Today We Have Rare Gems

Of The

The Chambers Brothers

The Chambers Brothers

Are a soul music group, best known for its 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements. Based on their Southern roots, the brothers brought a raw authenticity to their recordings and live performances that was missing from many other acts of that era.

Their music has been kept alive through heavy use in film soundtracks.

Lester Chambers

(Born April 13, 1940, Mississippi)

Member and Lead Singer of the 1960s soul rock group The Chambers Brothers, who had the hit single, "Time Has Come Today".

The Chambers Brothers - The Time Has Come (1967)

By Papa Funk

Time Has Come Today

The band scored its only major hit in 1968 with "Time Has Come Today" (written by Joe & Willie Chambers), from the group's similarly named third album, The Time Has Come. The song spent five consecutive weeks at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, just missing the Top Ten.

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In the early 1960s, these four brothers from Carthage, Mississippi, Joe and Willie on guitar, Lester on harmonica, and George on washtub bass, started to venture outside the gospel circuit, playing at coffeehouses that booked folk acts. They played at places like The Ash Grove, one of Los Angeles's most popular folk clubs. It became a favorite haunt of theirs and brought them into contact with Hoyt Axton, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Reverend Gary Davis, and Barbara Dane.

Barbara Dane And The Chambers Brothers - Barbara Dane & Chambers Brothers (1966)

By Papa Funk

Dane became a great supporter, performing and recording with the brothers. She took them on tour with her and introduced them to Pete Seeger, who helped put the Chambers Brothers on the bill of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. One of the songs they performed, "I Got It", appeared on the Newport Folk Festival 1965 compilation LP, which was issued on the Vanguard label.

Barbara Dane, Newport Folk Festival, 1965

Barbara Dane And The Chambers Brothers,Newport Folk Festival, 1965

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They were becoming more accepted in the folk community, but, like many on the folk circuit, they were looking to electrify their music and become more rock and roll. Guitarist Joe Chambers recalled in a May 1994 Goldmine article that people at the Newport Folk Festival were breaking down fences and rushing to the stage.

"Newport had never seen or heard anything like that." After the group finished and the crowd finally settled down, the MC came up and said "Whether you know it or not, that was rock'n'roll."

That night they played at a post-concert party for festival performers and went to a recording session of the newly electrified Bob Dylan. Now having gone electric George would trade in his washtub bass for a Danelectro bass guitar.

Shortly after this, the group recorded its debut album People Get Ready.

The Chamber Brothers - People Get Ready (1966)

By Papa Funk

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Later Years

Later incarnations of the group included session guitarist Steve Hunter (known for his work with Alice Cooper) and session whiz Stephen Patt (Northwind, freeing the brothers up to become front men, not just instrumentalists.

However, due to a succession of dishonest promoters and managers, the group found it difficult to build on this success and eventually split up in 1972. The 1972 album they recorded for Columbia, Oh! My God, remains unreleased. They reformed in 1974 to record Unbonded and Right Move (1975) for the Avco label. In 1976 they released the final Recorded Live In Concert on Mars for the Roxbury label. They have toured irregularly since.

They were signed to support Maria Muldaur on her Gospel Nights album. They also made commercials for Levi's jeans.

Maria Muldaur (Born September 12, 1943) is an American folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1974 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis," and continues to record albums in the folk traditions.

Maria Muldaur - Gospel Nights (1980)
By Papa Funk

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"A Musst Have Before Die Gem"

Muldaur was born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato in Greenwich Village, New York City, where she attended Hunter College High School.

Muldaur began her career in the early 1960s as Maria D'Amato, performing with John Sebastian, David Grisman, and Stefan Grossman as a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band. She then joined Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band as a featured vocalist and occasional violinist. During this time, she was part of the Greenwich Village scene that included Bob Dylan, and some of her recollections of the period, particularly with respect to Dylan, appear in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary film, No Direction Home.

She married fellow Jug Band member Geoff Muldaur, and after the Kweskin outfit broke up the two of them produced two albums. She began her solo career when their marriage ended in 1972, but retained her married name.

Her first solo album Maria Muldaur, released in 1973, contained her hit single
"Midnight at the Oasis"
, which reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.

Maria Muldaur - Maria Muldaur (1973)
By Papa Funk

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It also peaked at number 21 in the UK Singles Chart. Later that year, she released her second album Waitress In A Donut Shop. This included a re-recording of "I'm a Woman", the Leiber and Stoller number first associated with Peggy Lee and a standout feature from her Jug Band days. The title of this album is taken from a line in another song on the album, "Sweetheart" by Ken Burgan.

Around this time, Muldaur established a relationship with the Grateful Dead. Opening for some Grateful Dead shows in the summer of 1974 with John Kahn, bassist of the Jerry Garcia Band, which would eventually earn her a seat in that group as a backing vocalist in the late 1970s. She appeared on Super Jam (1989), the live recording of the German TV series Villa Fantastica with Brian Auger on piano, Pete York on drums, Dick Morrissey on tenor saxophone, Roy Williams on trombone, Harvey Weston on bass and Zoot Money, also on vocals.

Muldaur continued to perform, tour, and record after her success in the mid-1970s, including a turn at the Teatro ZinZanni in 2001.

Her 2005 release Sweet Lovin' Ol' Soul was nominated for both a Blues Music Award (formerly a W.C. Handy Award) and a Grammy Award in the Traditional Blues Category. In 2013, she was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female)' category.

Maria Muldaur

"We Love You And God Bless You"

Lester moved to New York and formed a band with former Electric Flag bassist Harvey Brooks.

Guitarists Willie and Joe would find work as session men; George went back to singing gospel music and would later become a deacon of his church.

Keenan retired to Connecticut where he set up his own recording studio, plied his trade as a carpenter, and died of heart failure in 1985.

Brian Edmund Peter Keenan was the driving beat behind The Chambers Brothers (1965-1971), and also played with the Manfred Mann group. His group, The Losers, was the house band at Ondine, the first discotheque in New York City.

Born in New York, he also lived in Conisbrough as a child.

Bill Graham, impresario behind The Filmore West and East, felt Brian was the most exciting live rock drummer. The few times The Chambers Brothers were not top bill with Brian on drums, the top billed group were reluctant to follow them. The Brothers affectionately referred to Brian as 'Curley' and introduced him onstage as Brian 'Chambers' Keenan.

Keenan left the group in 1971 after major financial abuses by the groups management were unresolved. Keenan is buried at Queen of Peace cemetery in Stamford, Connecticut.

Brian Edmund Peter Keenan

(January 28, 1943 – October 5, 1985)

R.I.P...We Will Never Forget You!!!

The Chamber Brothers - Now (1966)

By Papa Funk

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Art Ramsey, was hired as a replacement drummer. He performed live, on-the-road and in many different cities and venues with the Chambers Brothers band after Keenan's departure.

Later, LA Session drummer Fabian Jolivet joined the band for a 1997 tour that ended with the full line up playing a Gospel set at the legendary 1960's LA venue The Ash Grove, Santa Monica, CA.

In 2006 Guitarist Willie Chambers brought the house down, sitting in with a group called Vince and the Invinceables at a benefit concert for Arthur Lee of the group Love.