Charley and the Cropdusters

ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS
Reproduced By Kind Permission of Steven Dean Stoke Sounds inc.
Charley McOontle and the Cropdusters are one of those bands that only come along now and again; like a warm summer breeze over Lochindorb. Emerging in the late 60s from the small hamlet of Cullfearn surrounded by the dense woodlands and glens of Morayshire that flank the river Findhorn, This swaggering bass player, along with his long-time compatriots, is still writing musical history. Charley’s musical sidekicks have been around him for so long, he has difficulty remembering how they got there in the first place; knowing most of them since his remote village childhood. Indeed, guitarman and many-times removed cousin Chainsaw McConnachie and brother of fingerstyle bluesman Doc McConnachie has ‘lived over the back’ for as long as Charley’s memory stretches. ’Chainsaw is like a gunfighter cool slick and fast, a man you’d always want by your side’ said Charley in a recent interview.
Guitarist Wolfman is McOontle’s oldest band member and it is thought that Charley and Wolfman were raised together when McOontle’s mother Maimie Keiro discovered the remarkably hirsute and whimpering infant abandoned on the family drying green. An exemplary guitarist, Wolfman has found his canine howl not the slightest hindrance to his impressive picking and slide capabilities. Onstage he is the perfect foil for Chainsaw, Their intertwining cross rhythms are mesmerising. Check out the solo on Dangle off the 2004 release Brown & Blue Charleys soul tribute set. Wolfman is also guitar tech with the band and has what is widely thought of as the finest collection of guitars in Scotland. His and Chainsaws sojourns to far flung regions to ‘pick up a bargain’ are legendary. Those two were in the room when Peter Green gave his Les Paul GoldTtop to a young Irish guy by the name of Garry Moore who happened to be with them, one wonders if he gave it to the right person. Many a dubious collector or seller will pooh pooh that story but the truth can be borne out by the guys who were there.
Drummers Mr Solid and Big Mac, having been laying McOontle’s foundations since their distant Salmon-poaching days, know the man’s dancing digits like the back of their stick-wielding hands. Incidently, with Biggalow Mackenzie printed clearly on his birth certificate, Big Mac’s nickname has little to do with hastily knocked-up hamburgers Round the campfire, Mr Solid is known more formally as Sebastion O’Lyde his father Seamus owned the local taxi firm and was the first roadie with Charley and the boys before the Band could drive and move south in the 70s.
That whole period of their history is peppered with tales of alcohol fuelled shenanigans. The most famous being the tube tunnel expeditions to the Kings Cross studios whilst working on the ‘Mummy’sessions (first Cropdusters album circa 1973) Incidentally the original masters of that album were stolen by Charley and long suffering soundmen Tony Oliver and Jimmy Miller. It was felt at the time that the band were not in it for stardom or financial gain.(A view still held strongly by Charlie to this day) ‘Strum and Drang is our Thang’ was the slogan on the tanktops they all wore whilst staggering between the Denmark Arms in East Ham and the communal squat in Manor Park.
By coincidence the band advance of several thousand pounds was spent on clearing the mortgages on the crofts of all Cropduster relatives back home in the bonnie hills. surrounding Cullfearn.
Masterful acoustic strummer Delbert J. says little, but states much. The Coolest of the crew. Blessed with the voice of an angel, He floats in and out of the Cropdusters history, He is credited as the one who turned Charley on to mainstream country music, And encouraged him to hone his song writing skills.
Having left the Glens as a young man chasing the dream of stardom he wound up in L.A. trading licks and ideas with among others Emmylou Harris, Al Perkins, Terry Reid and an Eagle or two. Delbert currently lives in London but escapes north when the call comes for recording or live work with the Cropdusters
The Hawk apart from being the youngest member holds a special place in the heart of the band, Doubling on bass and percussion, but in the main making sweet harmonies with cousin Delbert behind McOontle’s sandpapered, leathery vocals, Theodore ‘The’ Hawk is the son of the late and much-revered Otis McKenzie and as Hawk tells it great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the legendary soul Pict, ‘Shuggie’ McKenzie. Who was crucified around 250AD after taking his groove a little too far South of Hadrian’s Wall for the much more conservative Roman ears of the time. (Hawk is also known to exaggerate from time to time)
Keyboards man Louie Paradise is the wild card in the bunch he was brought up on the east side of the River Spey about fifty miles from Cropduster territory which in the sixties might as well have been on the moon. Charley recalls ‘I first heard Louie fronting his own band in Nairn playing Booker T materiel and I saw a kindred spirit’ it would be another twelve years before Louie got off the bus in Forres and into the Cropdusters lineup.His band had spent five long years on the continent until a disillusioned Louie headed home to become the backbone of Charleys vision. Along with Wolfman a fellow gun enthusiast he hunts the shy Drumnadrochit Bigfoot by night when not spicing up the Cropdusters’ repertoire with his mean piano and organ work. Although he’s had many a sighting, he’s yet to bag a Yeti; so to speak. Big man, big game, big hopes.
Happily for us though, the legacy of Otis McKenzie is much more in evidence. Known as the Godfather of Highland Soul, back in the 50s Otis took his village music scene by the scruff of the neck and booted its arse until the forests echoed with finger-snappin’ rhythm - shaking to the pounding beat, shimmying to the cool upstrokes and generally grooving to those oh, so heartfelt vocal modulations. With the wide-eyed McOontle and his young friends attending these soul ceilidhs before they even learned to walk, it’s no wonder Otis and Shuggie before him’s influences have gone a long way to making Charlie and the Cropdusters the Highland Ayatollahs of the Groove they are today
A definite advantage of playing together for so long and sharing a gene or two is the entire band’s uncanny telepathic ability to pick up on each others’ ideas as their music weaves and turns through a vast and satisfying musical spectrum furnishing a tasty display case for McOontle’s song writing talents. It’s said that if you kicked a Cropduster, they’d all limp, McOontle included. Wouldn’t advise it though, these rugged sons of the North’s remote backwoods have been known to battle with anyone who crosses them.
Picture this: A summer solstice gig at Stonehenge,The Cropdusters were due onstage after Joe Strummer and his band around 12.30 a.m. they were to be the only band to perform in total darkness before sunrise, just before midnight as Strummers set was drawing to a climax, four of Hawkwinds roadies along with their bass player Lemmy Approached the aforementioned Tony Oliver and demanded in a not to friendly hippy type fashion they change slots, ’cos we have a big loight show’ the bass player slurred
Charley and a few others were summoned from their slumbering and a furious argument ensued. Not wishing to dwell on the gory details the Cropdusters did play in the dark with a terrific light show supplied by Hawkwind who limped onstage in the early hours. Enough said…………
This band has been known to inspire frenzies wherever it goes… Check ‘em out and find out what rural Scotland has been grooving to all these years. The word has ultimately spread, Charlie McOontle and his Cropdusters are still at large, rippin’ it up, and looking much like they’re here to stay. Go to it McOontle!

