Sunshine Skiffle Band

Formed in San Francisco, California, USA, in 1966 The Cleanliness And Godliness Skiffle Band comprised Annie Johnson (vocals, guitar, mandolin, woodblocks), Phil Marsh (vocals/guitar) and Richard Saunders (bass). They were all ex-members of the Instant Action Jug Band, a Berkeley-based, politically-inspired group from which Country Joe And The Fish evolved. There was also a drummer, Chicken Hirsh, in the founding line-up but he left to join Country Joe And The Fish, and was replaced by Pookey Neil. Hank Bradley (vocals/flute/mandolin) and Brian Voortees (vocals/harmonica/guitar) joined for Greatest Hits which, while enjoyable in its own right, sounded out-of-date in view of contemporary acid-rock and psychedelic sounds. The band broke up in 1968, but the following year some ex-members were featured on The Masked Marauders an album that for a while was thought to be by Bob Dylan working under a pseudonym, although it was really the work of the rock writer Greil Marcus. The Masked Marauders also parodied the Beatles and Mick Jagger, among others, but the joke, weak at best, soon wore thin.