Traut and Golden had been producing records for years (as Dunwich Productions) when they started Wooden Nickel in late 1971. Both had run record labels before; Traut with Dunwich and Golden (along with Bob Monaco) had run Destination, the label for the original Cryan' Shames releases. They had been recording Chicago-based bands and placing them on various labels, most recently the LA-based Happy Tiger label. The most accomplished of these Chicago bands was the Siegel-Schwall Band, who had been recording for at least a half-dozen years, originally on the Vanguard label.
Corky Siegel (piano, vocals, harmonica) and Jim Schwall (guitar, vocals), along with Rollow Radford
(bass, vocals) and Shelly (Sheldon Ira) Plotkin (drums) met in 1964 as Roosevelt University music
students. They played in South Side clubs featuring blues artists and there learned from such blues
greats as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. They recorded four albums for Vanguard, the last of which,
Siegel- Schwall '70 was produced by Bill Traut. They had a steady following in clubs around
Chicago, but didn't have any chart success. After signing with Wooden Nickel in 1971 as one of the
label's first acts, they recorded five albums over the next three years, the last (R.I.P.) recorded
after the band had essentially disbanded, but regrouped in the studio for one "last" recording. Siegel,
Schwall, and Radford returned in 1987 for a reunion concert, replacing the late drummer Plotkin (d.
1990) with Sam Lay. They now play about a dozen shows a year.
Styx, Wooden Nickel's most commercial group, started in the mid-1960s with twins Chuck (bass) and
John (drums) Panozzo and their neighbor Dennis DeYoung (accordion!). By 1968, they added John
Curulewski on guitar and called themselves the Tradewinds, which was soon shortened to TW4. In
1970, they added another guitarist, James (J.Y.) Young, and signed as TW4 with Wooden Nickel in
1972. At that point, the group decided to change the name of the band to Styx. The lineup remained the
same until Styx left Wooden Nickel for A&M in 1975, at which point Tommy Shaw replaced Curulewski.
Although Styx recorded four albums for Wooden Nickel, and RCA distribution should have ensured at least moderate success, the four albums didn't make the kind of sales impact the group had hoped for, or the label had expected. This caused some friction between the group and the label. Most frustrating was the fact they couldn't even get their records played on WLS, their hometown top-40 station. When their fourth album came out in 1974, the music director at WLS told them he wouldn't play it, but he would start programming "Lady," a cut from their second album. It took off in Chicago and caused Wooden Nickel/RCA to reissue the single, which went top-10 nationally. Wooden Nickel reissued another old single as a followup, and that charted, too. Pointing to these delayed successes as evidence of lack of earlier promotion, the group bolted for A&M, and the legal wrangling started. Bill Traut has said years later that when Styx left, they took the label down with them. That certainly appears to be the case as far as lack of further releases, but in retrospect, RCA has seen enough sales from Styx' first four albums to re-issue them numerous times over the years.
Other artists on Wooden Nickel were local musicians signed on the strength of their club performances
in the Chicago area, such as Megan McDonough of Des Plaines, Illinois (well before her Four Bitchin'
Babes days...). Jerry Weintraub, at that time John Denver's manager, sent McDonough out on the
road to open for Denver, and McDonough has been a touring songwriter/guitarist/vocalist ever since. A
major exception to the "home town" trend was the signing of Wolfman Jack, the Mexico/California-
based deejay whose star rose rapidly after the film American Graffiti. Unfortunately, his star went
nowhere on Wooden Nickel. James Lee Stanley, a songwriter and singer/guitarist originally from the
East Coast, was hired through Bones Howe. His backing musicians and vocalists were an all-star lineup
including Michael Omartian, Batdorf & Rodney, Doug Dillard, and Larry Carlton, all of whom had chart
hits on their own. He recently sent us the following note: "Dear BSN, Thanks for the diligence and the
effort to create these pages. As it happens, I am still touring and recording...all the info is on my webpage. Thanks for being there, James Lee Stanley."
The future country star group Exile made a stop at Wooden Nickel long before they had turned to country music, or for that matter, several years before their #1 pop hit "Kiss You All Over."
The Wooden Nickel label was brown, with a backdrop of the obverse
of a buffalo nickel done in wood tones. At the top of the label, in white lettering, was "wooden nickel".
This design was used throughout the life of the label.
We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Wooden Nickel Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2002 by Mike Callahan.
BWL1-2250 - Best of Styx - Styx [1977] Reissued in 1979 as RCA AFL1-
3597 with a different cover. You Need Love/Lady/I'm Gonna Make You Feel It/What Has Come Between
Us/Southern Woman/Rock & Roll Feeling/Winner Take All/Best Thing/Witch Wolf/The Grove Of
Eglantine/Man Of Miracles
