Featured Essay: Hot and Nasty: Black Oak Arkansas and Their Self-Titled Debut

by Vincent T. Ciaramella

Memories at the Window

Let’s see…gray beard? Check. Slightly overweight? Check. Bad left knee? Check. The inability to find new music that hits like it did 30 years ago. Sadly, for this aging Gen Xer, check. Before you think of me as some curmudgeon that’s stuck in an imaginary utopia where music and culture peaked in the 90’s, let me state that I am always on the lookout for new artists and bands that deliver a sonic dopamine hit to the pleasure centers in my brain. However, as these ears age, lots of new music to me just sounds like a rehash of earlier groups, or as my mom would say “Same wine, different bottle.” Again, there are exceptions, and this is my own personal journey, and not a condemnation of current music or a broad sweeping generalization, so put down the pitchforks and torches. Where was I? Yes, complaining like Abe Simpson about not finding new music. Well, sometimes you have to look to the past to find something fresh that jumps-starts the soul. So, this is how I came to find my “new” favorite band. The story begins with some doom scrolling on Facebook and a chance find on an AI generated clickbait page. 

The Hills of Arkansas

 A vintage advertisement for The Royal Oak Music Theater in Michigan from 1977 caught my eye between leaving the Sandwiches of History page and before making my way to the Old Judge Baseball Card Facebook forum.  A quick look at the ad made me wish Doc and his Delorean were parked outside. Thin Lizzy with AC/DC opening on Sept 13th with tickets from $7.50-$9.00. WHAT!!!! That’s the price of a flat Coke today at most venues. Then I saw the show on Friday September 8th, 1977. That night a band called Black Oak took the stage with the band Salem Witchcraft opening. When I saw this, my first thought was, “Who the heck is Black Oak?” A quick Google search revealed that the band’s full name was Black Oak Arkansas (I still haven’t followed up on Salem Witchcraft, so please, a little patience, I’ll get to them down the road.) My first thought was, “That’s a weird moniker.” Come to find out, they are named after their hometown. Okay, unique for sure and worth a quick search on YouTube. The first song I came across was a live rendition of Hot and Nasty. As soon as the singer came out on stage I said to myself “David Lee Roth better be paying this dude royalties.” Others wrote almost the exact same thing in the comments section. If you want to see what I mean, look up the live version of Hot and Nasty and tell me that Jim “Dandy” Mangrum isn’t the prototype for every frontman playing the Sunset Strip during the 80’s. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Musically, it’s a very early version of southern rock with a guy that looks like David Lee Roth but sounds like Bone Machine era Tom Waits. My brain started to buffer like RealPlayer for Windows 98. The closest experience that I had like this before was when I tried the soft drink Moxie for the first time. My gut instinct was to spit it out, yet I couldn’t. I kept on drinking it and fell in love with its unique taste of black liquorice meets aspirin. The same thing happened with Black Oak Arkansas’ sonic sermons. But where to begin? 

Lord Have Mercy on My Soul

Black Oak Arkansas’ self-titled debut came into existence in that space between the acid trip of the late 1960s and the ear-splitting arena rock concerts that were just a distant rumble of thunder on the time horizon. Clocking in at just a smidge over 32 minutes, Black Oak Arkansas takes its listeners on a southern rock journey that predates Lynard Skynard’s (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-’nérd ‘Skin-’nérd)by 2 years. The six-man band, complete with a singer who sounds like he ate a bowl of gravel every day before school beginning in kindergarten, takes you on an auditory pilgrimage down a dirt lane in “The Natural State” before ending in gridlock on the 405. While none of the tracks from this album ended up on the Dazed and Confused soundtrack, Lord Have Mercy on My Soul would end up on mine. Other bangers on this piece of wax include Hot and Nasty, When Electricity Came to Arkansas, and the cover Singing the Blues (Melvin Endsley). Forewarning, if you’re looking for Sweet Home Alabama Part II or Flirtin’ with Disaster (Slight Return), you will be disappointed, though Molly Hatchet has more in common with Black Oak Arkansas than Skynard. However, Black Oak Arkansas’ sound is more country than Gator Country. This relic of the early 70’s is a perfect addition to Enzo’s and my collection. To sum it up, Arkansas may have Little Rock. However, Black Oak, Arkansas has A LOT OF ROCK!

Vincent T. Ciaramella is a high school Psychology teacher by trade, Vince is also a published author with ten books and multiple articles under his belt including published works through SABR (Society for American Baseball Research), IBRO (International Boxing Research Organization), and History Magazine. His latest book is “A Shooting Star Across the Silver Screen- Olive Thomas: A Biography.” When not writing or teaching, Vince and his vinyl hunting partner and vinyl collector himself, Enzo Ciaramella, are out looking for some more titles to add to their collections.

Previously by Vincent:

Pittsburgh Vinyl Crawl

Captain Beyond

Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii