YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A never-heard cache of songs by Blue Ash is finally seeing the light of day.

It’s a revelation for fans of the Youngstown rock band that had national recording contracts in the 1970s.

The 18 unearthed songs will be released Feb. 1 as an album titled “Dinner at Mr. Billy’s.” Most were recorded throughout the ’70s at Peppermint Studios in Youngstown. 

Vinyl and digital versions of the album can be preordered now at peppermintrecords.bandcamp.com.

The songs are also available to stream on Bandcamp and Spotify.

“Dinner at Mr. Billy’s” was originally scheduled for release in late 2024. But the late acquisition of three long-lost songs pushed back the date, says Frank Secich, guitarist and a songwriter for Blue Ash.

“We found three songs recorded in Philly, and got them from Drexel University,” Secich says. 

The rest of the songs on the album were dug up in the past few years by Gary Rhamy, who owns Peppermint; and Dean Anshutz and Anthony LaMarca, who have been foraging through the studio’s archives.

Anshutz is the drummer for Red Wanting Blue, and LaMarca plays guitar and other instruments for Grammy winning band The War on Drugs.

The trio mixed the Philadelphia songs a couple of months ago and added them to the album. They are titled “We’ll Live Tomorrow,” “I’ve Been Rolled” and “Everybody’s Singing that Song.”

All of the tunes on the album are rarities – especially the three Philadelphia songs, according to Secich.

“We were looking for them forever,” he says. “Anthony and Gary found them. They were recorded at Sigma Sound Studio in Philadelphia, which was a soul studio at the time. When Sigma went out of business, Drexel bought their archives.”

Blue Ash flirted with global fame in its heyday, opening shows for the likes of Bob Seger, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent. The act built a fan base that extended abroad. 

In addition to Secich, the band members were Jim Kendzor, David Evans and the late Bill “Cupid” Bartolin, who died in 2009.

Early Days

They were in their teens in 1970 when Pittsburgh-based show promoter Bob Mack brought them to Sigma. The band also recorded 226 other songs – none of them released – at Peppermint between 1971 and 1977.

Some of the material on the “Mr. Billy’s” album reflects the band’s experimental early days, even wading into psychedelia. That’s especially true of the Philadelphia songs.

“We were new and trying to write whatever we could,” Secich says.

The band would later embrace a catchy power pop sound that caught many ears.

The album also includes “Jazel Jane,” a 1974 song that was featured in the 2023 Amazon Prime series “Daisy Jones and the Six.” 

The 1979 song “She Isn’t There,” which was the last song Blue Ash ever recorded at Peppermint, is also included.

The title of the upcoming album also reflects the early days, when Blue Ash was playing gigs in the Pittsburgh area multiple times a week.

On the way to one show, they passed a roadhouse restaurant called Mr. Billy’s. Bartolin got a kick out of the name and said, “If we ever get to make an album, we should call it ‘Dinner at Mr. Billy’s.’”

His band mates thought that was hilarious and even wrote a song with that as the title. It never made it on to an album – until now.

Secich and Kendzor will make appearances at Cyclebreakers Records at Westside Bowl in Youngstown, Fat Hippy Records in Brookfield, and Get Hip Records in Pittsburgh to sell and sign the new album. The dates have not yet been determined.

“David [Evans] will also make it, if possible,” Secich says. “It will be a nice tribute to [Bartolin].”

With more than 200 other untouched songs still sitting in the Peppermint archives, Secich says more Blue Ash rarities albums will be released in the future.

“We’ll just keep putting them out,” he says.

The band released two albums for national distribution during its peak years: “No More, No Less” (Mercury Records) in 1973 and “Front Page News” (Playboy Records) in 1977.

“No More, No Less” was recorded at Peppermint Records under a contract with Mercury. Rhamy was at the controls then, and he remembers how it happened.

“Paul Nelson [the Mercury A&R agent who signed Blue Ash] wanted them to record demos of more songs because they were such prolific writers,” Rhamy said in a past interview. “So, we did live recording sessions with them and a lot of the stuff on the upcoming album is from those sessions.”

After breaking up in 1979, Blue Ash briefly reunited in 2003-04, releasing a retrospective album.

In 2016, Secich and Kendzor went on tour as Blue Ash and played multiple shows in Europe.

Those two are currently teaming up with members of Youngstown band The Deadbeat Poets for another Blue Ash album – this one with all-new material.

“We have nine songs done and need to finish two more,” he says. “Hopefully we can get it done and released this year.”

Pictured at top: The album jacket for “Dinner at Mr. Billy’s” features a 1970s photo of the band.