Friend & Lover

<a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Jim Post</a> was a member of a Canadian folk group called the Rum Runners when he met Cathy Conn, who was part of a dance company appearing at the same state fair that he was playing. She gave up dancing and married <a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Post</a>, and he taught her enough about singing so that the two made a credible duo on-stage. They lacked <a href="spotify:artist:2QkNXWhQoTVUMyS9OIDP0H">Ian & Sylvia</a>'s delicate interweaving of voices, but Conn could really belt out a chorus, and <a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Post</a> had a pleasing tenor. Billing themselves as Friend & Lover, they played clubs while developing a sound and a repertory, and cut their debut single, "If Tomorrow," produced by <a href="spotify:artist:7s2L0cftC6UBVVxADuyfwS">Joe South</a>, for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ABC-Paramount%22">ABC-Paramount</a>. It failed to chart, and though they were good enough to rate support act status with <a href="spotify:artist:4zmxet3ZPdSmL3Xyv1Wegb">the Buckinghams</a> and even <a href="spotify:artist:74oJ4qxwOZvX6oSsu1DGnw">Cream</a>, the duo seemed to be going nowhere until Jerry Schoenbaum, the head of MGM/Verve, became impressed with <a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Post</a>'s song "Reach Out of the Darkness." An upbeat, ebullient song that crossed midway between <a href="spotify:artist:12V5Y0dEdRroUCBr95IXO9">Spanky & Our Gang</a> and the early <a href="spotify:artist:2qFr8w5sWUITRlzZ9kZotF">Jefferson Airplane</a>, it was ideal for the summer of 1968, a point when the last, lingering glow of the previous year's psychedelic summer was still visible' if only through eyes clouded by nostalgic longing amid the worsening political strife of the period. The song itself was a distant cousin to <a href="spotify:artist:1PCZpxHJz7WAMF8EEq8bfc">the Byrds</a>' "Renaissance Fair," <a href="spotify:artist:59zdhVoWxSoHMc74n098Re">David Crosby</a>'s stunningly beautiful musical memory of the first San Francisco Be-In; in this case, the inspiration was <a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Post</a>'s having attended a love-in in New York City, and the sense of freedom that was in the air. The record struck a responsive chord, making number ten on the national charts, but the duo was never able to follow it up with any success, despite two singles and an LP issued in their wake. They played out their <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Verve%22">Verve</a> contract, losing a lucrative offer from <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Columbia+Records%22">Columbia Records</a> in the process when <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Verve%22">Verve</a> wouldn't let them go, and then moved to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadet+Records%22">Cadet Records</a> as Jim & Cathy. The couple later divorced, ending the duo's history, and <a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Post</a> has since recorded for a multitude of labels and ventured into playwriting and theatrical production. <a href="spotify:artist:49IDi5uLJxa2csQxJPRemw">Jim Post</a> died on September 14, 2022 at the age of 82. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi