First solo album by Ronnie Leatherman - bassist in the classic line-up of The 13th Floor Elevators - who had the distinction of playing on all three of the band’s studio albums.
Ronnie released his first single in June 1965 as Max & the Penetrators: ’Prayin’ Til Then / Kurl’ and apart from lead singer Roky Erickson, he is the only former member of the 13th Floor Elevators to release a solo album.
Ronnie attended Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas Hill Country with Stacy Sutherland, the Elevators’ lead guitarist, songwriter and singer. Stacy formed The Lingsmen without Ronnie in the summer of 1965 because he didn’t graduate high school in time to start their residency. So instead, the band, which featured former Penetrators singer, Max Range with John Ike Walton and Benny Thurman on bass, formed the Elevators. When it was discovered that Benny had never played bass, Ronnie stood in whilst teaching him how to play bass. Although Stacy, John Ike and Benny went on the become founding members of the Elevators, Benny was sacked shortly after the band released their seminal first single ’You’re Gonna Miss Me’ and Ronnie was his inevitable replacement. The band relocated to San Francisco to promote the single in August 1966 and Ronnie appeared on national TV - Dick Clark’s ’Where the Action Is’ and ’American Bandstand’ - and also headlined at major venues such as The Fillmore and The Avalon Ballroom alongside Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead.
He played on the band’s seminal Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators recorded in Dallas and Houston with Bob Sullivan, who recorded with Elvis. ’Reverberation’ - which was also issued as the 2nd single featured Ronnie’s outstanding lead bass line. After the West Coast tour and release of the album, he and John Ike quit the band, disillusioned by lack of promotion after waiting months for an East Coast promotional tour. However, Ronnie had already contributed sessions that were not only used on the 2nd LP, Easter Everywhere, but also as singles: ’(I’ve Got) Levitation’ and ’She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own’.
Although he performed his last show with the band in July 1967, Ronnie re-joined in October 1968 to finish the 3rd studio album Bull Of The Woods, released in March 1969.
Post Elevators, he performed with many band’s in the Texan Hill Country and briefly featured in a line-up of The Golden Dawn - another highly regarded band who also released an LP for International Artists. But his musical career was cut short when he was drafted to Vietnam in late 1968, where he served with the 199th Infantry Unit. Upon his return he joined Obie and The Raincrow with Stacy and ex-Golden Dawn drummer Bobby Rector. He also featured in the Elevators reformations in 1973, 1977, 1984 and the final show down in 2015 - when the band appeared before their largest crowd ever: 10,000+ fans.
The tracks featured on Ronnie’s solo album feature many friends from his career, most significantly Paul Tennison (RIP 2023) who also briefly performed with the Elevators, Terry Penny (RIP) who was part of several power trios with Bobby Rector who performed under many names. The song ’Coming Day’ incidentally was written in 1968 but not submitted for Bull Of The Woods.
TRACK LIST LP SIDE 1
TRACK LIST LP SIDE 2
Ronnie’s friends will be:
Mega Record & CD Fair Spring 2024
