The Groundhogs are a British blues trio who were founded in late 1963 by Tony (T.S.) McPhee (guitar and vocals) as The Dollar Bills by brothers Pete and John Cruickshank, and Tony (T.S.) McPhee, who was the lead guitarist in an instrumental group called the Shcenuals. McPhee steered them towards the blues and renamed them after a John Lee Hooker song 'Groundhog's Blues'. John Cruickshank suggested they became John Lee's Groundhogs when they backed John Lee Hooker on his 1964 UK tour, and they became to go-to backing band for visiting U.S. blues musicians, supplementing Little Walter, Jimmy Reed and Champion Jack Dupree when they toured the UK. The first single by The Groundhogs was 'Shake It' b/w 'Rock Me' in January 1965, and after a few further singles under various names they recorded their debut album 'Scratchin' The Surface' in 1968 on Liberty Records. For this album they'd replace John Cruickshank with Ken Pustelnik on drums, and added Steve Rye on harmonica, although they later reverted to the trio format. Further albums followed, with 'Thank Christ For The Bomb' (1970), 'Split' (1971) and 'Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs' (1972) propelling them into the albums charts and establishing their reputation as a hard-working rock band. This post concentrates on their early, hard to find singles and b-sides, a few T.S. McPhee solo sides and some unreleased tracks, all from their classic blues period between 1965 and 1970. Incidentally, the T.S. was added to McPhee's name by famed producer Mike Vernon, as he felt it made him sound like an old American blues veteran, and reputedly stands for Tough Shit.
Track listing
01 Shake It (single 1965)02 Rock Me Baby (b-side of 'Shake It')03 Someone To Love (single 1965)04 Hallelujah (b-side of 'Someone To Love')05 Someone To Love Me (T.S. McPhee single 1966)06 Ain't Gonna Cry No Mo' (b-side of 'Someone To Love Me')07 I'll Never Fall In Love Again (John Lee's Groundhogs single 1966)08 Over You Baby (b-side of 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again')09 When You Got A Good Friend (b-side of 'You Don't Love Me')10 You Don't Love Me (T.S. McPhee single 1968)11 Don't Pass The Hat Around (previously unreleased 1969)12 Oh Death (previously unreleased 1969)13 Rock Me (previously unreleased 1969)14 Gasoline (b-side of 'BDD' 1970)
