CARSON

Carson formed in Melbourne in January 1970 as Carson County Band and, influenced by United States group Canned Heat, performed blues rock and boogie rock. Founders of Carson County Band were Ian Ferguson (ex-The Moods) on bass guitar and vocals, Greg "Sleepy" Lawrie (ex-Creatures, Chocolate) on slide guitar and dobro, Tony Lunt on drums and John Capek on keyboards. Their debut single, "On the Highway / Resting Place", was issued in May on Rebel Records. Both sides were written by Lawrie. Tony Enery (ex-The Perfection) played the piano on the B side. In October they dropped the County Band from the name to avoid being confused as a country music group. Capek left mid 1970 to join King Harvest and eventually moved to North America. He worked as a composer (often with Marc Jordan), record producer and keyboardist both in Toronto, Canada and in Los Angeles.

Broderick Smith (ex-Adderley Smith Blues Band) joined in 1971, providing vocals and harmonica as did Ian Winter on guitar. The group released a second single, "Travelling South / Moonshine" in August on Havoc Records. Ian Ferguson left in mid 71 to be replaced successively by Barry Sullivan (ex-Thursday's Children) and then Garry Clarke. Mal Logan (ex-Healing Force) on keyboards joined later that year. Carson performed at the first Sunbury Pop Festival in late January 1972. On the Easter weekend, 31 March – 2 April, they played two sets at the Mulwala Pop Festival, supporting head-liners Canned Heat and Stephen Stills.

Broderick Smith spent part of 1972 recording solo material. Meanwhile Carson, with Smith returned, issued their next single "Boogie" in September, which reached #30 on the Go-Set National Top 40. This was followed in November by their debut album, 'Blown' on Harvest Records produced by Rod Coe, which reached #14 on Go-Set Top 20 Albums. Carson performed at the second Sunbury Pop Festival, on the Australia Day long weekend in late January 1973. Ian Winter left soon after and by February, Carson had disbanded. A live recording of their Sunbury set, 'On the Air' was released in April 1973. Smith was a founding member of country rockers, The Dingoes and later had a successful solo career. Ian Winter died in 2004. Barry Sullivan died in his sleep 27 October 2003 at his Sunshine Coast home, aged 57. Greg ''Sleepy'' Lawrie died in 2023. Broderick Smith died in 2023.

Members

Broderick Smith (vocals, harmonica), Greg Lawrie (slide guitar, dobro), Tony Lunt (drums), John Capek (piano, vocals), Ian Ferguson (bass), Gary Clarke (bass), Mal Logan (keyboards), Barry Sullivan (bass), Ian Winter (guitar), Mal Capewell (sax)

SINGLES
''On The Highway / Resting Place'' 1970 Rebel 
''Travelling South / Moonshine'' 1971 Havoc 
''Travellin' South / Morning Train'' 1971 Infinity 
''Boogie (Part One) (#29) / Boogie (Part Two)'' 1972 Harvest 

ALBUMS 
'Blown' (#19) 1972 Harvest
'On The Air' 1973 Harvest 

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_%28band%29

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/