Holy Modal Rounders

Founded in early '60s New York City by renegade folkies Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, the Holy Modal Rounders were part of the same acid-bent Lower East Side axis that produced their fellow insurgents the Fugs. Using traditional acoustic Americana as the platform for such irreverent ditties as the immortal "Boobs a Lot" and "If You Wanna Want to Be a Bird" (which appeared on the Easy Rider soundtrack), the Rounders angered folk purists and confused their more rootless psychedelic brethren. Early on the group employed future playwright Sam Shepard as its drummer, and today is seen as leading forerunners of the recent freak-folk revolution.