MANSFIELD — Few musicians performing today can trace their musical roots to the 1960s, to the still-early days of rock and roll.
The days of The Beatles and the British Invasion. The days of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Woodstock. The days of Flower Power, the Summer of Love, the Vietnam War and a country in political and social upheaval.
But those six decades of musical linage connect directly to Mansfield native Dale Powers, one of the founding members, guitarist and lead vocalist for The Ohio Express, a local band that became a national recording sensation with “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” and “Chewy Chewy.”
And this weekend, the 74-year-old Powers wants to take audiences back to those roots this weekend with two shows at the Mansfield Playhouse, two 7:30 p.m. performances that were almost sold out as of Thursday early afternoon.
“I guess I am just an old rock-and-roll dinosaur with a rock-and-roll heart,” Powers said this week over coffee at Relax, It’s Just Coffee in downtown Mansfield.
“This is really exciting to me. I am gonna get to do some stuff I haven’t done in many years,” Powers said.
The show, titled “Golden Summers Revisited – 60’s Musical Journey,” features the five-member Dale Powers Golden Summers Band.
The 1966 Mansfield Senior High School graduate described the show as a “rockumentary” from the 1960s, complete with a photo slide show on the large video screen at the East Third Street theater.
“We’re basically trying to recreate that time through music, sight and sound,” Powers said. “We will play 30 to 35 songs, some of which are medleys. We don’t have time to do every complete song.”
“We have been rehearsing and this is a great band. I am the oldest one,” he said with a laugh. “We have been working on it and it’s sounding really good.”
Powers, who fronted the popular local Race band for more than two decades, said the shows will also feature some special guests — some of the original members of The Ohio Express and The Music Explosion.
Powers said Dean Kastran from The Ohio Express and Rick Nesta, Burton Stahl and Dave Webster from The Music Explosion, a second Mansfield band to hit it big at the time with “A Little Bit O’ Soul,” will join his band on stage for some songs.
Powers said it’s the first time members of both bands have performed on the same stage in Mansfield.
“(Both bands) had the same management company in the 60s, and we played some shows together (in other venues).
“But we have never had guys from both bands together on the same stage in their hometown,” Powers said. “It’s the first time we have come together in Mansfield for a concert.”
“We will be doing Ohio Express songs and Music Explosion songs from that era,” Powers said. “We want to take people back in time, play the music, talk to people, and show the audience what life was like then.
“It was a very exciting time, a very different time, as far as lifestyle,” Powers said.
Music interrupted by war
It was an magical musical era for Powers that was interrupted by the Vietnam War. He received his draft notice on Dec. 23, 1968.
“It didn’t say Merry Christmas or Happy New Year. It just said I was going into the Army. I left on Jan. 21, 1969, spent nine months stateside and then 12 months in Vietnam,” Powers said.
Powers spent his tour in Vietnam at Cam Rahn Bay Army Depot as a supply specialist with the Army’s 504th Field Depot Battalion, a huge facility that included a naval complex and an air base.
“For every grunt, every infantry guy in the field, there’s seven guys working in support,” Powers said. “I wasn’t worried about small arms fire, but every once in awhile we would take rocket or mortar fire. Fortunately, not a whole lot. I had a good duty station in Vietnam.”
Powers, whose father was an Army medic wounded at Normandy during World War II, is still uncomfortable with those who thank him for his service.
“I would not have gone. I was drafted. Back then you had three choices,” said Powers, who wears a necklace with a piece of the shrapnel that wounded his father. “You went to Canada, you went into the service or you went to jail.
“I looked at my options and said, “Well, I think I better go,'” he said, fingers touching the shrapnel piece. “My dad would not have been too happy with me going to Canada or to jail. He told me to go and make the best of it. That’s what I did.”
After his military service, Powers returned to Mansfield and continued a local music career, that took a Gospel turn after his own spiritual awakening in 1996. He used the G.I. Bill to take college classes and began a 38-year career in sales for Industrial Technical Sales and Service, retiring in 2017.
The music continues
Kastran, like Powers, has continued to remain active musically, even while working successful “day job” careers. Ironically, Kastran worked for Gorman-Rupp Pumps, a company that produced products Powers proudly helped to sell.
Powers is thrilled to be reunited with his old friend on stage this weekend.
“Dean is one the easiest guys to work with I ever met,” Powers said. “He says, ‘Whatever you want me to do, I will do.’ In his heart, he wants to make others sound and look as good as they can. That’s what I try to do as a musician.
“We are artistic people. We all still walk to the beat of a different drummer. I think it’s the best ingredient to have as a human being. It’s a God-given talent … and I never forget how blessed I am to still be doing this,” Powers said.
He’s also excited to perform at the Mansfield Playhouse and work with the venue’s artistic director, Doug Wertz.
“We thought about The Renaissance Theatre, which seats like 1,400 people. But we wanted to play a smaller, more intimate venue. I looked online, I looked at Mount Vernon, Hayesville and other venues. I really wanted a unique atmosphere.
“I looked at the Mansfield Playhouse and I just felt drawn to it. I met with Doug, he showed me around and I said, ‘Wow, what a cool building, what a neat historical venue.’
“I don’t think we could have found a better guy to work with than Doug. He has helped us so much with the production of the show. Look, I’m a rock-and-roll guy. I show up and play. I don’t know anything about stage theatrics or putting things in sequence.
“Doug has been our mentor on this show, taking us under his wing. Just a super guy to work with,” Powers said.
Grateful to God
Powers freely admits he lived the well documented rock-and-roll lifestyle before his encounter with God.
“I smoked cigarettes. I drank alcohol. I was a pothead for 30 years. I did lines of coke. I have done hash. Heroin. I have done it all. Fortunately, I never became addicted to any of it. I was a ‘recreational’ drug user. The only thing I really liked was smoking pot.
“By all rights, I should not be able to still sing and perform. I lived an unhealthy lifestyle. I am not proud of any of that. But that’s what it was. I had my spiritual awakening in 1996 and I gave it all up,” Powers said.
He will share a little of that awakening during the shows this weekend, a moment that included him on his knees in his basement feeling an abject loneliness that he didn’t understand.
“I had a wife that loved me, a family that loved me. I was surrounded by dear friends. I had a great job, making good money. I was playing in a great band. But my heart just ached from loneliness. I knew I was missing something in my life,” Powers said.
“From that moment on, God began working in my life. He changed me and showed me how real He is. I got a Bible. I walked into church one Sunday and sat down next to my mom. She said, ‘You have finally come to your senses.’ And that’s what happened. He began that spiritual change in my life and He hasn’t let up,” Powers said.
His music began a ministry that continues today. But Powers still has rock and roll in his soul.
“God didn’t give me this gift to just suddenly stop using it. He just wants to be in control. So what I do now is check in with him and ask, ‘Lord, am I still on track? Am I ok?’
“My life and my music is produced only by a living Savior who died for our sins. That’s what this is all about. At the end of the show, I wanna share that. About 98 percent of this show is about rock and roll and we will take 2 or 3 percent and talk about Jesus.
“We all make mistakes. But we are all the same. There was only one perfect man and they killed Him. We are all just a work in progress.”
What: Golden Summers Revisited
“Imagine a 1960’s musical story, a walk back in time of 10 teenage boys from an industrial based economic town with a population of 54,000 out of which came three gold records on Billboards Hot 100 list within a two-year time period.”
Where: Mansfield Playhouse
When: Friday and Saturday, July 22-23, 7:30 p.m. each night
Tickets: $15, available online at https://mansfieldplayhouse.com/
