GAITHER DRAKE BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1957 in San Francisco, Gaither Drake made his “debut” fronting his brother’s garage band, Parliament, singing Sam the Sham’s Little Red Riding Hood. Crushed by the revelation that, at age 7, he was too young to perform at the bands bar and teen club gigs, Drake vowed to someday be in a rock band.

Emboldened by two years of guitar lessons, 14-year old Gaither Drake joined his first band, Latino, a ten-piece outfit that featured two drummers and a horn section comprised of the younger brothers of band members, performing primarily covers of Santana, Malo, War and other popular Latin-rock groups of the day. Gaither played guitar, sang lead and wrote arrangements to accommodate the one-note range of the horn section. After one name change (to Mongo Bay) and performances at several junior high dances and local festivals, the band disbanded in 1971.

For the next decade or so, guitar playing, singing and songwriting were intermittent activities for Drake, who turned his attentions to normal teenage/young adult activities such as getting high and trying, with limited success, to date girls. He began more intensive songwriting efforts during his years at University of the Pacific; one of the songs written during this period (Maria, written for Maria Zanger, a co-ed on whom he had a severe crush who “liked him as a friend”) appears on his Mariposa County Line album.

Only upon attending graduate school at the University of Delaware did Drake join another working band, the Iron Hill Rockers (later Hard Times), which performed at various bars, county fairs and other venues from about 1981-83. His songwriting continued in earnest and several of the songs written during these years appear on his recent recordings. Relocating to Texas to take a faculty position at Lamar University, Gaither formed The Cretins with one of his students, Gary Reynolds (now a Seattle-based producer and musician who continues to perform regularly). While the band proved extremely popular in southeast Texas, garnering extensive  local radio airplay with the Drake-penned single Kick Some Attitude and drawing large, enthusiastic crowds to its club dates, Gaither’s participation in a punk rock band drew less than overwhelming support from his colleagues and department head in political science and he soon found himself relocating to Ohio, where he formed a 60s cover band called Flashback with his brother, Jim (with whom he had sung Little Red Riding Hood so many years before).

Gaither did little performing or songwriting from 1988-1999, focusing mainly on getting his career and personal life on track. Upon relocating (once again) to Mendocino County in northern California and gaining access to the Mendocino College recording studio, things really took off and haven’t slowed down since. He recorded his first two solo albums while at Mendocino, working with a bevy of talented musicians, including ex-Byrd Gene Parsons, Grammy nominee Alex deGrassi, vocalist Annie Sampson from the Bay Area band Stoneground, multi-instrumentalist Rick Brumbeloe and a host of others. The Gaither Drake Band, featuring bassist/studio engineer Steve Oliveria and percussionist/raconteur Bob Beltrami, played 30 dates during the summers of 2000 and 2001 in support of his solo records. Now living in Highland, approximately 60 miles east of Los Angeles, Drake has embarked on an active period of writing, recording and performing as a solo act, frequently joined by his son, vocalist Robert Joseph. He established Sunshine Studios, his home recording enterprise in spring, 2007 and has recorded three new albums, two featuring original material (Highland Days, Takin’ It Deep) and Double Cover, a joint effort with Robert Joseph.

With the creation of this website, Gaither wishes to share his music with the public, enabling them to download all of his songs for free and making them aware of new developments in his career as a singer-songwriter.

“Lately it occurs to me, what a long, strange trip it’s been”  -- Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter