Studio albums:

No Reservations (1975)
Flying High (1976)
Strikes (1979)
Tomcattin' (1980)
Marauder (1981)
Siogo (1983)
Vertical Smiles (1984)
Rick Medlocke and Blackfoot (1987)
Medicine Man (1990)
After the Reign (1994)

Live:

Blackfoot KBFH (1982)

Blackfoot is a Southern rock band from Jacksonville, Florida formed in 1970.
They are known as a Southern Rock band and a Hard Rock band.

Their activity lies in the years 1970s and early 1980s.

Drummer Jackson Spres died in March 2005.

History

Current line-up:

1969

Charlie Hargrett - Lead Guitar
Greg T. Walker - Bass
Ron Sciabarasi - keyboards
Rickey Medlocke - Drums/Vocals

Formed Fresh Garbage in Jacksonville, Florida and played usually at
The Comic Book Club on Forsyth St., with The One Percent (later Lynyrd Skynyrd).

Soon Sciabarasi left Fresh Garbage and it formed a new band - Hammer:
Jerry Zambito (ex-Tangerine) - Lead Guitar
Rick Medlocke - Lead Vocals
Greg T. Walker - Bass/Backup Vocals
Jakson Spires (ex-Tangerine) - Drums/Backup Vocals
DeWitt Gibbs (ex-Tangerine) - Keyboards/Backup Vocals
Charlie Hargrett - Guitars

They moved to Gainesville, Florida.

Bobby Barth - Guitars/Vocals
Greg T. Walker - Bass/Backing Vocals
Charlie Hargrett - Guitars
Scott Craig - Drums

1970

Early Spring of 1970 after hearing of another band on the West Coast named Hammer, decided to change their name to Blackfoot to reflect
the Native American heritage of Walker, Spires and Medlocke (Spires is part Cherokee, Medlocke part Sioux, while Walker's blood ties
are to the Eastern Creek Florida Indians).

By this time, the band had moved to Manhattan - New York City.
DeWitt Gibbs quit the band and Medlocke began playing rhythm guitar full time. Thus was born the classic lineup of Blackfoot.

1971

Medlocke and Walker joined Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackfoot broke up. Thy tried to regroup in 1972, but Medlocke ended up returning
to Lynyrd Skynyrd, while Walker joined The Tokens, who soon changed their name to Cross Country.
Hargrett remained up north living in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

1972

August, Blackfoot's old friend and roadie, John Vassiliou, showed up in town with Reidsville, North Carolina.
Hargrett decided to move to North Carolina and invited Medlocke reform Blackfoot with Stadler on bass and Jakson Spires on drums.
Danny Johnson (later with Derringer and Steppenwolf), from a Louisiana group, Axis was brought in as second guitarist.
Medlocke decided to be both front man and guitarist again, so Johnson quit.

1973

Summer of 1973, Stadler left the band after a tumor was discovered on one of his lungs, which tumor disappeared.
But Stadler decided to leave secular music to join a gospel group. He eventually became a Methodist minister.
Greg T. Walker was invited to rejoin at this juncture and the classic Blackfoot lineup was reborn.

1974

The band had returned their base of operations to the Northeast (to Northern New Jersey) and Medlocke developed nodes on his vocal cords
and temporarily lost his voice. Another singer, Patrick Jude, was brought into the band. After a short time, Medlocke was able to sing again and
Jude was dropped. Soon after, Medlocke and Walker sent producers/session players Jimmy Johnson and David Hood a copy of Blackfoot's
material. Johnson and Hood had worked with Medlocke and Walker in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, when they were there recording with
Skynyrd Lynyrd. No Reservations was released in 1975 (Island Records) in a deal organized by then manager Lou Manganiello and their second
album, Flying High,also signed by manager Lou Manganiello came out on Epic Records in 1976 . Both were produced by Johnson and Hood.

Mid 1970s

By late 1975, the group was living back in Gainesville, Florida. In 1977 they contacted Black Oak Arkansas' manager, Butch Stone, who took
them on as the backing group for one of his clients, Ruby Starr, who had been a backup singer for Black Oak, but was now going out on her own.
After the stint with Ruby ended in 1978, they met Brownsville Station manager Al Nalli and his partner Jay Frey, who got them signed to
Atco Records.

