Mark Opsasnick’s incredibly researched book, Rock the Potomac, is chock-full of stories and biographies of the people and groups who were part of the history of rock ‘n roll and country music in the DMV. “Rock the Patuxent”—which will be a regular feature in Voices of Laurel— makes its debut here with excerpts from the book that highlight the greater Laurel area.
Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps emerged from Laurel, Maryland in the fall of 1956 and became known for their popular single release “The Bug,” a song written about a frenetic style of dance displayed by teens at the Fort Meade Teen Club. Years after its initial release, the song unexpectedly turned up in the John Waters comedy movie Hairspray (New Line Cinema, 1988) sparking renewed interest in Dallman and his band among the followers of 1950s rock and roll music. When “The Bug” was initially released in December 1958 it was never properly marketed or distributed, thus dashing any chances the band had for national stardom. Still, they soldiered on and established themselves as one of the most popular teen rock and roll bands of the time in the Washington, D.C. area.
Jerry Dallman, the leader of the band, was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Laurel, where as a youth in the early 1950s he taught himself to sing and play guitar. He formed the Knightcaps in the fall of 1956 at the start of his senior year at Laurel High School. Originally a trio, the group was rounded out by pianist Bert Gosnell and guitarist Robert McKenzie, two classmates of his at Laurel High whom he’d met while they were in a classroom practicing the Elvis Presley song “Don’t Be Cruel” for a school musical. The band took on the name Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps and debuted on Saturday, November 17, 1956, in a talent contest at the grand opening of the Laurel Shopping Center. Also performing that day were country music acts such as Jimmy Dean and the Texas Wildcats (featuring guitarist Billy Grammer) and singer-guitarist George Hamilton IV. Dean later joined the boys for a late lunch that day at the White Coffee Pot restaurant and complimented them on their first-place prize.
Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps then began playing dances at teen clubs and schools throughout suburban Maryland. From 1956 to 1958 they were regulars at the Odenton Teen Club, the Laurel Teen Club, the Fort Meade Teen Club, the Laurel Fire Department, and the Knights of Pythias Hall in Annapolis. Schools that booked them for dances included Waterloo Junior High School (Elkridge), Arundel High School (Gambrills), DeMatha Catholic High School (Hyattsville), St. Mary’s High School (Annapolis), and Laurel High School. They also were a popular attraction at officers’ clubs at a number of local military bases including Fort Meade and Bolling Air Force Base. The band specialized in songs by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and the Crickets (featuring singer-guitarist Buddy Holly).
In June 1957 the Knightcaps added Gary Edenfield on drums, a Laurel native who was attending Arundel High School at the time. Edenfield told Dallman about an unusual dance being performed at the Fort Meade Teen Club by teens that, when the right type of rhythm was being played, would stand in a circle and frantically pass around an imaginary insect. Later that year, using this particular dance exhibition as inspiration, Dallman penned “The Bug” in a single 30-minute session.
Edenfield’s stepfather sold concessions at Uline Arena and in January 1958 a customer of his named Joe Drew introduced the band to music producer Ben Adelman. That month, Adelman had Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps record a demo of “The Bug” at his studio, Empire Records and Recording Studios, in the Takoma neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Drew then took the primitive recording to local television personality Milt Grant in an effort to get the band booked on his popular music-oriented television show.
Milt Grant loved “The Bug” and had the band re-record the tune that summer at the newly opened Edgewood Recording Studio (1129 Vermont Avenue NW, Room 101, Washington, D.C.). The end result of the Edgewood session was the 45rpm single record “The Bug,” backed with “Honey Bee” (Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps; Punch Records, 1958), with writing credits for both songs going to “Dallman-Davis-Cooper.” (“Davis” was Cindy Davis, a pseudonym Kay Adelman, and “Cooper” was Fred Cooper, a pseudonym for Milt Grant, neither of whom had anything to do with writing the song.)
“The Bug” gained Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps instant local fame and the band came very close to landing a major record label contract. The single was released in December 1958 and sold extremely well in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore regions and was praised in such national publications as Billboard and Cash Box.
Under the direction of Baltimore-based road manager Stan Hoffman, Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps embarked on an abbreviated tour of several Northeast states in support of the song, and made appearances on both The Milt Grant Show and The Buddy Deane Show in Baltimore. Unfortunately, Milt Grant allegedly rebuffed leasing offers from several national labels, including Epic Records, thus dashing the group’s hopes of national stardom. The single remained the only 45rpm record ever issued by Punch Records, which in reality was an independent label created by Grant. It seems that Grant basically had the band record the song, pressed a limited number of copies on his own fly-by-night record label, and inexplicably did nothing further with the product after the stock had been depleted.
