Between 1970 and 1972, virtually every band in North Carolina had a choice to make. The sixities and all the accoutrements typically associated with the decade - the long hair, counterculture movement, anti-war protests, psychedelic drugs and especially rock music - didn’t quite make it to Greensboro until the seventies. Oddly insulated from social and cultural change, the South - reluctantly at first, then eagerly - began embracing the new lifestyle, worldview and peace and love ethos.

Almost overnight, it seemed, all the bands that had cut their teeth on soul music, R&B and Motown were shifting gears, dumping set lists, growing hair and hopping aboard the rock bandwagon. The In-Men Ltd became Peace Core; Willie T. and the Magnificents became Hot Rain; Kallabash Corp. dropped the Corp. and CC and the Souls became Partly Cloudy.

Now, that latter band did not have quite the name recognition of the three former ones, but it was to have historical significance because of what it eventually evolved into: Brice Street.

Bassist Doug Dennis, guitarist-saxophonist Steve Coble and keyboardist Gerald Hill were members of CC and the Souls while classmates at Grimsley High School. Although they were quickly developing a following as a top soul band, the world around them was changing, and they opted to change with it. Likewise, Partly Cloudy enjoyed a nice three-year run on the rock circuit, which locally was comprised primarily of the End Zone, the Blue Max and Joker’s 3.

Drummer-vocalist Jack Atchison, meanwhile, was ahead of the curve, already playing in a rock band in High Point called the Morlocks. He went on to play with the Villagers and Bandit, two well known rock acts, and was approached in the spring of 1974 by the three Partly Cloudy members about forming a new band. They would also include Barry Webb, a UNCG grad with a degree in music on guitar.

Doug Dennis remembers it well: “We knew we wanted to be a band, but there was never any discussion of what we needed to play. We just decided to play what we liked and not worry about a nameplate or a tag.”

By June 1974, the band was ready to take the show on the road by launching it with a five-nighter at the Keg in Salisbury. Then it dawned on them that they didn’t have a name. Out of desperation they chose the temporary name Brice Street, the location of the house in Greensboro that Hill owned where they rehearsed. The thinking was the band would use the name for that one gig, and choose another once they had time to come up with a permanent name. Forty-six years later, that band is still known as Brice Street.

During the next eight years they amassed a huge following, rotating among all the top clubs from Richmond to Atlanta and packing them in nightly. The names evoke sweet memories almost as much as the bands - The Pier in Raleigh, P.B. Scott’s in Blowing Rock, The Crest in Wrightsville Beach, The Mad Monk in Wilmington, The Attic in Greenville, The Pass in Richmond, Town Hall in Chapel Hill, Papillons and The Boardwalk in Greensboro. Brice Street rocked them all.

Along the way they also cut two albums on Dolphin Records, “Rise Up in the Night” and “Imagination”. Both sold well regionally, but by 1983 the grind of the road was beginning to take its toll. Realizing those kinds of record sales weren’t going to fundamentally change their lives, three of the remaining four original members gradually drifted away. Atchison kept the name and, through a revolving door of members, kept the act alive for another two-plus decades.

Guitarist Jack King was a member in several lineups of the band over the years and in 2006 he contacted original bassist Doug Dennis about filling in on a trio date. Dennis came back on board and the trio began performing locally on a regular basis.

Then, early in 2015, Atchison approached original guitarist and keyboardist Barry Webb and asked if he’d be interested in rejoining the band. To everyone’s delight, Webb accepted and thus was born the current Brice Street lineup consisting of three original members, Atchison, Dennis and Webb and longtime guitarist Jack King.

Brice Street is currently celebrating the release of their 3rd album of original material, Wear and Tear. Still a musical powerhouse, the band looks forward to 2021 and a return to live performance. Long live Brice Street!!

This piece consists mostly of a wonderful article on the band by David Ogi Overman that appeared in the December 24-31, 2015 issue of gotriad, a weekly entertainment insert of the Greensboro News and Record. Yours truly (Jack Atchison) tweaked and updated it just a little! Thanks Ogi!!