AnExchange was a Marin County based folk-rock group of the late 1960s, playing opening acts at San Carlos's Circle Star Theater

Circle Star Theater

The Circle Star Theater was a performing arts venue in San Carlos, San Mateo County, California). Its name is based on it being a theater in the round, featuring a rotating circular stage with none of its 3,743 seats further than from the stage...

 for Ike & Tina Turner

Ike & Tina Turner

Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...

, The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...

 and Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

 at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival

Edmonton Folk Music Festival

The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is an annual four-day outdoor music event held the second weekend of August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, established in 1980 by Don Whalen. The festival continues to draw many people from around the world as both spectators and performers. The current producer of...

.

Career

In 1968, the record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 and saxophonist

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

, Jack Schaeffer

Jack Schaeffer

Jack Schaeffer is an American musician, recording artist, record producer and arranger.-Music career:...

 discovered the singer, Patty Parsons

Patty Parsons

Patty Parsons The soulful lead singer of the Marin County based folk-rock group of the early 1970s, AnExchange.- External links :*** *...

 playing with the acoustic guitarist, Dale Jared, at Mooneys Irish Pub Sin San Francisco, and with lead guitarist, Dan Anthony

Dan Anthony

Dan Anthony American recording artist, songwriter and musician. The guitarist played with the original surf-rock guitarist, legendary Dick Dale, was founder of the California surf band of the late 1960s, Royale Monarchs, house band for Bob Eubanks' Cinnamon Cinder night clubs...

 (formerly Jaramillo) formed the new group. They regularly performed at San Francisco's Coal Yard, Marin County's Gatsbys and were the first group to play at the Mill Valley Sweetwater Saloon

Sweetwater Saloon

Located in Mill Valley, California, Sweetwater was a bar/tavern with a 30 year history of live musical performances by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Jerry Garcia, The String Cheese Incident, John Lee Hooker, Carlos Santana, plus many others. There were typically at least 4 to 5...

, where they regularly performed. Members of Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....

 caught their act at the Ancient Mariner in Mill Valley. The band was reforming under a new name, Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...

, and with Parsons' sound and resemblance to Grace Slick

Grace Slick

Grace Slick is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, and was a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s...

, they asked if she would join the new group. Instead, Dick Anderson of the Sun Valley Company, signed the act to play The Ram Restaurant at the Lodge for several ski seasons, at a time when they were the only live music, going on to tour the ski resorts at Sun Valley, Aspen and Steamboat Springs. AnExchange made popular the songs, "Cody", written by John Stewart

John Stewart (musician)

John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with The Kingston Trio and as the songwriter of The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own #5 hit "Gold", among several hundred original...

, "California Lights" and "Wind Beneath My Wings", the latter recorded by Bette Midler

Bette Midler

Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...

. Schaeffer was producer and arranger on Why Can't I, Parsons' debut solo album.

External links

• AnExchange
• History of AnExchange
• Mill Valley Sweetwater Saloon
• Sweetwater Inn