Jerry Dallman and the Knightcaps pressed on throughout the late 1950s and into the early 1960s and played numerous dances at the Laurel and Fort Meade Teen Clubs. They also performed at rock and roll record hops for both Milt Grant and Don Dillard at the Hyattsville Armory, where they played on some amazing bills headlined by the likes of Link Wray and His Ray Men, singer-guitarist Bo Diddley, and pop singer Annette Funicello. Another incredible gig for the band was the “Rock ‘N Roll Spectacular” at the University of Maryland’s Ritchie Coliseum on Saturday, December 27, 1958, where they were part of a bill that was headlined by Bill Haley and His Comets and included Terry and the Pirates, rockabilly singer-guitarist Vernon Taylor, and others.
In the spring of 1959, Ben Adelman again brought the Knightcaps, minus founder Jerry Dallman, (who, during his final 18 months with the band, was frequently absent from the group’s rehearsals and performances) into his Empire Records and Recording Studios. There, he matched the band with pop singer Jack Donovan to record a single that featured a song he felt had potential to appear as the theme song in a major science fiction movie that was in the works. The movie was entitled Time Machine (Galax Films, Inc., 1960) and its musical arranger was Russell Garcia, whom Adelman was well acquainted with. When Adelman was told by Knightcaps guitarist Robert McKenzie of a song of the same title written by Gary Edenfield, he felt he could profit by arranging a deal through Garcia with Galax Films, Inc. to lease the single to the studio, as well as issuing it on one of his own independent record labels.
The recording session for this project included Robert McKenzie on guitar, Bert Gosnell on piano, Gary Edenfield on drums, an individual from the Phil Flowers camp known only as “Whiskey” on bass, and Jack Donovan handling lead vocals. The resulting single was “Time Machine,” backed with “I Wanna Cry” (Jack Donovan and the Knight Caps; Empire Records, 1959). The song “Time Machine” was credited to “Drew-Davis-Edenfield,” with “Drew” being the aforementioned Joe Drew, and “Davis” again being Cindy Davis, a pseudonym for Kay Adelman. These credits ensured profits for her husband Ben Adelman, with Knightcaps drummer Gary Edenfield receiving one-third of the credit for the song he wrote entirely by himself. The flipside of “I Wanna Cry” listed writing credits for “Blocker-Davis,” with the true identity of “Blocker” remaining a mystery to the present day.
The “Time Machine” single was given a rush release in June 1959, but failed to make an impact on the national scene and was ultimately turned down by Garcia for inclusion in the film. The movie Time Machine was released in August of 1960 and garnered large viewing audiences and favorable reviews.
The Knightcaps soldiered on, though changes were on the horizon. They played their first nightclub engagement at the California Inn in Laurel on Saturday, November 26, 1960 and, after an appearance at the Fort Meade Teen Club on Saturday, February 18, 1961, Dallman departed from the group. Bert Gosnell and Robert McKenzie also left the band at that time and Gary Edenfield went about reorganizing the outfit. He moved himself from drums to vocals and rhythm guitar, and welcomed to the band lead guitarist Joe Ecker (from Howard County), and bassist Bob Mitchell and drummer Bobby Kuykendahl (both from Montgomery County). This quartet continued to perform as the Knightcaps at local night clubs in the Laurel area such as the Turf Club, the South Seas, the California Inn, and Nuzback’s Bar. The group ultimately disbanded in 1963.
An interesting side note to the Knightcaps saga is that in the early 1960s Gary Edenfield often performed on long-necked banjo with guitarist Bart Johnson as Gary and Bart at the now-legendary Washington, D.C. coffee house Coffee ‘n’ Confusion. The duo also made appearances at several other folk music night clubs in the city including the Cellar Door, the Brickskeller, and Bohemian Caverns. Edenfield also performed during the middle and late 1960s in Laurel-based rock and roll bands called the Windjammers and the Streetwalkers—groups that included several of his former Knightcaps bandmates. Jerry Dallman, meanwhile, remained a legendary figure on the local music scene because of his involvement with “The Bug,” though he rarely played in public after leaving the Knightcaps. In his later years he lived a quiet life in his hometown of Laurel and passed away from heart disease on March 28, 2006, at the age of 66.
Rock the Potomac is available at booklocker.com/books/10190.html.
Mark Opsasnick was born in Washington, D.C. and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland. To date he has authored nine books and innumerable articles on popular culture, rock and roll music, and unexplained phenomena. He resides in Prince George’s County and gives talks and presentations on local music history, in addition to emceeing and hosting live music shows throughout the Delmarva region.
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