The Wig - Crackin' Up

(Austin, TX)
BlacKnight 903, May 1967

Austin, Texas band started in 1964 with John "Toad" Andrews, Boz Scaggs, Bob Arthur, Steve Miller (briefly) and Benny Rowe. This early version made no recordings and after a trip to Europe, broke up. Benny Rowe returned to Texas, took the name and started another group with Rusty Weir, Johnny Richardson, Jess Yaryan and Bill Wilmot.

Info from Garage Hangover:
https://garagehangover.com/wig/

The other great Austin, Texas band of the mid-60’s was the Wig: Rusty Wier (drums, vocals), Benny Rowe (lead guitar), John Richardson (guitar), Jess Yaryan (bass) and Billy Wilmont (keyboards).

Benny Rowe had been in an earlier version of the band known as the Wigs that had toured Europe.
The 45 version of “Drive It Home” is phenomenal, but the live version makes the studio cut seem tame in comparison! The live recording was done at the Jade Room, one of their regular spots.

The flipside of the Goyle 45 is “To Have Never Loved at All”, a good ballad I hadn’t paid much attention to until someone requested to hear it so I made a transfer. The Wig released “Drive It Home” / “To Have Never Loved at All” in November 1966.

“Crackin’ Up” is as exciting as any song cut in the mid-60s. The opening guitar riff is unforgettable for one thing. Rusty Wier’s drumming propels the song, his vocals are confident and Benny Rowe’s guitar solo is intense.

Wier wrote “Crackin’ Up”. The flip is “Bluescene.” It came out on two labels, BlacKnight and Empire. The BlacKnight single is rare enough and came out in May of ’67, but the Empire ones seems even harder to find – one copy I’ve seen was issued on yellow vinyl.