Blackfoot Strikes, produced by Al Nalli and engineered by Brownsville Station drummer Henry Weck, was recorded in Nalli's basement studio in
Ann Arbor, Michigan and was completed by January 1979. It was destined to be the band's most commercially successful effort.
"Train, Train", written by Rickey's grandfather, Shorty Medlocke, became their first hit and best known song. "Highway Song" proved to be another
hit for them later that year.

The group toured heavily throughout 1979 and ended the year opening for The Who at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, while working on their
next album, Tomcattin, which was released in 1980. Marauder followed in 1981, as did Highway Song Live in 1982.

1980s

In the early 80s the "southern rock" genre was thought to be passe, so the band began looking to change their sound somewhat.
They decided to add keyboards to the group once again and Ken Hensley (ex-Uriah Heep) was contacted and agreed to join in 1983 in time
for their next record, Siogo. But the poor sales for Siogo had the band thinking they might have to "modernize" their look for the new MTV
generation. It was thought that maybe Hargrett with his more "biker type" appearance might not fit into the new look. Hargrett reluctantly
decided to step down in January 1984 and was not present on their next effort, Vertical Smiles, which had been recorded in Atlanta with
former Yes engineer Eddie Offord. This album was rejected by Atco and sent back for retooling. But the retooled version, which finally appeared
in October 1984, also failed to sell.

Ken Hensley, not used to Blackfoot's heavy tour schedule, left by late 1984 and was replaced by former Axe singer/guitarist Bobby Barth.
But by December 1985, with their popularity waning and quality bookings drying up, the band decided to call it quits. In February 1986,
the Blackfoot company was dissolved and the others walked away while Medlocke decided to continue with a brand new lineup that included
Doug Bare (keyboards, synths, backup vocals), Wizzard (bass, backup vocals) and Harold Seay (drums, percussion).
On their 1987 album Rick Medlocke and Blackfoot (released on the Wounded Bird label), the new grouping was exploring a more radio friendly
80s rock sound with their former southern rock approach now all but gone. Many of the group's fans were not all that happy with the changes
and newer fans were slow to materialize.

In 1988, Wizzard and Seay were out and Gunnar Ross (drums, percussion), bassist Mark Mendoza and Neal Casal (guitar) were in. Mendoza
left by the end of the year and Rikki Mayer (ex-Lizzy Borden) took over bass in early 1989.

1990s

In 1990 a new release, Medicine Man, was put out on the independent Loop label.

By 1992, Medlocke had revamped the lineup yet again and hired three other players: Benny Rappa (drums, percussion), Mark Woerpel (an
ex-Whiteface guitarist who had done some studio work for Medlocke on earlier albums) and Tim Stunson on bass. Another new album,
After the Reign, was released in 1994 on the Wildcat label and, like Medicine Man, was enthusiastically greeted by fans as more of a return
to form.
1994 also saw the release of the Rhino Records collection Rattlesnake Rock N' Roll: The Best of Blackfoot.

By 1996, Blackfoot was: Medlocke, Stet Howland, John Housley (from Ragady Ann) on lead and rhythm guitar and Bryce Barnes (from Edwin
Dare) on bass guitar. That same year, Medlocke rejoined Lynyrd Skynyrd, this time as a guitarist. But he continued to tour with Blackfoot
honoring all dates booked through 1997 then disbanded the group to concentrate on Skynyrd full time.

Live On The King Biscuit Flower Hour, a 1983 concert recording, was released in early 1998, and EMI released Live in 2000, also culled from
the band's heyday.

2000s

In 2004 a second resurrection of Blackfoot took place with founding members Jakson Spires, Greg T. Walker and Charlie Hargrett. Medlocke was
not available, so the vocals role was given to Bobby Barth. In March 2005, Spires died suddenly of an aneurysm, but the band decided to 
persevere for the time being. Following the will of Spires, Austrian drummer Christoph Ullmann was hired as the new drummer.

In 2006, the band toured and was joined by Southern Rock All Stars' Jay Johnson (the son of Jimmy Johnson, their original co-producer) on guitar
and vocals after Barth was sidelined for a shoulder and neck operation. Barth returned to the stage later that year. In November 2006, Ullman left 
to return to Austria and was succeeded by Mark McConnell. In April 2007, Blackfoot let Johnson go. That year, the band toured and consisted of
bassist Walker, Hargrett, Barth and drummer Michael Sollars. Later that year a live DVD was released. In 2009, Scott Craig took over as
drummer.

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