it would be unfair to do this Cropduster story without mentioning some of the
Dusters on the side or offsIhoot members

Andrew Royell A.K.A The Duke was born in Cloddymoss on the north side of the river Findhorn he befriended and later married Delbert’s sister. But it was only when she inherited the croft at Fitabauldy they moved to the glen and into Charleys axis. He and McOontle began writing together and has co written a few songs with him. He is about as close to a Cropduster as you can get. The two are currently working on musical written in the ancient language of ‘Girse’ a cross between Doric and ancient Norse about the legendary Beast of Cloddy Moss and her lovers. One of them being Otis McKenzie who referred to her in one of his early hits as ‘ Jess Peem the Dairy Queen’ Duke still works the croft at Fitabauldy breeding worms for the Speyside fishing industry, he and his wife can be found grooving at Cropduster gigs Part time roadie full time friend.

Brownie Keiro is Charleys closest friend since childhood they first met when he spent summers with the McConachie family in Cullfearn where all of them developed an interest in music through Otis and his band. Brownie is a true musical genius and can play almost any instrument he picks up. He and Doc McConachie played and toured together for over twenty years as BrownDoc They played at Woodstock and the Isle of White and supported most of the Blues legends that toured England in the late 60s and early 70s.He also played drums with the early Cropdusters Brownie has more or less retired from music but can found hanging out at Charleys croft knocking out a tune. Or reminiscing about the old days before Forres House was burned down………But that as they say is another story.

Proffessah : nobody really remembers when he showed up at Cullfearn but it must be at least forty years ago. Son of a travelling showman Proffessah (real name Clyde DeVille) attended university and gained a degree in economics .He used his knowledge and skills to bargain with the recording establishment. He was in fact instrumental in brokering the deal that financed the 2nd album ‘Tinks Got Lucky (1975)’which featured among others Phil Lynott and Paul Kossoff Deville also took Northern Songs to task over unpaid royalties on the Otis McKenzie back catalogue and won an undisclosed sum on behalf of the family. He set up Super lungs Music with the blessing of Terry Reid who coined the phrase .Twelve years ago Deville also pioneered C.R.A.P(Cropdusters Recorded Archive Protection) Which basically protects anything copy write wise that is spoken about by any of the band or associates. A shrewd move in an era marred by advertising and sloganeering. Neil Young advocated something similar a few years earlier on This Notes For You.
Proffessah courted and married Big Bob Souters daughter Evengaline and they still live in her family home in Cullfearn. Bob was famous in the area as a tosser (of cabers) and a close drinking buddy of McOontle and Brownie sorely missed by both.
There exists somewhere in the McOontle archives a recording of the three, featuring Bob singing his favourite song ‘Braes of Cluny Hill’ Oh to have been a fly on the wall that day

Wullie Anderson long time associate of the Cropdusters and the drummer who filled Big Macs stool when he was on his lost years. Sadly passed away just before Christmas, As Chainsaw remarked ‘He didn’t know where the off button was a great loss to our the musical community. When Wullie and Charley were on it together musically or otherwise the world was a better place’…………………..


This article was written by Steve Dean and reproduced with the permission of
Stoke Sounds www.StevenDeanArts-inc.StokeSounds