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Start date for lineup: Summer 1973 Date disbanded: 1975

Joe Boesen: Guitar, vocals Howard Bothner: Drums, guitar, vocals ('73-mid 1974) Dave Carlson: Guitar, vocals Tim Fees: Bass, vocals Steve Fellingham: Keyboards, vocals Alan Graybill: Drums (Fall 1974-75)

It's hard to know where to break for the various lineups of Burntshoe. During this part of the bands existence there were many changes of members leaving, rejoining and leaving again. Pat Lonergan had just left the group with Howard poised to leave not too long after. Much of the nuts and bolts of the group remained the same. Further member details are below.    As far as equipment goes Joe was playing a Les Paul Deluxe finished in cherry sunburst which he purchased from a student at Iowa State. He still had the Acoustic head for an amp and was using the Vox Beatle speaker cabinet.    It is not known what brand of drum set Howard was using at this time, but he had acquired a double bass and two floor toms to augment his standard set. Also around this time the band had taken to placing the drums farther forward on stage than what was traditionally done. The main reason being Howard was interesting to watch as a drummer and they felt it would be appropriate to feature him by having him forward on the stage. Burntshoe was one of the very few bands doing this sort of setup.

Dave, by this time, was playing a Gibson Firebird V that was originally blue. He had replaced the two pickups and refinished the body in dark mahogany color. Dave was using an Ovation amp with a custom built speaker cabinet that Mark Majors had built for him. He later used a Gibson SG with the classic cherry finish for a short while and upgraded to an Acoustic head, replacing the Ovation. (See photo to the left.)    Tim was playing a Gibson Ripper bass finished in black by this time. He had an Acoustic 150 head for an amp which was used to power some homemade cabinets loaded with Altec 421 speakers.    Steve Fellingham played a variety of keyboards. Amongst those that he used were a Hammond M3, Farfisa Mini Compact, and a synth which he purchased as a kit and assembled with some help from a friend.    It is not known what kind of kit Alan was playing at this time. Most likely it was a standard kit for the day consisting of kick, snare, two rack toms, and a floor tom along with various cymbals and hi-hat. He had owned a aqua sparkle Sonor kit earlier, but it is not certain if this was the kit he was using at this time.    The band was using a dedicated P A system that they had purchased from Ralph Stevens who ran a music store in Ames. It consisted of a Phase Linear power amp and some homemade speaker cabinets that Tim helped build. The speaker cabinets held Electro-Voice woofers and some high-frequency horns along with some piezo tweeters on top. The cabinets were bass reflex cabinets made out of plywood and were painted white. They had a Peavey twelve channel mixing board which a friend of theirs by the name of John Lofstedt ran for them. John, incidentally, was Gary Lofstedt's younger brother. It's not known what type of microphones the band used.

Burntshoe's practice schedule remained much the same as it had in the past. They were still using the greenhouse as a place to practice. The material they were playing also remained much the same. Mostly album oriented rock by bands like Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad and Allman Bros. Band amongst others.    One gig that stands out in Joe's mind was a job that they played at the Twin Lakes Ballroom right around Easter time. The reason it stands out is that they brought mums and Easter lilies from the greenhouse to decorate the stage. The band started playing a bit farther away from Boone by this time. They were using a couple booking agents, instead of doing their own booking, which was the main reason why they were able to get jobs farther out from the Boone area. The most the band made during this time was probably about $250 with the least amount being about $125.

The band became very unstable at this point. The color photos here show one of the transitional line-ups. The photo at the immediate right also has John Lofstedt (kneeling left), who acted as their roadie, and Joe’s girlfriend (standing far right). After a period of time with both Howard and Alan playing in the band, Howard left to do some more progressive material with some friends from Ames. The band was called Ezra Pound and had been together since 1971. Alan played with the band for a very short time before he too left. With Alan gone Dave was the next to leave followed by Tim and Steve. Burntshoe continued on in a much different form after the departure of everyone but Joe. Most likely this was due to contractual obligations that the band had at this time. Aldon Risden, who lived in Gilbert Iowa, joined up as drummer. He was soon replaced by a fellow named Dirk Newton from Des Moines. Joe's sister, Ann, also joined the band as a lead singer. A fellow by the name of Steve Christopherson from Ames joined up to play bass. Not much is remembered about the end of the band. Perhaps the gigs played by this final version were, indeed, contractual obligations.    Joe currently lives in the Adel area, working for Stine Seed. He plays occasionally for his own enjoyment and for church functions. Howard is currently living in Colorado. It is not known if he is still involved in music or not. Dave played in a couple other bands after Burntshoe broke up. He is retired and living in Maricopa, Arizona. He has released some CDs of his acoustic guitar music. Toward the end of Burntshoe Tim was in a kind of downhill slide. He'd been arrested and put in jail in Des Moines for drunk driving. While in the jail he tried to hang himself. Things were worked out and Tim is doing OK as of this writing. He was last known to be working in Cedar Rapids and enjoys performing ethnic music. Steve dropped out of music after this band. He passed away from a heart attack in 1997. Up until that time he ran a nursery/tree service with his wife Peg.    After Alan left the group he joined up with a band based in Ames. named Just Us and was a member of another group - the Leapers. This band recorded and released an album of original material. Eventually he ended up in California where he does finish carpentry and is still involved with music - having a little 16 track studio in his home. Aldon left the band in 1975 to join the Marines. He is still involved in music and has played in bands ranging from country to heavy metal.

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