Teegarden & Van Winkle

Best known for their 1970 smash "God, Love and Rock & Roll," the duo of drummer David Teegarden and organist Skip "Van Winkle" Knape first began collaborating in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma during the early 1960s. After meeting while backing local rockabilly singer Gene Crose, the two later reunited in the group Skip and the Blue Tones before going their separate ways, with Knape touring behind singer/guitarist Rodney Lay and Teegarden remaining a fixture of the Tulsa club circuit. They eventually came back together later in the decade after a chance meeting at the Los Angeles home of another former Tulsa performer, Leon Russell; dubbing themselves the Sunday Servants, Teegarden and Knape soon recorded a cover of "Bo Diddley" for the World Pacific label. The record went nowhere, however, and the duo instead turned to backing singer Denny White. While appearing in Elko, Nevada, White abruptly left town after landing a better-paying gig; out of necessity the Teegarden and Van Winkle act was born to fulfill their club obligations, briefly returning to Tulsa before settling in Detroit, where in 1969 they recorded their debut album, An Evening at Home with Teegarden and Van Winkle. But Anyhow followed in 1970, like its predecessor failing to dent the pop mainstream; the duo then self-released "God, Love and Rock & Roll," which slowly became a hit throughout the midwest before reaching the Top Ten on the national charts. A self-titled LP followed in 1971, but Teegarden and Van Winkle failed to capitalize on the single's success, despite frequently playing live with Bob Seger. On Our Way followed in 1972, and a year later the duo issued Experimental Groundwork, an album recorded under the influence of hypnotherapy. It was Teegarden and Van Winkle's final LP for close to a quarter century, with the duo reuniting in 1997 for Radioactive.