Mistress, Tracker, and Billy Satellite of San Francisco

A run for the pop charts by ex-members of
'60s progressive rockers Country Weather
as Mistress in 1979.

Mistress sidebars: Tracker with Greg Douglass; Billy Satellite with Danny Chauncey.

 

As with our later, June 2025 post and the crazy “six degrees of separation” of tracking the Coup back to Tommy Tutone . . . here’s a tale that trips us back to the 1960s during the time the Steve Miller Band charted their first radio hits . . . and a band named Country Weather tied into the history of Steve Miller . . . as we discover the 1980s pop-rockers Tracker and Billy Satellite as part of the journey.

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The forgotten, ’60s psychedelic band Country Weather—the precursor to Mistress—discovered a renewed interest in the U.S as result of today’s rise of Internet-streaming outlets, LPFMs (local, low-powered FM stations), and low-wattage AM stations reaching out to listeners who eschew the cracking n’ popping audio band by way of a more-appealing FM translator. These stations, especially those of the classic rock variety, create a unique brand against their commercial station competitors by utilizing the programming edict of their progressive rock radio forefathers of the late ’60s and early ’70s. This new breed of radio operators program deeper and wider artist-album libraries stocked with a wealth of off-beat, forgotten AOR bands lost in the backwash of the Boston, Van Halen and Quiet Riot feeding frenzy of the ’70s and ’80s. While a few of these bands, such as Angel, Headeast, Shooting Star, Starcastle, Starz, and Y&T achieved short-lived, U.S national prominence, bands such as Bighorn, Gambler, Icon, Mayday, and Roadmaster never achieved a Cheap Trick-styled breakout as a national “Top 40” charting band.

One of those forgotten bands of modulated AOR yore was Mistress. As we discuss the band’s roots, we’ll also discover Mistress serves as a sidebar to two of San Francisco’s most famous exports: The Steve Miller Band and the Greg Kihn Band.

Country Weather's 1969 demo album.

 

If you’ve read any of the many tomes on progressive rock music, you’re aware of counterculture impresario Chet Helms. Known as the father of San Francisco’s “Summer of Love,” Helms managed Big Brother and the Holding Company—and brought Janis Joplin into the band. Another of his groundbreaking achievements was producing the first psychedelic light shows at the infamous Avalon and Fillmore Ballrooms. In 1966, Chet Helms discovered a mid-’60 pop band, the Virtues. Impressed, Helms urged the band to transition from their cover sets to writing originals—which brought on their name change to Country Weather.

Country Weather never released any singles, let alone an album. Their only official recording was a five-song, 50-copy private press EP used to secure gigs with out-of-town promoters and club owners. While aired on local stations, such as San Francisco’s newly-minted progressive outlets of KMPX and KSAN, Country Weather never secured a deal as their San Francisco contemporizes Blue Cheer, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Left to right: Bill Baron, Steve Derr, Dave Carter, and Greg Douglass.

 

Country Weather
Dave Carter — vocals, bass (joined Quicksilver Messenger Service and the solo band of ex-Moby Grape Skip Spence)
Greg Douglass — lead guitar (replaced Denny Rogan)
Steve Derr — rhythm guitar, vocals
Bill Baron — drums

The closest to a “hit single” Country Weather achieved was their live favorite, “Fly to New York,” later immortalized as part of an exhaustive, four-disc compilation Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 (2007); the release served as an installment of Rhino Records’ ongoing Nuggets series. In addition, the impress Classic Music Vault released the vault-cleaning, 15-song compilation, Country Weather: San Francisco 1969-1971 (2014), featuring a mix of the promotional EP, unreleased material, and live recordings.

Then, Led Zeppelin arrived and the rock got harder. So Greg Douglass and Bill Baron formed a power trio, Mistress, with a local bassist, Brian Kilcourse. As with County Weather, a record deal was not forthcoming. Through its history, Chuck Bergi, later of Blue Oyster Cult and Hall and Oates, came to replace Baron on drums. By late 1976, a revived quintet-version of Mistress fronted by Douglass formed around Dave Walker of Savoy Brown (and also of Fleetwood Mac fame). Then Douglass left to be replaced by lead guitarist named Danny Chauncey. While the band was signed and recorded their album in 1977, it took their label two years to commit to release the album.

Mistress from the rear of their album on RSO Records.

Mistress
Charley Williams — lead vocals (replaced Dave Walker)
Kenny Hopkins — rhythm guitar and vocals
Danny Chauncey — lead and rhythm guitar (replaced Greg Douglass)
David Brown — bass (ex-Boz Scaggs and Duane Allman; replaced Bill Baron)
Chris Paulsen — drums

Mistress secured a prominent, national opening U.S tour slot with a then hot Blue Oyster Cult (courtesy of their Bergi connection) in 1977 that failed to propel their lone, self-titled album and its accompanying single, “Mistrusted Love,” issued on RSO Records up the charts. Issued that same year on the Robert Stigwood-run label were the equally failed, freshman and sophomore efforts by Detroit’s The Rockets and Inside by Rockicks (out of the ashes of MGM Record’s late ’60s, Los Angeles hard-rockers, Rock Candy). Upon the demise of Mistress, guitarist Danny Chauncey worked with .38 Special, on his way to forming the Oakland-California-based Billy Satellite, which achieved a 1984, U.S Top 40 hit with “Satisfy Me” on Capitol Records.

The Greg Kihn Band, left to right: Larry Lynch, Gary Phillips
Greg Kihn (center), Greg Douglass, and Steve Wright.

Prior to Mistress, Greg Douglass’s post-County Weather touring with Van Morrison and Hot Tuna transitioned to his membership in the Steve Miller Band. He and Miller’s bassist, Lonnie Turner, co-wrote “Jungle Love” for Miller’s tenth album, Book of Dreams (1977). Yes, that’s Douglass making his iconic “live-jump” on the dust sleeve of Miller’s Greatest Hits 1974-1978. As a member of the Greg Kihn Band, Douglass appears on Kihnspiracy, Kihntagious, and Citizen Kihn, as well as the band’s biggest hit, “Jeopardy” (1983). Over the ensuing years, Douglass toured as part of the solo bands of Tom Johnson from the Doobie Brothers, Tom Fogerty, and Eddie Money.

Douglass, with ex-QSMS members John Cipollina, Greg Elmore, and Nicky Hopkins formed Terry and the Pirates, which issued four indie/vanity-press albums from 1979 to 1982. Bill Baron and Dave Carter from County Weather also toured with the groups ever-changing roster. Along with Miller Band expatriates Byron Allred, Gary Mallaber, and Lonnie Turner, Douglass formed Tracker, which issued a self-titled album on Elektra Records (1982) featuring the single, “Steppin’ Over the Line.”

  

 

The lone studio album by Mistress has been digitally remastered and reissued by Renaissance Records on February 19, 2025, and available on various streaming platforms, including You Tube. Recordings of the Greg Douglass-era of Mistress were reissued as Free Flyte (1996; live concert and radio recordings from 1973 with Chuck Bergi on drums) and New Ground (2005; recorded in 1973; the trio-version featuring Douglass, Kilcourse, and Baron).