Like several other bands of the American South, their musical style was a synthesis of influences such as Little Richard, Ray Charles, Jimmy Reed, and more, making Potliquor a part of the nascent Southern rock genre.
The group suffered through internal conflicts after the death of their manager in 1973, and after several personnel changes, they were never able to recover the momentum built up through 1970–1973 to reach national prominence like some of the big name bands and individuals they performed with: the Allman Brothers, Billy Joel, REO Speedwagon, Ray Charles, Lou Rawls, Aerosmith, Cactus, ZZ Top, B.B.
The band's sound is a hotbed of cool southern traditions crossed with the psych stylings of the Guess Who and the Hammond hard rock of Deep Purple.
Many attractions along the way: the band's cover of "You're No Good" is bruisingly power-chorded almost to Sabbatherian levels (in the mean time kicking Van Halen's dopey take outta bed), or at least hard Fireball-era Purple.
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" gets a damp and creaky House Of The Rising Sun-type treatment, all creeped out toward Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly with harsh electric guitar soloing.
"Riverboat" and "Price 20 Cents A Copy" are fast James Brown-type showy tunes buoyed by the band's patented harmonies and raucous arrangements.
Potliquor finding fortune at the crossroads between late 60's hard rock, the newly emerging southern sound combining gospel, boogie and the blues, and the last vestiges of foggy proggy psyche.
[5] Jim Brown, a local promoter and owner of a Baton Rouge club, the Speakeasy, was uniquely instrumental in the formation of the band and arranged the "name-the-band-contest" that resulted in Potliquor's naming.
Some saying 25,000 - 30,000 and other believe it to have been well over 100,000 people, the festival boasted an impressive amount of national talent, including five veterans of Woodstock—Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish—along with Canned Heat, the Byrds, the Youngbloods, Iron Butterfly, Oliver, It's a Beautiful Day, Chicago, Lee Michaels, Spiral Starecase, and Tyrannosaurus Rex (before they were renamed T.
[7][8] Potliquor helped headline the smaller Festival of Man and Earth in May 1970, held in the Baton Rouge area with Ginger Valley, Goat Leg, Eternity's Children, Bloodrock, Ox, and the Ides of March also performing.
[10] On a small, full-color ad on the front page of the September 26, 1970 edition of Billboard, Janus describe Potliquor as a "river blues" group from Baton Rouge who "created a sensation at the New Orleans Pop Festival and were sought after by many record labels..." and who were about "to embark on their first national tour.
[13] Frost also wrote (as Giuseppe Efronetée) and played guitar on "Driftin," a song later released as a Decca single by the British rock group Fat Chance.
"[15] While the beginning of 1971 saw Pye Records' progressive label Dawn release First Taste in the United Kingdom and Europe,[16] Potliquor was back in Baton Rouge beginning work in February on their second album, Levee Blues, at the Deep South Recording Studios, but this time even though Jim Brown's title on the album remained 'producer' he turned over the actual production responsibilities to Cy Frost, a genius in his own right.
[17] Another tour took the group back to the west coast where they appeared with the Joy of Cooking and Hugh Masekela and the Union of South Africa on April 3, 1971, on a special program, Calebration, on a San Francisco, California TV station.
[26] Billboard ended a good year for Potliquor by describing Levee Blues as having "...the heavy material and performance to break them into the chart with solid sales impact.
[36] At the beginning of March, Potliquor started a six-week tour[37] with Bloodrock and Cactus[38] with a break in the schedule to appear at the Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico on April 1–3, 1972.
[40] Chess/Janus President Marv Schlachter announced that the merger of the Chess, Janus, and GRT records labels, the hiring of national promotion and college/FM exploitation staff, and a stable of solid talent had turned the bottom line of the company around.
[41] Before heading back to the studio, Potliquor played with Uriah Heep and Long John Baldry at the Sunshine Inn in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on June 27, 1972.
[51] The middle of the year saw Potliquor in concert with several different bands in different venues: the Eagles and the Charlie Daniels Band at The Warehouse in New Orleans;[52] Black Oak Arkansas at the Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, Louisiana;[53][54] in Rapid City, South Dakota;[54] at Independence Hall in Baton Rouge with Steely Dan and Gladstone;[55] and with Wishbone Ash in El Paso, Texas.
According to Amoroso, he held the copyright on the name "Potliquor", but George Ratzlaff owned the publishing company and the entire catalog of original songs from the first 3 albums.
Incorporating a blending of elements of differing native musical styles and the inclusion of lyrics and titles from their southern Louisiana, Potliquor was a group of originality and creativity.