Blackburn & Snow were a folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 duo popular early in the mid-1960s San Francisco music scene in the United States. The group consisted of guitarist-singer Jeff Blackburn and vocalist Sherry Snow.

History

Both Blackburn and Snow were involved in the Bay Area music scene since 1964, and became romantically involved in 1965, living together in Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

 and performing together in local clubs. They signed a contract in December 1965 with Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...

 producer Frank Werber's Trident Productions. Trident issued two Blackburn & Snow singles which were recorded in 1966: "Stranger in a Strange Land", released late December 1966 and "Time", released October 1967; the former has been said to have been written by David Crosby

David Crosby

David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...

 of The Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

, although it was credited to the fictitious Samuel F. Omar. The duo's recording of "Stranger in a Strange Land" has been called "a lost masterpiece". Snow was considered by friends in 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....

 as the replacement for the departing Signe Anderson

Signe Toly Anderson

Signe Toly Anderson is an American singer who was one of the founding members of the American rock band Jefferson Airplane.-Early life and joining Jefferson Airplane:...

 in late 1966, however she chose to remain with Blackburn; Anderson was replaced by 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...

. The duo played a part in the popularization of the San Francisco Sound

San Francisco Sound

The San Francisco Sound refers to rock music performed live and recorded by San Francisco-based rock groups of the mid 1960s to early 1970s. It was associated with the counterculture community in San Francisco during these years.- Stylistic Dimensions :...

, performing throughout 1965–67 at venues such as the hungry i

Hungry i

The hungry i was originally a nightclub in North Beach, San Francisco. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1950.-The name:How the club's name came about is something of a mystery...

, the Fillmore Auditorium

The Fillmore

The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.In 1968,...

, Avalon Ballroom and Marty Balin

Marty Balin

Marty Balin is an American musician. He is best known as the founder and one of the lead singers of the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane.-Early life:Martyn Buchwald was born in Cincinnati, Ohio...

's nightclub The Matrix

The Matrix (club)

The Matrix, a renovated former pizza shop, was a nightclub in San Francisco from 1965 to 1972 and was one of the keys to what eventually became known as the "San Francisco Sound" in rock music...

. Blackburn & Snow performed at the KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival, a seminal rock festival

Rock festival

A rock festival, or a rock fest, is a large-scale rock music concert, featuring multiple acts.The first rock festivals were put on in the late 1960s and were important socio-cultural milestones. In the 1980s a minor resurgence of festivals occurred with charity as the goal.Today, they are often...

 in Marin County, California

Marin County, California

Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...

 at the beginning of the Summer of Love

Summer of Love

The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...

.

Studio recordings

Trident Productions intended to present Blackburn & Snow as a major new find, with Frank Werber later stating "my perception was that they were going to be huge." Enough material for an album was recorded through 1966 and into the spring of 1967, with Blackburn writing nearly all of the songs. The music the duo had been performing was electric folk rock similar to their close contemporaries Jefferson Airplane, with unique harmonic interplay between the couple. Influenced by 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...

, The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...

, Blackburn & Snow recorded a number of straight rock songs with the backing band Candy Store Prophets

Candy Store Prophets

The Candy Store Prophets were a 1960s rock band, headed by singer-songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Their lineup included Boyce and Gerry McGee on guitar, Hart on keyboards, Larry Taylor on bass guitar and Billy Lewis on drums....

, as well as some country and folk flavored material. The Candy Store Prophets were also the backing band for The Monkees

The Monkees

The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

 first album and included Larry Taylor

Larry Taylor

Larry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...

 of Canned Heat

Canned Heat

Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...

 and Gerry McGee, the long-time guitarist for The Ventures

The Ventures

The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...

 who joined that band in 1968. Gary "Chicken" Hirsh, later of Country Joe and the Fish

Country Joe and the Fish

Country Joe and the Fish was a rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971, and also regarded as a seminal influence to psychedelic rock.-History:...

, also drummed on some tracks. Production and engineering was handled by Randy Sterling. Though many completed songs were recorded, due to wrangling between Trident and distribution partner MGM-Verve

Verve Records

Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...

, combined with some tension between the duo and Sterling, they did not see an album released during their partnership.

Post-breakup

Following a breakup with Blackburn in 1967, Snow joined Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks as a singer. After living in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, she returned to California in the 1980s as Halimah Collingwood. Broadcasting as Halimah the Dreamah on Humboldt State University

Humboldt State University

Humboldt State University is the northernmost campus of the California State University system, located in Arcata within Humboldt County, California, USA. The main campus, nestled at the edge of a coast redwood forest, is situated on Preston hill overlooking Arcata and with commanding views of...

-owned KHSU-FM

KHSU-FM

KHSU-FM is an NPR-member radio station, licensed to Arcata, California, USA. The station is currently owned by Humboldt State University....

 radio in Arcata

Arcata, California

-Demographics:-2010 Census data:The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was 1,567.4 people per square mile...

, since 1991 she has hosted "Ethnic Excursions", a program devoted to playing and discussion of international music styles. Jeff Blackburn joined Moby Grape

Moby Grape

Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...

 in the mid-seventies; with Bob Mosley

Bob Mosley

Bob Mosley is principally known as the bass player and one of the songwriters and vocalists for the band Moby Grape. He has also developed a career as a solo artist. Three of his best known songs with Moby Grape are "Mr...

 he formed the Jeff Blackburn Band which with the addition of Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 and Johnny Craviotto became The Ducks

The Ducks

The Ducks were a short-lived hard rock supergroup formed in the summer of 1977 by singer-songwriter Jeff Blackburn, and consisted of musicians Bob Mosley , Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, and Johnny Craviotto. The band played a series of impromptu bar gigs around the Santa Cruz area in 1977...

, playing a series of impromptu bar gigs in Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...

 in 1977. During this time, Blackburn co-wrote My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) with Young. Blackburn continues to perform, based in Santa Cruz with his band Buck N the Odds. In 1999, the mid-sixties Blackburn & Snow recordings from Trident Productions were finally released as a 20-song compact disc, titled Something Good for Your Head

Something Good for Your Head

Something Good for Your Head is an album by the San Francisco area folk rock duo Blackburn & Snow. The album consists of twenty songs recorded by Jeff Blackburn and Sherry Snow, along with various backing musicians, during their partnership in the mid-1960s...

.