The Prime Movers

_________________________________________

Although they never released any records, the Prime Movers were a pivotal band in Southeastern Michigan during the late '60s. Where many of their Michigan contemporaries played straight, frat-house rock & roll, the Prime Movers were a blues band. They were purists, inspired first by classic Chicago blues and then by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who proved that white boys could play the blues. Led by brothers Michael and Dan Erlewine, the Prime Movers set out on the same path as Butterfield, playing countless gigs at clubs, frat parties, and festivals around the Ann Arbor and Detroit areas. They were slightly older than contemporaries like the Rationals, the MC5, and the Amboy Dukes, and were a core part of the scene — not only as a blues band, but they also touched on folk and avant-garde music, as well — and they earned a large local following. They did venture out to San Francisco, playing a few opening dates at the Matrix, Straight Theater, Haight "A", and Fillmore West, yet they never quite achieved national success. Nevertheless, almost all of the band's core members made their mark in music one way or another.

[Jenkins, Terry. allmusic.com. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dpfuxq9jldse~T1]