It's easy to dismiss Johnny Rivers as a harder-edged Pat Boone, a male Linda Ronstadt, a lost member of the Crew Cuts—a gabacho who covered the work of black boys and found fame and fortune. Rivers did it with Chuck Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee," the Four Tops' "Baby, I Need Your Loving," the Miracles' "The Tracks of My Tears" and other tunes during the mid-1960s. But Rivers, who's performing at the Galaxy this Saturday, was also a great pop-rock songsmith in his own right, the man behind "Secret Agent Man" and other rollicking, Southern-y live songs (most recorded at the Whisky A Go-Go) that represented an alternative to the British Invasion. He's also the author of "Poor Side of Town," one of the stranger compositions to top the... More >>>