Big Country b/w Hopin' and A-Prayin'

Sandy Marino And The Sandmen emerged from Evan Kemp's Trail Riders to form the Sandmen (lead guitarist Jigger Pine and bassist Sandy Marino had played on Evan Kemp's Aragon album 'Blue Canadian Rockies'). Singer-bass player Everett William Peacock, who became Sandy Marino, and the lead guitarist Lou Earl, who became Jigger Pine, were named by Evan Kemp who had a talent for renaming musicians. Lou recalls: "Evan had the name on his posters before he ever met Lou Earl. He was determined that the musician he hired would have comedic qualities that he could bring out, to make him a 'Jigger Pine'". It was a name Kemp had kept in mind since he'd seen the 1941 movie 'Blues in the Night', where character Jigger Pine was played by Richard Whorf. The drummer was Bruce Cox, and both Marino on acoustic guitar and Pine on electric guitar later overdubbed extra rhythm onto the driving number. Marino wrote the song here and the flip, Big Country. The Sandmen worked the legion halls and cabarets around Vancouver before touring the B.C. interior and booking the halls themselves as their old boss Evan Kemp had done. After touring Alaska, Jigger and Sandy parted ways with Pine joining Kenny Stolz and Sandy teaching school. Sandy reformed The Sandmen, but suffered a stroke which has left him unable to resume singing. He now lives in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
-Real Gone Aragon liner notes