In the late 1960s, Seattle was the band’s music mecca. A bunch of them were playing for teen dances around the region and eventually, they formed a group of five. That was 53 years ago. It never occurred to them that this would be a serious band. Their name, Jr. Cadillac, came from a song on Norman Greenbaum’s album ‘Spirit in the Sky,’ which they adored (and still do!).

Gradually the band started to get jobs through outfits such as Concerts West. Suddenly they were hip. The live-music-in-bars scene in Seattle was a not a regular thing until they started doing it. They played everywhere, even tho they say that they had no idea what they were doing. They simply wanted to work and it helped spawn this wonderful period of time in Seattle when people enjoyed all sorts of music and it wasn’t cliquey.

“There was a time when we opened for just about every big show that came through the Northwest, including the Kinks, Beach Boys, ELO, Ten Years After, Yes, Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull. We backed Chuck Berry a dozen times. And I wrote a song — on stage, during a concert — with Bo Diddley,” Neltner said. “And we were still playing dances, conventions, parties and bars. Good-time rock ‘n’ roll became our thing, and our motto was ‘Nothin’ could be lackin’ when you’re out there Cadillacin’.”