''Ram Jam'' is the debut studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Ram Jam Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York City and active in 1977 and 1978, mainly known for their hit single "Black Betty". Overview The band consisted of Bill Bartlett (guitar and lead vocals), Howie Arthur Blauvelt (bass), Pete ...

in 1977. The first track on the album, the single "

Black Betty "Black Betty" ( Roud 11668) is a 20th-century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources say it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations ...

", is Ram Jam's best known song. It went to #7 on the UK singles chart in September 1977. The album reached No. 34 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The band was re-christened "American Ram Jam" for the UK market to avoid confusion with a UK band bearing the same name. In 1996, the album was reissued on CD as ''Golden Classics'' with a bonus track, "I Should Have Known", which was originally the B-side to the "Black Betty" single.

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

* Myke Scavone –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Bill Bartlett –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals * Howie Blauvelt –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, vocals * Peter Charles –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* David Goldflies – bass guitar (track 1) * Tom Kurtz – guitar (track 1) * David Fleeman – drums (track 1) Production *

Jeffry Katz Jeffry Katz (born May 20, 1943, Brooklyn, New York) is an American music producer, one of the first proponents of bubblegum pop. Music career He is one half of a hitmaking duo with Jerry Kasenetz, the two working together as the Super K Product ...

– producer * Jerry Kasenetz – producer * Stanisław Zagórski – cover art

References

Ram Jam albums 1977 debut albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Jeffry Katz Albums produced by Jerry Kasenetz {{1970s-rock-album-stub