Dewey Martin: Rest in Peace

Neil Young and Stephen Stills first crossed paths at a folk club in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Young was there with The Squires, a group he had been leading since February 1963, and Stills was on tour with The Company, a spin off from the Au Go Go Singers. Although the two would not see each other again for almost a year, the encounter left both with a strong desire to work together.

When The Company broke up at the end of that tour, Stills moved to the West Coast, where he worked as a studio musician and auditioned unsuccessfully for, among other things, The Monkees. Told by record producer Barry Friedman that there would be work available if he could assemble a band, Stills invited fellow Au Go Go Singers alumnus Richie Furay and former Squires bass player Ken Koblun to come join him in California. Both agreed, although Koblun chose to leave before very long and rejoined the group 3's a Crowd.

In early 1966 in Toronto, Young met Bruce Palmer, a Canadian who was playing bass for a group called the Mynah Birds. In need of a lead guitarist, Palmer invited Young to join the group, and Young accepted. The Mynah Birds were set to record an album for Motown Records when Rick James, their singer, was arrested for draft evasion. With their record deal cancelled, Young and Palmer decided to head for Los Angeles where they hoped to hook up with Stills.

Roughly a week later, discouraged at having been unable to locate Stills and ready to depart for San Francisco, they were stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles when Stills, Furay and Friedman, sitting in their white van, recognized Young's black 1953 Pontiac hearse, which just happened to be passing by in the opposite direction. After an illegal u-turn by Furay, some shouting, hand-waving and much excitement, the four musicians realized that they were united in their determination to put together a band. Drummer Dewey Martin, who had played with country artists such as Patsy Cline and The Dillards, was added to the roster less than a week later after contacting the group at the suggestion of the Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson.

Taking their name from the side of a steamroller-made by the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company-that was parked on the street outside Friedman's house (where Stills and Furay were staying), the new group debuted on April 11, 1966 at The Troubadour in Hollywood.