WARNING: Contents of this post are graphic and may offend some readers.
This post is written by our good friend Art Meripol, one of the greatest rock photographers around. Check out his photo blog here.
It was 1973 when Grand Funk Railroad officially dropped the ‘Railroad’ and became Grand Funk. Their November album release that year We’re An American Band was produced by Todd Rundgren and signaled a new more commercial direction for the band. Its autobiographical title song was sung by drummer Don Brewer. “We’re An American Band,” released before the album, became an instant gold-selling number one with its matter-of-fact detailing of life on the road for Grand Funk.
The song’s classic opening of “Out on the road for 40 days/ Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze/ Sweet Sweet Connie doing her act/She had the whole show and that’s a natural fact” made everyone who wasn’t in a band wish they were, just for the groupies.
In case you ever wondered, Sweet Sweet Connie was real and lived in Little Rock too. During the 1980’s while photographing concerts in Little Rock, I got to know Connie since I saw her at almost every show I went to. Of course, that was 10 and more years since the song and she’d lost a bit of the ‘youthful’ look. Her skin wasn’t aging well and she was starting to look a bit worn and hard from the life.
30 Days Out 