Little Tommy Tittlemouse
Jeff Bove – Vocal, Guitar, Banjo
Andy Eaton – Vocal, Autoharp, Claves, Tambourine
Scott Birney – Vocal, Guitar, Autoharp, Flute
Tom Fisher – Vocal, Guitar
| Listen: |
| Hey Mister https://marthalidd.com/mp3/04%20Hey%20Mister.mp3 |
| Try and See https://marthalidd.com/mp3/Try-and-See.mp3 |
Little Tommy Tittlemouse… 4 vocal, multi-instrumental, acoustic group playing original songs under the unselfconscious influence of The Byrds and all their off-shoot groups. Only together through the winter of 1972/73…
In December of 1972, four 20 year old friends squeezed onto an antique sofa in front of a single microphone which was plugged into a Revox reel to reel tape recorder… not for prosperity but to work out arrangements for each others songs. There was Jeffrey, the undisputed leader and task master, bringing a focused and seasoned vision tempered by 7 years of leading bands thru the pre alcohol circuit that was church & YMCA coffeehouses, school dances and concerts. Tom the outsider… full of doomed romantic angst and able to express it in catchy, soaring melody. Andy the ultimate utility player putting down the claves halfway thru a song and 
picking up the autoharp without missing a beat… all the while singing strong and soulful, lead and harmony… Andy was the ying to Jeff’s yang. They had partnered thru 4 bands in 7 years, and their professionalism set the tone. Then there was me. So wet behind the ears I squeaked when I sang. Jeffrey took me as I was and we spent the summer of ’72 working up a 2 guitar, bass and drum country rock band named Alamo that morphed into Little Tommy Tittlemouse during the fall months.
After the first of the year we added the Martha Lidd rhythm section of Dave Berry and Jim Russell, though the sextet never recorded… The importance of the Tittlemouse influence as a key ingredient in the soup that was to become the early Sin City Band cannot be ignored as 4 out of the 6 members all played in Sin City for many years.
Jeffrey, Andy and I have remained close friends over the years, but we lost track of Tom sometime in the late seventies. We always knew there was a box of reel to reel tapes in Jeff’s studio, but when I first listened to what Marc and Jeff had pulled off those old tapes I was not prepared for what I heard. First, the quality was really good. And Jeff had us so well rehearsed I was listening to songs I hadn’t heard in over 35 years and I was remembering my part and words. And Tom’s songs were better than I remembered. And I guess I was just too young and stupid to appreciate the dynamic and creative interplay between Jeff and Tom’s guitars. These songs were recorded 100% live, no overdubs at all, and again, we were not planning on any kind of “release”, certainly not in the year 2010! Although I must add the material has stood the test of time as Sin City Band still plays 5 of these songs at the slightest provocation and whenever Jeffrey, Andy and I get together on a summer deck or around a fireplace we pull out some of these chestnuts and suddenly it’s like we’re back on that sofa (which is in Jeff’s studio) facing that old tape deck laughing and “freaking out” because we thought we were really something else!…Listening to LITTLE TOMMY TITTLEMOUSE a full lifetime later, ”Man, I’m freaking out…”
Scott Birney
The Sin City Band
One last historical footnote…In the summer of 1972 Jeff hired a young up and coming musician/techno-wiz to fibre glass our “voice of the theater” speakers. His name was Marc Moss. Marc played in a band named Bagshot Row who were influenced by Jeff’s Martha Lidd.