967."

Click here for the A-side of The Merrymen's second and last single. - "Searchin'"

This mix starts with both sides of first Merrymen single, The b-side of the Merrymen with Boz single. A track off the 1965 Boz solo acoustic album on the Polydor label during his time in Sweden. And ending with Boz singing one of our favorite cuts off the first Steve Miller Band album, Children of The Future. Enjoy!

 

 

 Maybe it's me, but I think he looks a little like Sky Saxon.