APRIL MORNING - Watch Your Step (Capricorn 1266)
I have no idea where I might have acquired this record by the April Morning of Abilene. For a long time I didn't really care much for it and am still kinda sorta on the fence. But I was taken by the fact that I shared the block with the address on the label for a few years in college... the two story house was actually our "big red" monster once spring midnight whiffle ball season kicked in. We even used to pick up our mail in the stairwell. And with me being big on personal attachment and emotional connections and all...
Prime front page space was given to Abilene Christian College's April Morning in the April 9, 1971 edition of the campus newspaper The Optimist. The year-old trio of Leon Butts, Laura Hoch, and David 
Snook had just released their debut (and only?) record "Moment in a Lifetime" b/w "What Your Step" on Capricorn Records. While the article pays much attention to the soft n' gentle David Snook penned a-side, I'm a bit more partial to the mid-tempo flip. "Watch Your Step" was written by Leon Butts and rocks just about as hard as one might expect early 70s Church of Christ Jesus rock to rock. I imagine in a live setting it was probably a pretty far-out number, but the muddy production softens some of the punch. It could have also used a more creative break or perhaps just a bit of fuzz. Regardless, "Watch Your Step" foreshadows the direction Xian folk and rock were headed in the mid-70s.According to a later Optimist article April Morning stayed to together for around 5 years. By '74 Snook and Butts formed another, larger group called Silk n' Steel.
Not too far off from Central Texas combo Redemption (can be dug HERE).I miss midnight whiffle ball.
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