They Don’t Make Youth Ministers Like They Used To

HOMESTEAD & WOLFE – Our Times: The Gold Star Tapes 1973-75
Anopheles Records

Here’s another fascinating, little-known musical moment that might have been swept away into the dustbin of history were it not for a chance encounter with fate, which in this case, took the form of one Karl Ikola, founder of Anopheles Records and longtime purveyor of musical obscurities, mostly of the psychedelic variety. Best known for magnificent reissues of Debris’ wacked-out seventies psych-core and the pre-Dirty Three Aussie garage-punk band Venom P. Stinger, Anopheles took a major left turn with their 2004 reissue of this 1975 private press.

Named after the cross streets at the Good Samaritan United Methodist Church in Cupertino, California, Homestead & Wolfe were a musical collective borne of said church’s youth group, led by former Rip Chords member Ernie Bringas. In his role as youth minister, Bringas developed an extensive musical program, from which this ensemble sprang, performing at churches, jails, and high schools in the Bay Area in the mid-seventies.

Their recorded material was put to tape over a period of several years at Gold Star, the premier studio in Hollywood at the time, with H&W’s lineup fleshed out by a number of top-notch session players, including ubiquitous drumming virtuoso Hal Blaine. The vocal and instrumental arrangements of the young church organist, JoAnne Avery, are remarkably sophisticated, while the music bridges rock, folk, and pop: think Joni Mitchell and the Carpenters backed by Sneeky Pete and the Free Design, and you’re getting warm. And while you could certainly bring them home to your mother, they tackled a number of heavy social issues in their lyrics (Vietnam, Nixon, drug culture, the Middle East, even Wounded Knee!) alongside other songs of love, individuality, and human nature. Their squareness is in fact precisely their charm.


Homestead & Wolfe – Slow Down
Homestead & Wolfe – See the Children Die

Buy it at Forced Exposure, Revolver, Carrot Top, or Subterranean.


N/P: Kemialliset Ystavat - Varisevien Tanssi / Silmujen Marssi