Goose Creek Symphony

Career

The Goose Creek Symphony cut their first record at Audio Recorders in 1968 and 1969, landing a deal with Capitol Records the following year. They kept making music until 1976, then got back together in 1990. The group is widely regarded as one of the most musically tight outfits in their field, and they’ve kept touring to strong crowds.

They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show alongside Bobbie Gentry and played the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival with Jimi Hendrix and The Allman Brothers Band. Charlie Gearheart had earlier performed on American Bandstand in 1959 under the name Ritchie Hart. In 2011, the band was inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

During the 1970s, the band fit into a country rock style but stood apart from many peers with a more offbeat, rougher, and less polished sound. For Capitol, they put out three eclectic albums: Goose Creek Symphony Est. 1970 (1970), Welcome to Goose Creek (1971), and Words of Earnest (1972).

All three did okay commercially, and the last one featured a hit cover of Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.” Remastered versions of these records are sold on the band’s website. In 1974, they switched to Columbia Records and released Do Your Thing But Don’t Touch Mine, which didn’t sell as well. Soon after, the band went on a break that stretched nearly 17 years.

Since coming back, the band has played lots of festivals and put out several albums. The live set The Goose Is Loose (1995) showcases their extended jamming, including a rambling 20-minute track called “Talk About Goose Creek and Other Important Places.” They also released Acoustic Goose, plus studio albums Going Home (1998) and I Don’t Know (2003).

Two lost albums surfaced: Head For the Hills (recorded in 1975–1976, released in 1997) and The Same Thing Again (a music CD with a bonus DVD), which was cut in the mid-1970s and sat forgotten for three decades. On the title track, Gearheart sings, “If I could live my life over, I’d do the same thing again. For 20 long years, I’ve picked, and I’ve sung.”

Did You Know?

• Goose Creek's mixed-genre versatility was demonstrated in its 2003 appearance as sole guest on Show 259 of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour.
• The WoodSongs Archive has both the radio program and a 111-minute video of the show, which includes 20 minutes of performance not included in the hour-long radio show.