Audio Autopsy, 1972: Tampa's White Witch and the Karma of Capricorn

A little proggy & classic rock, with a dash of pop and hauntingly catchy melodies! So, what the hell were they doing on a label with the Allman Brothers, Grinderswitch, and the Marshall Tucker Band?

Record industry trade publication full-page Capricorn ad, ca. 1972.

The entire White Witch debut album on YouTube:

“To bring good where there once was evil, to bring love where there once was hate, to bring wisdom where there once was ignorance: This is the power of White Witch.”…Pre-concert announcement at curtain

A radar blip…a tiny, little radar blip. Five guys and one album in 1972. Then, a rapid-fire personnel shuffle before Album #2 in 1974 (A Spiritual Greeting), which landed with an even deeper thud than their debut. Decades pass, and a couple haphazard attempts at reunions, and a band member’s untimely passing…

This is the story of the mysterious appearance and disappearance of White Witch, a Florida band who recorded a debut album that’s been beloved for decades by the few ears who have managed to hear it; they certainly got no help from radio!

Theirs is a story that, among other things, can point to how an artist’s label home can be more of a career anchor that sinks you than the hot air balloon that points you to the heights of stardom.

Out of Thin Air

White Witch appeared, almost without warning, in 1971 in Tampa, Florida. They originally featured lead singer Ronn Goedert (who passed in July 2000), guitarist Buddy Richardson, keyboardist Hardin “Buddy” Pendergrass (passed in March 2003), drummer Bobby Shea, and bassist Beau Fisher.

In 1964, Pendergrass formed popular, 7-piece Tampa-area “horn band” called The Tropics. A 1966 International Battle of the Bands in Chicago ended up with The Tropics besting over 400 bands (including an early Chicago iteration and Tommy James and the Shondells) to earn a recording contract with Columbia Records (the previous year’s winner was the Young Rascals).

Columbia producer, Teo Macero (r) in studio with Miles Davis, recording “Bitches Brew,” summer 1969.

Their Columbia product was produced by longtime staff producer, Teo Macero (1957 to mid-’70s, shown above), known for his work with jazz legends, having produced Miles Davis’s landmark Bitches Brew album, as well as Dave Brubeck’s Time Out. He was also responsible for signing Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Byrd to the label.

Despite the mid-’60s time-stamp for The Tropics, they were far less British Invasion pop than Seeds/Sonics garage-y roughness (think Lenny Kaye’s compilation, Nuggets), especially after new management suggested they lose the horn section.

From the late-’90s comes this revealing retrospective video, with song snippets, rare vintage photos, and interviews with Pendergrass and the other Tropics members, including eventual fellow White Witch-er, drummer, Bobby Shea:

From The Tropics to the Topic of Capricorn