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�Rufus� became a jukebox hit in California and beyond. It also precipitated an unusual road trip for the Merced Blue Notes. Thanks to heavy airplay for the single in the region, the group was invited to Detroit in the summer of 1962, for club dates and recording work.

Bobby Hunt: �The Detroit connection came through somebody in one of these record companies, maybe it was HB Barnum, suggesting us to them. It was the first time we�d ever been on the road.�

Carl Mays: �We went all the way to Detroit, and the man said our record wasn�t selling. It was in the top ten in Detroit, but �it wasn�t selling�, so we didn�t make any money.�

Kenny Craig: �But when we went to Detroit it kinda dawned on us � that was the first time I felt that we were bigger than we thought we were. We went in a restaurant and they came asking for an autograph - we figured we were just a bunch of country boys. We went on this show hosted by Frantic Ernie, it was a record hop like Bandstand.�

While in town, the Blue Notes recorded three instrumental sides for Tri-Phi, the label belonging to former Moonglow Harvey Fuqua that had hit with the Spinners� �That�s What Girls Are Made For�. �Midnite Session�, spread over two sides of a first single, was a groovy piano-heavy blues, as was �Fragile� (originally known as �Cogitatin��), which featured the Chief�s disc debut on harmonica. Both were admittedly in an atypical style for the Motor City at the dawn of the Motown era.

Bobby Hunt: �We played the Twenty Grand Club, the equivalent to the Apollo in New York, it�s of that stature. And then we played in Flint and Pontiac too.�

Kenny Craig: �When we played there, Jimmy Smith was downstairs and we were upstairs, and the Supremes and a bunch of [future] stars were on that show. During that era, in black clubs, Jimmy Smith was the thing, �Back At The Chicken Shack�. Bobby used to work that stuff, he had these little routines he would do. We did all that kinda stuff - we were better in person than we were recording, because everything was loose. Recording, you�re uptight.�

While it cannot be considered their loosest recording, the third Tri-Phi side �Whole Lotta Nothing� was a nevertheless infectious and defiantly simple rocker with some humorous, self-effacing asides from each band member. Issued as a topside, upon release the number quickly became a local favourite back home, hitting #1 throughout the Valley in the late spring of 1963. It could have been a bigger hit, but Tri-Phi�s poor credit rating with their pressing plant meant crucial orders for the single went unfulfilled. Still, the Blue Notes coasted on their continued popularity by venturing outside their immediate home region.

Kenny Craig: �We played big shows at the Hollywood Palladium, Sacramento Memorial, and we started playing some clubs. They used to say, �Well, you don�t make the money off the records, you make it off the personal appearances,� that�s the way it worked back then. You�d wonder why you weren�t making a bunch of money, but then you saw guys like Marvin Gaye. I was talking to him backstage at the Merced Fairgrounds, and he said he hadn�t seen a quarter, and there we were, thinking he was a big time star. My trouble was I was always worried about improving, and then you don�t know who�s minding the store.�

Tri-Phi folded not long after the Blue Notes� second release, when Fuqua sold the label to Berry Gordy. Coolures, however, kept a dialogue open with Motown, and pitched new recordings to the company over the course of the ensuing year. Several tracks on this collection such as �Skippy�, �I Got A Right To Love My Baby�, �Jump� and �Greyhound� date from this period. None appear to have passed the infamous Motown quality control committee; given the label�s basic lack of blues repertoire, this is probably not surprising. For many years there has been a persistent rumour that a Merced Blue Notes single was issued on the label�s SOUL subsidiary � however, a copy of the record has yet to surface. The titles in question, �Rufus Jr� and �Do The Pig�, did constitute the combo�s next release, this time on the San Francisco imprint Mammoth...

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