Sailcat

Untitled

Sailcat was a short-lived American rock and roll band. They were a one-hit wonder who scored a hit single in the summer of 1972 with the song "Motorcycle Mama".

Track listing

• Side one
  1. "Rainbow Road" John Wyker - 4:00
  2. "The Thief" Court Pickett - 3:30
  3. "Highway Rider/Highway Riff" John Wyker & Court Pickett - 5:40
  4. "The Dream" Court Pickett - 2:45
• Side two
  1. "If You've Got A Daughter" Court Pickett - 1:33
  2. "Ambush" John Wyker, Clayton Ivey, Pete Car - 3:06
  3. "B.B. Gunn" John Wyker - 2:48
  4. "It'll Be A Long Long Time" Court Pickett - 2:12
  5. "Motorcycle Mama" John Wyker & Court Pickett - 2:06
  6. "Walking Together Backwards" John Wyker - 3:19
  7. "On The Brighter Side Of It All" John Wyker - 2:23

History

Sailcat was the brainchild of John Wyker, a veteran of the Muscle Shoals, Alabama rock music scene who had been in The Rubber Band with John Townsend (later of the Sanford-Townsend Band). Sailcat's vocalist was Court Pickett, brother of The Rubber Band's Ed Pickett. An early demo tape cut by the duo, which included the song "Motorcycle Mama", was initially discarded by the band but after it was presented to Elektra Records led to a record contract and an invitation to cut an album. On the 1990 compilation album Rubáiyát the song is covered by The Sugarcubes feat. Björk.

The resulting album, also titled Motorcycle Mama, was a concept album with biker theme, about a motorcycle riding drifter in the Easy Rider vein who tires of life on the road and falls in love with a young woman. The cover art was drawn by Jack Davis and featured a series of motorcycle related drawings for each song on the album. The concept album's songs loosely tell the story of a motorcycle vagrant, who apparently steals for a living, meeting a woman and settling down to start a family. However, he apparently keeps some of his selfish behaviours as the last drawing shows him reclining on his porch while his wife hangs the laundry and his child hoes the garden.

The single "Motorcycle Mama" hit #12 on the Billboard magazine singles charts, and the album went to #38. Sailcat toured to promote the album, released one more non-LP single, "Baby Ruth" which did not chart, then broke up citing burnout from touring.

Although a hit at the time, the album fell into obscurity and did not see official re-release on CD until 2004.

Court Pickett now lives in Rock Hill, S.C.

See also

• Muscle Shoals, Alabama