Key Margo

I don’t know if Margo Guryan ever appeared as a branch on one of those intricately-detailed Rock Family Tree illustrations of Pete Frame, but if she did, you’d find her interconnected (if a wee bit tangled) between Laura Nyro, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell, the Wrecking Crew, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and the hepcat jazz musicians of late ’50s New York and the symphonic soul of Brian Wilson’s restless mind.

A native New Yorker, she grew up in an open-minded household, surrounded by the music of the day and encouraged by her parents to play and create. She studied jazz at Boston University until her mind was blown wide open by God Only Knows. She soon found herself recording demos for Atlantic with Tom Dowd and Ahmet Ertegun and became a staff writer at the label. She had some success – her song Sunday Mornin’ was recorded by a handful of artists and charted several times, but success as a singer in her own right seemed to elude her. In a world of strong female vocalists, Margo Guryan simply failed to stand out.

And yet…

Her track California Shake is a mid-late ’60s beauty that – particularly in the Age of Aquarius – should’ve had its turn in the spotlight…especially when you realise that the track was only ever considered a work-in-progress demo! Woah! There’ll be people out there, proper scholars of pop who will know this song inside out – Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, I’d imagine, Duglas T Stewart very probably, but if you’ve never had the pleasure, brace yourself for a real treat.

Margo Guryan – California Shake

Coasting in on a frugging groove and a rich tapestry of interlocking, sunshine-blues acoustic guitars – listen to the interplay! – her voice breathes gentle melancholic air across a love letter to the American west coast.

The chords twist and turn, frazzled electric guitars creep between the cracks, Margo’s voice rises up as the tune resolves on the titular refrain and then we’re off again, clip-clopping rhythms, more fancy-pants guitar licks and everyone – yeah, even you – is doing the California Shake, California Shay-ee-ake! I could listen to this record all day and never get bored of it…

…and while the sun’s out on this particular west coast, I just might.

Margo Guryan – Sunday Mornin’

Here’s Margo’s own version of Sunday Mornin’, recorded and charted by (amongst others) Julie London, Spanky And Our Gang and, as a duet between Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell. It’s very much of its time and place and would fit perfectly between, oh, I dunno, Porpoise Song and Stoned Soul Picnic, The End Of The World and Straight Shooter, Orange Skies and Darlin’ Be Home Soon… I can feel a playlist being built.