The First Album by the White Summer band

White Summer is the name of my rock band. I previously published an article about the band with links to videos of our music, including originals from our 5th and final album, and remakes recorded live in concert.

This time, I want to go back to the beginning—to 1976. That was the year the White Summer band recorded and released its first album. By this time, the band had been writing, rehearsing, and performing for a few years but none of us had ever been inside a recording studio. We had a thrill when Les Paul sat in the control room for a while listening to us record, and gave us some nice compliments.

The White Summer band was a trio in those days. The three of us—Rick Lowe, David Wheeler, and Jim Watkins—were each but 21 years old. We had been friends for a long time. We had created 11 original songs and we were extremely excited to be able to record our art.

I am going to present three short songs today for your review. The first is entitled "BMF" and it was written by the three of us in the studio on a day when our engineer was late. It was recorded the same day it was created. Brace yourselves because it's going to be me on lead vocals for this one.

I am the drummer for the White Summer band and I sing eight of the ten songs on this first album.

Rick Lowe is the guitarist on the first White Summer album. Rick composed and sings one of the songs. He also co-authored five of the other songs; and provides backing vocals on many tracks

David Wheeler is the bass player on the first album by the White Summer band. David co-wrote a couple songs on the album, and sings some background vocals. Additionally, he wrote and sings one of the songs, and that song is what we are going to review next: "Without a Sound."

A fan of the band from Greece published three other songs from this album on YouTube. They are "Sail" "Omega" and "Laugh When I Die."

If will provide links to these songs below. That is Rick Lowe singing the lead vocals on "Sail."

First, I am going to present just one more video I made of a song from the first White Summer album. Rick Lowe and Jim Watkins wrote this song together and Jim Watkins sings it. It is called "Ridin' High."

I am sad to report that after Rick Lowe, David Wheeler, and Jim Watkins invested two years writing and rehearsing these songs; put together the deal to record and publish the first White Summer album; achieved our dream of hearing ourselves on the radio; and saw our record on store shelves for sale—the band broke up just weeks later over a dispute about money, of all things. Something we never cared about before.

The three of us have remained good friends. David Wheeler moved to Tennessee and went on to become a successful guitarist in a nightclub act there. He also later did another stint in the White Summer band.

Rick Lowe also later rejoined White Summer—a couple of times, in fact. He lives in southwestern Michigan, in the same area from which the three of us hail. For many years now, Rick Lowe has been a singer and guitarist in a Christian Rock band with his wife Edith, and their sons, Matthew and David.

After Rick Lowe and David Wheeler left the group, the White Summer band would reform around the singing drummer Jim Watkins and go on to record four more albums of original material.

We played thousands of live concerts and nightclub shows over the next 15 years. And still today we perform once a year—though not with the original lineup—in a White Summer Reunion Concert. We never played any of the songs on the first album again.