In the digital age there seems to be fewer and fewer musical mysteries, but amazingly enough the origins of Them U.S.A. has stumped many music fans. This is my second entry in my Beyond the Bluegrass series where I offer up a band I totally dig from well outside the Lexington area. Let’s drift a bit westward once more … Enjoy! [2021 Shawn Chambers / Lexingtunes]
The Kentucky Fair and Expo Center was packed as usual for the 1968 Carl Casper Custom Auto Show. Here throngs of people from all walks of life milled side by side, jostling to get a better look at the gleaming hotrods and Cars-of-the-Stars on display. The hippest teens, though, had already ditched their parents and made their way front and center for the highly anticipated musical rivalry between local bands. Just offstage, Them U.S.A. lets the crowd noise wash over them. They wanted a battle… well here we come!
Grab a map of 1960s Louisville and draw a circle encompassing the west end neighborhood around Boone Square Park and odds are good that the boys that made up Them U.S.A. would be lassoed inside. More than just a group of friends, the majority of the gang were also Boy Scouts and dedicated members of Troop 70. It was through the annual Scout-O-Rama that the idea to form a group clicked.
The earliest lineup had bassist Donald Ray McGrew with Ronny Hamilton on vocals and the twin guitars of Jack Spies (lead) and Allen Raymer (rhythm). The original drummer was Perry Adams, but after a few shows Donald petitioned for his young brother Mike McGrew to take over beating the skins and the classic lineup was cemented.
The early appearances entertaining the Scouts quickly led to more gigs. The local Neighborhood House hosted dances on Friday and Saturday nights that kept Them U.S.A. well booked. Mix in school sock hops, church dances, parties, and local skating rinks and in short order the junior high and high schoolers became seasoned veterans.
Up to this point Donald McGrew had primarily been the one to wear the manager’s hat, but as bookings increased and gear was upgraded the band was able to recruit Roger Burden to take the helm. His combination job title as manager/roadie let the boys focus on their music and especially some original cuts in preparation for a recording session.
One Friday morning in 1967 the band descended the steps into a Sellersburg, Indiana, basement and emerged hours later with two cuts. The resultant 45 label may have said Basic, but the cuts were anything but!
Ron Hamilton delivers an understated vocal suited perfectly for the boyfriend on “No, You Won’t”, which is a classic tale of broken promises and broken hearts told over fuzz guitar with an excellent break by Jack Spies and a driving beat with plenty of fills from drummer Mike McGrew. While these components stand out, both sides are surprisingly well-mixed for a small label release and Donald’s bass and Raymer’s rhythm are easy to find.
The B-side “Her Kind” is a musical journey into the dark side of marital suburbia. The song builds with subtle and not-so-subtle layers, which keep the listener in a soundscape just outside reality. Fuzz guitar blasts punctuate the beginning with the narrator starting another “day in the life”, but where Paul McCartney only dragged a comb across his head Hamilton “picked up a comb and drug it through my head”. What thoughts are filtered out? Downstairs he finds his wife “lying there.” Spoiler alert – she’s not dead, but their certainly is a feeling that the song could branch off into madness at any time. Mix in Spies’ lead with an almost sitar-like quality (think Jeff Beck era Yardbirds) and young McGrew crashing the cymbals for all he’s worth and a pre-punk rocker is born! It is little wonder that this side attracts as many listeners as the A-side.
For reasons no longer remembered Raymer left the group just after the record’s release and the band continued as a quartet with Spies handling all guitar duties. The exception was the aforementioned Battle of the Bands show where local guitarist and friend David Trabue was brought in for a one-time performance for a rendition of “White Rabbit”, which saw the boys take second place before a very large and appreciative fairground audience.
Them U.S.A. called it a day in 1969. Jack Spies got married and started college, Ronny Hamilton was drafted into the Army. Of all the boys, Donald McGrew remained the most visible on the local music scene. As his 2014 obituary noted he was a true “child of the sixties” and was often found at protests for socio-economic, military, or environmental issues. He performed throughout the ‘90s as an avante-garde folk singer working under various pseudonyms: Wolfe Stroker, Truman Estillson, and Snatch Jackson. He continued to release cassettes of his music and worked to give back to the musical community as a champion of the Musicians Emergency Relief Fund.
Discography:
Basic 200 No, You Won’t / Her Kind 1967
Both cuts above have also recently been featured on the 2021 Gear Fab CD compilation Psychedelic States – Kentucky in the 60s