L-R:
Joe Dutkevich (tenor sax), Dennis Appler
(drums), Dennis Blackburn (trumpet), Al
Beischer (lead guitar),
Terry Sulymko (keyboards), Tom Paige
(bass), Mike Murphy (trombone), Fred
Dugdale (vocals/harmonica)
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The Otis Crow Blues Band
initially coalesced around students from
St. John’s High School in 1966. Singer
Fred Dugdale, a classmate of Burton
Cummings, had been playing in rock bands
with guitarist Al Beischer. Cummings
directed guitarist/bass player Tom Paige,
a.k.a. Otis Crow, to the two. Dennis
Appler joined them on drums and later
Harvey Basler on bass as well as
keyboardist Terry Sulymko.
“We played the typical songs of the era,
including the Beatles, but we realized
that we were just like all the other
bands,” says Dugdale. “But once we heard
the first Paul Butterfield Blues Band
album, it really excited us, so we moved
into that style, and it made us different.
We were knocked out by the power of that
Chicago-style blues.”
Convincing community clubs and high
schools to book a blues band was a
challenge, says Dugdale.
“When people heard the name ‘Blues Band,’
they would say no. But when they heard us,
they loved it. They didn’t realize that
the bands they liked such as the Stones,
Cream and Led Zeppelin were basically
blues bands.”
In 1967, when Butterfield added horns to
his band on the groundbreaking album The
Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, that
became the catalyst for Otis Crow to
expand its lineup incorporating a horn
section — sax player Joe Dutkevich, Dennis
Blackburn on trumpet and trombone player
Mike Murphy. When the Pigboy Crabshaw
lineup of Butterfield’s band played UMSU
in 1968 (booked by UMSU events
co-ordinator Grant Boden), Butterfield and
guitarist Elvin Bishop partied at Otis
Crow’s Pembina Highway rehearsal hall.
“They loved Canadian beer, so they hung
out with us,” recalls Dugdale, who says
one wall of their hall was painted as the
cover of the Crabshaw album. “They were
very interesting guys to talk to. We
really didn’t do any playing though.”
The band folded in 1970.
John Einarson
Excerpt from Heart of Gold: A History of Winnipeg Music, 2021
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