The Story of Larry Akles and CBM Music
The Chocolate Buttermilk Band has been a successful cover and backing band in the Southern United States for almost fifty years. The group recorded just a handful of singles in the early 1980s, but all are in high demand today by boogie funk and modern soul collectors.
Larry Akles founded the band in 1971 in Fayetteville, North Carolina after a stint in Vietnam, where he played in an R&B group while serving in the Air Force. The band backed acts like Clarence Carter and Chuck Jackson and opened for Earth, Wind & Fire and Parliament Funkadelic. As a cover band, the group played rock and roll as well as funk and soul.
While the group’s recordings never took off, Akles ran a successful nightclub business and worked as an Air Force mechanic for decades. Today, the Chocolate Buttermilk Band still backs The Temptations. The band’s two 12-inches and three 45s are loose and fun. This is the first time they’ve been fully compiled, finally bringing them to a wider audience along with the band’s story, written by yours truly. Get it now from Jerome Derradji’s Past Due Records!