'white lightning' onstage at the exodus- denver- september 1968
me at my vox organ & keybass- exodus denver- 1968 [w/3 packs of marlboro on the organ?] appreciative fans used to put joints & hits of acid and everything else on it! the altar of psychedelia
denver- 1968- promo foto
raymond & doug- outside the exodus- denver-1968
pete, dabney & raymond- denver- 1968
raymond & dabney- the exodus- denver- 1968
raymond & dabney-monroe, louisiana- 1968 or 1969
L to R: raymond battillo, bill dunn, doug duffey, rusty mccraw, white lighting-post dabney- we were way too crazy for poor rusty
white lighting:
[original members]
doug duffey- vocals/organ/bass [vox organ/key bass- later hammond B3/foot pedals and key bass]bill dunn- vocals/keyboards/flute and sax
dabney tannehill- guitar and vocals
raymond battillo- drums
later member:
rusty mccraw [guitar/bass/vocals]
white lightning was the "creme de la creme" of the best musicians from the best bands in the ark-la-miss [tri-state area]. we all quit our respective bands to form one 'super group'. we had a vision: to do original music... and some cover music we liked! this was the psychedelic 60s, and we were a VERY psychedelic rock/soul band.
we started out working Monroe-Jackson, getting the thing together, but left Louisiana to seek our fortunes in L.A.- but only made it as far west as Colorado. we lived in Nederland a while w/a family friend of Dabney's- then landed a semi house gig at the Exodus- Denver's hippest music club and moved to the city.
We became a cult band there, and had a great following; people lined up around the block to get in to see us. We were known for VERY long extended jams... ala Traffic/the Doors/Led Zeppelin- a lot of improvisation and theatrics... and Who like destructive chaos as a grand finale. We performed regularly at the Exodus- and in the Colorado area [mostly denver/boulder/fort collins/colorado springs] with trips back to Louisiana, periodically, to do some shows, but were too nuts for the provinces; 60s hippie psychedelic denver/boulder was our oyster
our star was ascending- beginning to get opening gigs for top name acts like 'black pearl' and 'janis joplin'- but due to busts and some members getting strung out- the band folded. dabney [guitarist -and irreplacable in the mix, as any of us were to 'the' band] quit- and we tried to keep it going with rusty mccraw- but it was never the same. dabney was the heart if not the soul of the band.
it's too bad there are no recordings of us. i THINK we did record some demos, but they have vanished. i wrote a lot of the music for the band, but as there are no recordings, i do not remember any of those songs. i have found some lyric notebooks with chords written in them, but the melodies are gone like the band...
[c]2009 doug duffey
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