Ravenstone

Ravenstone is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia in 1971 by Butch Blasingame, Dwight Brown, Michael A. Simpson, Ralph Towler and Bill Wilson. A popular group in the southeastern United States during the early 70s, the band is considered one of the godfathers of the internationally acclaimed Athens rock scene. Blasingame, Simpson, and Wilson created the group after meeting in a University of Georgia drama class. The band’s name is a literary reference to a field where witches are executed in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, a play the three were studying at the time. Blasingame recruited Brown and Towler, two university students from his hometown of Monroe, Georgia, with whom he had previously performed with in the group Edifice Wrecks. From the beginning, the band’s original music was credited to all five members, listing them in alphabetic order. Although Simpson is the group's lyricist, all members provide input in songwriting. The band’s early music was muscular and lyrically intense, combining prototype punk elements with roots rock, British invasion and soul influences.