This lineup came about after the May breakup of the original band. Denny and Andy were left from the original group. Carl joined up after managing Spazz and the Electric Circus, having not played in a band since the breakup of the Agency. It is not clear if he was still doing some management for Spazz at this time. Bob had recently left Jury and was asked to join.    The name, Road, was left intact since it was known at the time due to the previous lineups existence. Besides figuring out a name for a band was such a hassle most times.

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Start date for lineup: August 1970 Date disbanded: Nov. 1970

Denny Allen: Bass, vocals Andy Crim: Guitar, vocals Carl Dorner: Guitar, vocals Bob Groves: Drums, vocals

Denny was playing a Gibson EB–2DC bass guitar finished in cherry with two pickups. He had a Vox Westminister bass amp to play through.    Andy was using a candy apple red pre–CBS Fender Stratocaster through a silver faced Fender Twin Reverb amp. He used a Crybaby wah–wah pedal and possibly had some sort of distortion pedal also.    Carl played a Gibson ES–330T through a combination Standel amp head and Kustom speaker cabinet. The Gibson was finished in what is now called vintage sunburst and had one pickup that had a plain black plastic pickup cover. The guitar had belonged to a relative of Carl’s and came in a vintage Gibson case that was most likely for one of Gibson’s deeper bodied guitars like a ES–175. He later sold this guitar to Ron Carlson in 1972.    Bob had a Ludwig drum set finished in what was known as oyster blue pearl. It was a combination of blues, dark and light, in a pearl looking finish. Ringo Starr’s drum set had the same finish. Bob’s kit consisted of kick, snare, two shell mount toms, floor tom, hi hat and cymbals.    For PA the band was using a Kustom silver tuck and roll set up. The amp had 4 inputs and reverb. The speaker cabinets contained a 15 inch speaker and a high frequency driver fitted to a 15 horn in each cabinet. The group was using a variety of microphones consisting of Shure and Turner mics. Road rented/borrowed lights from Ron Carlson more than likely since the previous version had used the same system. The lights, which had been used in the Agency originally, consisted of two columns with four lights in each.

Road practiced exclusively at Denny’s house which was located between Ogden and Rippey, a bit north of Berkley and south of Beaver. (Confusing huh!?) Denny’s folks had added an addition to the north side of the house that was one big 20 by 20 foot room. The band could set up easily in the room and Denny had his stereo in there for learning songs. It was well enough insulated that there was not much noise transmission into the rest of the house so Denny’s mom could watch tv without too much trouble. The band would usually set up against the west wall and face the amps east to help out too. During the summer Road would practice nights and afternoons. All the members were without jobs, earning their money from playing out, so an afternoon practice was easily accomplished.

Road did some of the popular tunes of the day, but were also doing album cuts. Some of the songs the former lineup had done were still around with the addition of tunes like ‘All Right Now’/Free and the medley of Country Joe and the Fish tunes from the Woodstock soundtrack album.    The group was fairly active for the short time they were together playing at Mr. B’s in Ames, the Legion Hall in Dayton and a few high school dances–one being at United Community near Boone.

Some interesting events lead to the breakup of Road that would have far reaching effects. On the way to a mid morning practice in July, Carl, Andy and Bob were riding in Carl’s mother’s car. Andy had driven down from Strratford to Boone to pick up Bob and then to Carl’s house in Ogden with Carl driving to Denny’s place for practice. They had taken highway 169 south out of Ogden and were intending to head west on what is now E57 to go to Denny’s. Just as they were making the turn west the car was hit by another smashing in both left side doors. No one was seriously hurt, but they all were shook up from the incident–Andy more so than the rest.    Several things had been going on in Andy’s life that had begun to make him question many things. The lifestyle, music and drugs he was involved with were all swirling around and the accident added to this emotional instability. Over the course of the next few months Andy talked to many of his friends trying to sort out his thoughts on life. After a particularly bad practice, Andy–who had heard about a Christian crusade on the radio–suggested they go there to listen to what the speaker would share. The practice was called to a stop early and Carl and Andy decided to go to Boone to the crusade. After hearing the preaching that night at the Lundstrom Crusade they both gave their lives to Christ–they became “born again”.    With this change Road came to an end since both Andy and Carl had left the band. They witnessed to their friends, many of whom became Christians also. This one event was the start of a major Christian revival in this area as kids from Boone, Webster, Hamilton and Story counties started getting saved and attending Bible studies. This coincided with the national movement that was just starting during late 1970 and early 1971. The “Jesus Movement”–as it came to be called–was a nationwide phenomenon making the covers of Time, Life and Newsweek magazine amongst many others. There has been a book written detailing Andy and Carl’s story and this period. If you would like to obtain a copy you can contact Garage and arrangements will be made for the book to be sent to you.

After Road disbanded Denny continued on in a few other local bands before moving out of state. He currently owns a recording facility–Reel Grass–in Farmersville, TX where he lives with his family.    Andy has kept up playing guitar and was part of a small worship music group for a short time. Having been invovled in many endeavors throughout the intervening years, he was employed part time at the Apple Store in West Des Moines and now does water loss survey work. He lives with his family in the Boone area.    After Carl left the band he went to college and eventually went to Taiwan as a missionary with his wife and family. After serving there for 12 years he now lives in Omaha and is involved in counseling work.    Bob played in a few other local bands before graduating from Iowa State University and moving out of state. He eventually ended up in the Chicago area as a teacher. Due to lifelong health problems, Bob passed away sometime in the early ’80s.

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