Long, long ago in a commercial radio world far removed from today there was a powerful little AM radio station out of Little Rock, Arkansas -- KAAY 1090.
"The Mighty 1090", as it was called back in the day, was a 'clear channel' frequency, which means that in the late night hours and into the early morning they had a playlist that reached from Cuba in the south all the way up to Canada!
While many other radio stations had similarly powerful transmitters KAAY's 50,000 watts was unprecedented, especially in that the station was one of the early adopters of the progressive rock radio format, taking the singles-dominated AM radio of the 1950s and 1960s into the longer form rock of the 1970s.
"Cindy's Cryin" is a cover of a Tom Paxton song, and became a signature tune on Clyde Clifford's cutting-edge "Beaker Street" program. Among rock music lovers of a certain age, Beaker Street and this song have become legendary harbingers of an age when free-form radio was truly as underground as the bands which later went on to fill stadiums worldwide, in the 1970s.
And while KAAY's 'clear channel' status enabled The Deep Water Reunion to reach a large, dedicated audience, the song was never given a wide release as a single and the band is still as underground as they ever were.
Band History:
The Deep Water Reunion had its roots in several mid-1960s bands. One such band was "the Rivermen", which formed in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Rivermen's Jerry Miller would meet the other founding members of The Deep Water Reunion while living in New Orleans. The band appeared on Bourbon Street before beginning an extensive, two year midwestern tour. In 1968 they traveled to Nashville to record a single for RCA Records: "(Hey there) Ruby Foo."
By this time the band had developed a regional following and had begun to tour through the upper midwest. After recording two live albums in Minnesota in 1968, the band returned the following year to record a studio album: "DWR." Today, many remember them as "a Minnesota band with Arkansas roots."
While the members went their separate ways in the early 1970s, The Deep Water Reunion's unique repertoire of original material and covers of popular songs of the era had kept them in demand for many years.
Subsequently, members Hayes and Miller played as solo artists and in other bands throughout the midwest -- and beyond. Barbara Raney has continued as a solo artist, and had a regional country rock hit in 1983.
Singles:
"Ruby Foo" RCA Victor – 47-9609 (1968)
"Girl from the North Country / I Wanna Know, Babe" (Self released, 1968)
LPs:
1968: "Deep Water - Live At The Showboat"
1968: "Deepwater - Live (161)"
Note: Both of these live albums were recorded at the same venue, and have in subsequently been conflated as a single album with a re-issue.
Different setlists, matrix numbers, and album jacket artwork uniquely differentiate each.
1969: "DWR" - Recorded at Sound 80 and released on the band's Jerral Records imprint.
Name Variations:
The Deep Water Reunion is rendered as "Deep Water" (live album / labels), "Deepwater" (cover, live album / 161), and "Deep Water Reunion" ("DWR", cover - Jerral.)
http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2009/11/deep-water-reunion.html
https://barbararaney.bandcamp.com/album/cindys-crying-the-best-of-barbara-raney
Band Members circa 1966 - 1970:
Barbara Raney
Bob Hayes
Jerry Miller
Brent Webster
Brad Kamp
Keith Skue
