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Personnel:

TaniOriginally founded as a five-piece, electric band, today 77 EL DEORA performs in a variety of formats from a full-band of up to eight pieces in electric or acoustic mode, down to trios, duos and my solo shows. Many excellent musicians have contributed to the recordings and performances over the years dating back to the original Calamity & Main album. Their kindness of spirit, generosity of talent and bad influence on my already poor behavior cannot be over emphasized. I can not thank them adequately enough. Below are photographs of the front or side of many of their lovely heads. -Maurice

 

Allison Anderson Bahjat Boyd Brandon Courtney Craig Crooks Fisher
JB ALLISON:
Guitar, Steel Guitar
Mike ANDERSON:
Vocals, Bass
Keith BAHJAT:
Bass
Armen BOYD:
Saxophones
Pam BRANDON:
Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Jenn COURTNEY:
Vocals
Randy CRAIG:
Piano
Deborah CROOKS:
Co-writer
Christopher FISHER:
Drums
Foreman Gleason Greenberg Griffiths Guthorn Hay Hendricks Kallai Kennedy
Catherine FORMAN:
Vocals
Dave GLEASON:
Guitar
Diana GREENBERG:
Fiddle
Paul GRIFFITHS:
Co-writer
Katie GUTHORN:
Vocals
Scott HAY:
Steel Guitar
Wil HENDRICKS:
Vocals, Bass
Steve KALLAI:
Fiddle
Kathy KENNEDY:
Vocals
Klein Olguin Owen Phillips Pugh Rexford Richardson Sabatelli Wolf
Jordan KLEIN:
Banjo
Paul OLGUIN:
Bass
Ken OWEN:
On-The-Drums™, Co-writer
David PHILLIPS:
Steel Guitar
Jim PUGH:
Piano, Organ
Katy REXFORD:
Fiddle
Jeanine RICHARDSON:
Percussion
Trey SABATELLI:
Drums
Misisipi Mike WOLF:
Co-writer, Guitar, Vocals
THE NAME: “What's it mean? Everyone knows that El Deora is Spanish for 'The Deora', but ...what's it mean?"
We get this a lot. When you have a name like 77 El Deora, it comes with the territory. There's a lot of speculation.

Pure Speculation:

Line of designer women's fragrance and footwear worn by Nora Blaine.

Crime scene address of a dilapidated Palm Springs mansion.

Pilot for a '70s TV detective series.

An anagram of Oral Dee, LL., rockabilly preacher who predicted the deaths of both Patsy Cline and Marilyn Monroe.

Notorious Mexican erotic film actress from the '60s.

Tribute to Sergio Mendez.

Decommissioned Honduran naval vessel involved in an '80s CIA-crime scandal.

Sevens are upside-down "L"s...

The Party Line:
The El Deora was a custom, after-market variant of the Cadillac Eldorado in the '70s. It was the gaudiest, most over-the-top automobile you could buy. A company called ASC (originally American Sunroof Corporation) took the basic Eldorado, already a rather audacious, 2-door, land shark of a car, and made everything about it more extreme, -using styling cues from every other luxury car of the day. They added a chrome Rolls Royce radiator grill in front. A Lincoln Continental-style spare tire hump to the trunk. So much vinyl to the roof that it spread down on to the top ot the window sills. They extended the front and rear fenders of what was already one of the longest vehicles on the road. And the list goes on. If it was on a luxury car of the era, it was on the El Deora, but more so. They added opera windows, landeau bars, -not one but two of each! Shag carpet -on the ceiling!

It was a hidious, Frankenstein of a ride. At the time it occupied a niche halfway between the gold-chain retired white guy and a production pimp-mobile, but somewhere along the way it crossed over into cool. Examples found today are typically trashed, and it's that final layer of patina making them even more appealling to me. If I had a garage, I'd have one. If I had one, it would likely be pouring smoke out the rear, -or up on blocks in the yard with weeds growing out the fender wells. A car like that speaks to fallen aspirations, shattered dreams, bad checks. It's my kind of country.

-Maurice

Hillbilly Noir. Bashy. Original. Intelligent. California Country. Electric. Honky Tonk. Twangy. Oblique Americana.