I first got interested in music when I was very young, maybe three years old. I distinctly remember hearing Burl Ives' recordings of 'Blue Tail Fly' and 'Big Rock Candy Mountain' on the record player at home. My dad loved music. He was into jazz bands like Basie and Ellington, and singers like Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan. He owned a ukelele, which he would take out occasionally. He wasn't very good, but I was impressed.
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| Steve Nelson and Del Breckenfeld at The Hut. |
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Steve Nelson Recalls Churchill Moor
I think it was my dad who bought Meet The Beatles for me. I was 13. From then on, The Beatles were my main inspiration. My folks got me an Epiphone, and I started learning chords. Around junior year of high school my mother bought me a cherry red ES335 and a Gemini amp.
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| Del Breckenfeld and Jim Hunt. |
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My best friend in high school, Bruce, was in a band called The Tobacco Rogues. He played the Hammond B3. Bruce had heard me play at home, so when their lead guitar player left, he asked me to join them. That was around 1967. The group members were Del Breckenfeld on bass and lead vocals; Bruce Breckenfeld on organ and harmony vocals; Jim Hunt on drums; and me on guitar and lead vocals.
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| Steve Nelson |
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At some point I came up with the name Churchill Moor. We first did covers of tunes by English bands like Traffic, Cream, Led Zeppelin, etc., so we wanted a name that reflected an "English blues" sensibility. For the next couple of years we played teen clubs, bars, and colleges around the Chicago area. Some of the bands we were billed with were REO Speedwagon, Bob Seger System, and Siegel-Schwall Blues Band. At one point we became the house band at a teen club called Elysian Fields, which before that was called Five Stages.
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| Steve Nelson and Del Breckenfeld |
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Near the end of the band's lifetime we began writing and performing original songs. I think I came up with the first one, called 'It Matters.' Bruce and Del wrote a tune called 'No Time to Give You.' I wrote several more by the time the band broke up, and continued writing after that. For a very short time we did have a "manager" of sorts. He was a down-on-his-luck guy who didn't do a whole lot for us, although he did introduce us to a deejay on a late-night Chicago "underground" radio station which led to a couple radio interviews. And he helped us get some free recording time so we could do some demos. I still have some live recordings of the band from 1969, which includes the two originals I mentioned as well as covers of 'Holiday', 'Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring', 'Route 66', and 'Feelin' Alright.' And I have a few photos of us playing at The Hut.
If I remember correctly, the band broke up over a dispute between me and Del. I think it had to do with the band's "image" and commercial direction. Del left the group and the rest of us went on for a while under a different name. After that band dissolved, Del and Bruce went on to a band called Buster, which became Gambler.
The time with Churchill Moor was one of the high points of my life. I have nothing but fond memories of that experience. It was a great time full of laughs and creativity. I wouldn't have traded it for anything.
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| Churchill Moor at The Hut. |
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