Sailcat


Sailcat was an American rock band that was signed with Elektra Records in the early 1970s and best known for the hit song "Motorcycle Mama".

History

Creation of the band

The band, an early Southern Pop/Rock setup, was the innovation of John D. Wyker and Court Pickett, who formed the group in 1971 near Decatur, Alabama. Wyker was a veteran of the Muscle Shoals, Alabama rock music scene who had been in The Rubber Band with John Townsend. Pickett was the vocalist and bass player from Tuscaloosa, Alabama who had just moved from Macon, Georgia, where he had been playing and singing for Sundown, a band that also had Chuck Leavell, Charlie Hayward, and Lou Mullenix. Court was also the brother of Ed Pickett, of the foresaid The Rubber Band. In the 1960's Ed played with other musicians in Granny's Gremlins in Tuscaloosa Alabama that included Hal Holbrook, Marvin Rust, and Bruce Stewart.

"Motorcycle Mama," success, and their breakup

An early demo tape of an album, cut by the duo, was initially discarded by the band but after it was presented to Elektra Records led to a record contract and 1972 album release also titled Motorcycle Mama. The resulting album, produced by Pete Carr, was a concept album with a biker theme. The cover art and drawings inside the gatefold cover were drawn by Jack Davis, featuring motorcycles, predominately the Harley-Davidson with a series of drawings for each song on the album. The concept album's songs loosely tell the story of a motorcycle vagrant who apparently bums for a living, meeting a woman and settling down to start a family. However, he apparently keeps some of his selfish lazy behavior as the last drawing shows him reclining on his porch while his wife hangs the laundry and his child hoes the garden.
In 1972 the single "Motorcycle Mama" hit #12 on the Billboard singles chart, and the album went to #38 and led them to appearances on American Bandstand and at Carnegie Hall. In Canada, the single reached #14. John D. Wyker and Sailcat performed both "Motorcycle Mama" and "Walking Together Backwards" on their first televised appearance on August 26, 1972. Sailcat toured to promote the album and released one more non-LP single "Baby Ruth". However, soon after releasing the album, the band broke up.

After the breakup

Sailcat leader Wyker, who had been a member of the Rubber Band who recorded the original version of "Let Love Come Between Us", went on to play with many of the great Southern rock musicians like Eddie Hinton, Dan Penn, Delaney Bramlett, among others.
Wyker worked on a benefit project called The Mighty Field of Vision Anthem, a group dedicated to raising funds for musicians who have fallen on hard times.
Wyker died at his home on December 8, 2013, at the age of 68.
As for Pickett, he later issued a solo album, Fancy Dancer, on the Elektra label in 1973.

Tributes

On their 1990 compilation album, the song "Morotcycle Mama" is covered by the band The Sugarcubes featuring Björk.

Discography

Album

Sail Cat

Track listing

Side one:
Side two:

Album

YearTitleUS Top 200Label
1972Motorcycle Mama#38Elektra

Singles