J.T.S. Brown / JTS / J.T.S. Band

Dayton, 1970- c.1993

J.T.S. Brown (as JTS) came close to the big time with an album on Mercury records, where they were briefly labelmates of Rush and Thin Lizzy. The band started out in Dayton with the original lineup not known to us The band did a lot of traveling right from the start as they were playing in Cincinnati during December 1970, the earliest we could find. They were in Mansfield for August 1971 and played at the Castle in Columbus during September and November. They made it up to the Stables in Painesville for December 1971 and were also listed playing a benefit for "handicapped" children.there. Neal Vandegrift is mentioned as the band's organ player, he was from Kettering. 

February 1972 ad

The band was playing in Columbus during 1972, which is where we find more information about the band thanks to the April 24, 1977 story about band member Jim Young. Young had already been in the Next of Kin from Crooksville and wrote the songs on their 45, which was credited to 1984 and adopted by the Lowbrows (#2) from Columbus. According to the story Young joined the band while they were playing at the Castle and stayed on to be the band's guitarist and keybord player through their album. The other confirmed member is Frank Heath as the drummer. Frank had grown up in Kettering and was in a few bands including the Epics (Dayton version) with Neal Vandegrift.

May 1972 show....isn't May Day celebrated on the 1st though?

The band played in the Dayton area for a few years, with occasional club dates in Columbus.

A couple 45s were recorded locally in 1975/6. Along with Young and Heath the band members were Jonathan Wild (guitar, vocals) and Brian Balthrop (bass, vocals). The first 45 was recorded at Applachia Sound and has a couple of introspective soft rock songs credited to Young, Wild, and Burt Stahl, who would be Burton Stahl formerly of the Music Explosion. Burton's connection to the band is not clear. The second 45 has a harder rock song "I See Things In You". Both 45s were on the Hyperion label and issued in special sleeves, the first one with a band picture, the second with text claiming "from the album Flyin'".

The band was spending a lot of time in New England, as stated in the article and with new member Fred Blackburn on bass replacing Balthrop, the band recorded an album with Bruce Patch, a well known Boston producer, at Northern Recording studio in Maynard, Mass. The band was helped by Billy Coldiron a guitartist from the Dayton area who had been an unofficial member of the band for a while. The band had changed their sound a bit to add more country-rock influences. The album was released on Patch's Spoonfed label titled "Flyin'" and the band name shortened to JTS. The name J.T.S. Brown was first (and still is) a brand of Kentucky bourbon, so the name change was probably done to avoid copyright problems. The earlier 45 of "I See Things In You" was not included , depsite the listing on the 45 sleeve.

After having been out for a few months, the album was re-released on Mercury records, with a different cover, and Kevin Lillis credited as bass player. Billy Coldiron is also listed as Billy Goldiron. A 45 was released with a couple songs from the album. The band did some touring, including shows in California and Texas to promote the record. After several months Billy returned to Dayton and in a 1978 interview, he says that Mercury's response to the album's sales was "record company hype" and that there was "problems with the band and broken contracts".

The band regrouped with Young, Heath, and a new bass player, Lance Wilholte, also from Kettering. They had a giig doing promotional shows for B.F. Goodrich for awhile, but came back to Dayton. They appear off an on in various Dayton clubs through 1993.

Not suprisingly, rock bands were still not liked by the older generations in December 1971

Discography:
You Don't Love Me (Like You Used To Do) / Love Is Not The Word - Hyperion no # (NR master 5507), 1975
I See Things In You / New England Song - Hyperion no # (NR master 6623), 1976
Stay With Me / Time To Be Flyin' - Mercury 73896, 1977
LP - Flyin' - Spoonfed 3302/Mercury 1-1152,  (Mercury release May 1977)