Winterwood

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History

Winterwood 1973-1975

Early 1973: Local band West plays at the Bonanza Club in Coon Rapids. In the band are Bill Jordan on guitar and vocals and Gary Erickson on drums and vocals.

August, 1973: Bill Jordan plays a job at Dirty Flo’s Bar in downtown Minneapolis (24 Hennepin Avenue) with a few local musicians. During the night the owner (Flo) approaches Bill and inquires if he has a band and if they would like to play at the bar. Bill tells Flo he has a band and they could play the bar in the near future.

Bill gets drummer Gary Erickson from West and John Thompson sits in with the band for a few songs one night at Flo’s. The three decide to form a band and Bill comes up with the name Winterwood, the name of a song by Don McLean. After playing at the bar for about three weeks the group decides to add a bass player to their lineup. Bill decides to contact Denny Johnson, as he had played with Denny in Jokers Wild.

The new band lineup is: Bill Jordan on lead guitar and vocals; John Thompson on rhythm guitar and vocals; Denny Johnson on bass guitar and vocals; and Gary Erickson on drums and vocals.

In addition to Dirty Flo’s, the band plays a number of local venues including: Hidden Haven, the Strawhouse, the Bonanza Club, the Frontier Club and numerous country clubs and VFW’s. The band performs a wide variety of musical styles, covering Hank Williams to The Guess Who. The band gains in popularity around town.

September, 1974: John Thompson graduates from Brown Institute and obtains a DJ job at a radio station in Defiance, Ohio. Gary Erickson decides to concentrate on a teaching career and to run his own business. With two members leaving the band, Winterwood version one comes to an end.

October, 1974: John Dahl, the owner of the Strawhouse, said he would book the band for the next year if they could come up with something that would fit the image of his club and draw a good crowd.

Denny contacts Bill Swanson who he worked with in Bullet and Bill joins the group on keyboards, guitar and vocals. Bill Jordan contacted Lance Dunkirk who joins the group on drums and vocals.

Winterwood (version 2) has Bill Jordan on lead guitar and vocals; Bill Swanson on keyboards, guitar and vocals; Denny Johnson on bass guitar and vocals and Lance Dunkirk on drums and vocals. This version of Winterwood does a wider variety of songs from country to Top-40 hits to R and B, including cover songs by Foghat and Grand Funk Railroad. The band becomes the house band at the Strawhouse for the next year.

October, 1975: Lance Dunkirk leaves the band to go to Loveland, Colorado. Bill Jordan and Bill Swanson decide to join local band Pony and Denny starts up a new band called Pecos with John Thompson, now back from his DJ job in Ohio. Winterwood comes to an end.

Photos (Click a photo to see it full-screen, then click the arrows to see the next one.)

Band Reunion in July 2009

Reunion at Sunrise Sound on July 21, 2011