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Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen

Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen were an American country rock band founded in 1967. The group's founder was George Frayne IV (alias Commander Cody, born July 19, 1944, in Boise, Idaho; died September 26, 2021 in Saratoga Springs, New York) on keyboards and vocals.

The band's style mixed country, rock and roll, Western swing, rockabilly, and jump blues together on a foundation of boogie-woogie piano. They were among the first country rock bands to take its cues less from folk rock and bluegrass and more from the rowdy barroom country of the Ernest Tubb and Ray Price style. The band became known for marathon live shows.

Frayne disbanded the group in 1976 and continued using the name Commander Cody for his solo pursuits.

Links to Peel[]

Peel played tracks from the band during the early 1970s, particularly in 1972, when the band became popular in the US and very fashionable with rock critics, after write-ups in Rolling Stone and other magazines.

Their hippy take on country music and liking for early rock'n'roll was in tune with the back-to-the-roots mood of those times and also with Peel's own tastes, although he didn't seem to play much of George Frayne's later solo material, when he was using the name Commander Cody. Most of the band's material played by Peel was in his shows of the first half of the 1970s, before the emergence of punk, with only a couple of tracks appearing in his playlists in later decades.

Shows Played[]

20_Flight_Rock

20 Flight Rock

Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen
  • 01 February 1972: Midnight Shift (LP – Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 04 February 1972: 20 Flight Rock (LP – Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 18 February 1972: Seeds And Stems Again (LP – Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 22 February 1972: Hot Rod Lincoln (LP – Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 29 February 1972: Wine, Do Yer Stuff (LP – Lost In The Ozone) Paramount (JP:"And that reminds me of some wild old times in McAllister, Oklahoma…")
  • 14 March 1972: Family Bible (LP - Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 17 March 1972: Lost In The Ozone (LP - Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 21 March 1972: Seeds And Stems (Again) (LP - Lost In The Ozone) Paramount
  • 25 August 1972: Looking At The World Through A Windshield (LP - Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites) MCA
  • 01 September 1972: Truck Stop Man (title unconfirmed) (LP - Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites) MCA
  • 12 September 1972: Mama Hated Diesels (LP - Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites) MCA
  • 15 September 1972: Truck Driving’ Man (LP - Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites) MCA
  • 22 September 1972: Semi Truck (LP - Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites) MCA
  • 19 June 1973: Rock That Boogie (LP: Country Casanova) Paramount
  • 17 July 1973: Rock That Boogie (LP: Country Casanova) Paramount
  • 12 March 1974: Mean Woman Blues (album - Live From Deep In The Heart Of Texas ) Paramount
  • 14 April 1975: Don't Let Go (7") Warner Bros
  • 29 September 1975: It's Gonna Be One Of Those Nights (LP - Tales From The Ozone) Warner Bros.
  • 28 January 1976: Lightnin' Bar (album - Tales From The Ozone) Warner Bros.
Commander Cody

See Also[]

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