Turns out these seven songs are Guyanese-American artist Bill Russell’s only recordings. Bill had 100 vinyl copies pressed up in 1979 on his own Bi-Russell Records label, promoted it modestly and locally, and it went nowhere. 30-some years later, in a kind of message in a bottle-type scenario, one of those copies ended up at the Oakland Coliseum Flea Market and found its way into our hands. Suffice to say, we sat speechless, heads in our hands, amazed by this total mystery of an LP. Through the help of master tracker Rob Sevier at Numero Records we found Russell still living in Los Angeles and he graciously and happily helped fill in some of the blanks. Inspired by army pals who were recording and releasing music without any label backing, Russell bought a Fender Telecaster and a Korg Mini and recorded Liter Thru Dorker Vibes in a makeshift home studio in South Central L.A. in just a few short sessions. When asked about his influences he insta-mentioned Santana and then added Hendrix, Sly Stone, Jobim, along with some New Orleans jazz stuff as well. Russell was born into a musical family (it sounds like most all played an instrument) and popular artists like Nat King Cole, Elvis, and the Beatles, along with loads of Caribbbean music, made up the soundtrack to his childhood. In explanation of the album title and cover he said he titled it with hopes that "liter" and "dorker" people could get together and groove off his new sounds. And there is no San Francisco/Bay Area connection, he simply chose the Golden Gate Bridge image because he felt the color scheme complimented his music. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.