Redbone is now remembered for its biggest hit, 1974’s “Come and Get Your Love,” but the band was not a one-hit wonder. Before turned to soft rock, the all-Native American group, formed by brothers Pat and Candido “Lolly” Vegas, was one of the funkiest bands in Los Angeles.
The Vegas brothers started playing together in the ’50s– their last name was Vasquez until their manager told them the world wasn’t ready for rock stars with a Hispanic surname — and they performed regularly on the mid-’60s rock ‘n’ roll TV show “Shindig!” They didn’t get big until a decade later, after they decided to form an all-Native band.
Their early LPs stood out for Lolly’s guitar sound, achieved by running the signal through a rotating Leslie speaker, and drummer Pete DePoe’s distinctive “King Kong” beat, a modified Latin-flavored shuffle that influenced a whole generation of rock drummers. Critics dubbed such music “swamp rock,” a catch-all term for anything that sounded the least bit like it came from New Orleans — the first Creedence Clearwater Revival albums, featuring songs like “Born on the Bayou” (which John Fogerty certainly was not), got the same label. Redbone’s second hit, “Witch Queen of New Orleans,” did nothing to dispel the notion.
This song, released in 1970, was their first brush with success, though it technically wasn’t a hit because it only reached No. 45. It got plenty of play on Philly radio, though, leading to their invitation to headline a Philadelphia concert on the first Earth Day in 1970. A crowd estimated at 25,000 to 40,000 gathered for the festivities in Fairmount Park, one of the largest observances in the country.
Here’s one of the ecology-themed songs they played at that show.
