Northern California Spotlight: The Brogues - I Ain't No Miracle Worker/Don't Shoot Me Down

Day six of our Nor Cal Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to the center of the state in the farm town of Merced. That's where we find a five piece band calling themselves The Brogues.

The Brogues released their second and final single in November of 1965 for Challenge Records. The band at this time was Bill Whittington, Eddie Rodriguez, Rick Campbell, Greg Elmore and Gary Cole.

I Ain't No Miracle Worker was a song written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, two songwriters who would soon score garage and psych classics for The Electric Prunes. I Ain't No Miracle Worker would also be recorded by The Great Scots about the same time and later covered by The Chocolate Watchband, who slowed the number down quite a bit. The Brogues original recording of the song is a surprisingly fast paced number with some scorching guitar from Eddie Rodgriuez.

The flip-side is the band composed Don't Shoot Me Down. It's a blitzkrieg of a rewrite of Bo Diddley's Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut. Probably by way of The Pretty Things as the singer, Rick Campbell, even gets in a few Phil May inflections.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!