Click the player below to hear music from this page.
The Cat Mother Scrapbook
Celebrating Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys
The Cat Mother Scrapbook
Celebrating Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys
Content Note
Phil Hildenbrand
The short, glib answer to why I created a Cat Mother scrapbook can be found on page 53 of For What It’s Worth – The Story of The Buffalo Springfield by John Einarson and Richie Furay (1997).
The authors describe the breakup of The Company, a folk group Roy Michaels took on a tour of Canada, with Stephen Stills as a member, after the breakup of The Au Go Go Singers. It was during that tour when The Company, with Stills, met Neil Young in Fort William, Ontario. Their history is well documented.
The Company also went their separate ways, “Fred (Geiger) and Roy faded into obscurity.”
This site is proof that Roy Michaels did not fade into history. With his musical pal, Bob Smith, he soldiered on to create a wholly different rock and roll story… on the edge of obscurity. The band they fronted, Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, is celebrated herein. I started collecting press clippings and this is the result.
I am open to questions, comments, suggestions, submissions and donations.
Phil Hildenbrand – July 2022
Nick Wilson showed up in Mendocino in the summer of 1970. Having spent time in Austin and Berkeley, he was ready for the country. Shortly upon his arrival he re-united with Charlie Prichard, a friend from Austin, who was playing with Cat Mother. There began a long friendship with Cat Mother and friends. A nascent photographer, Nick took the iconic ‘Commerce Battery Truck’ photograph, which started his life as a photographer of all things Mendocino, including Mendocino in the Seventies. For a time he made excellent live recordings of Mendocino bands and shows, as well. The ability to share visual history of the Mendocino Coast music scene is due to Nick’s diligence and persistence shooting and developing his life’s work. Thanks, Nick for your presence.