After honing their craft as solo folk
artists and then as staff songwriters for a major record label, Brewer and Shipley got the chance
to record their first album Down In L.A. on A&M Records in 1968.
But the title of their album also reflected their discontent with
California. So despite a newly released album and mutual friends
who were starting to make it big in Los Angeles, in bands such as The
Association,
Buffalo Springfield, and
The Byrds, Michael and Tom decided
to move back to the Midwest.
Tom
described their decision, "There was a music scene built
up in Kansas City, and Michael and I used to come during Christmas and
it was great. There would be clouds in the sky -- you don't see clouds
in L.A., just the haze. There was a significant period of time when we
were essentially homeless. Then we set ourselves down with all these old
friends to try and get a musical production company going."
What
resulted was
Good
Karma Productions,
a Kansas
City based management and production company, which would produce and manage founding artists Brewer & Shipley,
Danny Cox, Ted Anderson, Chet Nichols, and later The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. The
Good Karma management team consisted of Stan Plesser, owner of the
legendary Vanguard Coffee House, Dan “Mort” Moriarty, Gary Peterson, and
they were soon joined by
Gary’s brother Paul.
The Good Karma offices were housed in a old three story house at 4218
Main, appropriately, just across the street from 'The Vanguard' that had
served as the primary Kansas City venue for Brewer & Shipley, Danny Cox,
and many other artists on the folk circuit including the Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band and Steve Martin. The Good Karma family communal
atmosphere was illustrated by artist
