When I was young, before I had cassettes, the only good way of making a playlist of songs was to stack 45s on the turntable. I would arrange them to play my favorite songs in my favorite order. These posts are about records I had in my stacks.
“Groovy Grubworm” is a 2 minute 11 second instrumental country record from 1969 by Harlow Wilcox & the Oakies. It has a great country feel with some definite rock and roll guitar licks mixed in. 6 foot 4 1/2 inch tall Harlow, born January 28, 1943, was a session musician from Norman, Oklahoma. He recorded “Groovy Grubworm” in 1969 for a tiny label called Impel (founded by 1950s, songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur David Lee). The song came to the attention of Shelby Singleton, the owner of the previously dormant Sun label (which he used for reissues) and the Plantation label.
Singleton purchased the master and re-released it as PL 28 on his Plantation label. “Groovy Grubworm made the Country Billboard and Cashbox charts on September 22, 1969. It remained on the Billboard chart for 13 weeks and made it to number 42. It did better on the Billboard Hot 100, six weeks but peaking at number 30.
It remained on Cashbox country chart for 19 weeks making it to number 1 on November 22, 1969. On the Cashbox Top 100 it peaked at number 25. The B side, Moose Trot, is good also with some distorted guitar. I definitely kept it in a stack to flip over so I’d hear the other side. Both songs are written by Harlow Wilcox and Bobby Warren.
“Groovy Grubworm” sold over a million copies and was nominated for a Grammy in 1969. The song was on the LP “Groovy Grubworm and Other Golden Guitar Greats”. The song was even used as the theme for Wide World of Sports, on ABC, for 13 weeks. Both songs on this record are really groovy!
