Juice Newton & Silver Spur

In 1972 Juice Newton, Otha Young, and Tom Kealey formed a trio in the little-known northern California town of Los Gatos. With Newton and Young on Martin guitars and Kealey on Fender bass, the three combined to produce a powerful and unique country sound, quickly becoming one of the hottest draws in the local area. They moved to L.A. after a year or so, and in 1975 landed their first recording contract with RCA Records. Several record notables showed interest in the band, but it was the influence of famed producer Bones Howe that gave them their start. Jerry Stroud, a local Hollywood recording engineer, originally discovered the group and badgered Howe until he finally agreed to check out a live performance for himself. Greatly impressed, Howe signed them to a production and publishing contract. They collaborated on the name Juice Newton & Silver Spur, which they also used as the title of their first album. All of the material was written by Young and Kealey, but except for one minor hit, "Love Is a Word," written by Young, the charts were unforgiving. The label appeared to demonstrate only minor interest in releasing promotional dollars, so Juice Newton & Silver Spur completed its final recording commitment to RCA with After the Dust Settles, then accepted an offer from Capitol Records. Elliot Mazer produced their debut Capitol album, Come to Me, but it didn't do very well in spite of high expectations and improved label support. This caused the band to break up in 1978. ~ Ed Hunter, All Music Guide