Blues rockers cum psychedelic proto proggers Groundhogs have a new triple vinyl live album, Road Hogs: Live From Richmond To Pocono, released through Fire Records.

The new release features all previously unreleased live material from the trio, that were discovered having lain in the Warner Brothers’ vault for 50 years! Four reels of tape lay wedged between the masters of the groundbreaking albums Thank Christ For The Bomb, Split and Who Will Save The World… The Mighty Groundhogs.

The first two boxes had a handwritten scrawl acclaiming them as ‘Groundhogs live at Richmond Athletic Ground, November 7, 1969’. Originally it had been thought that they were recorded at the Ninth National Jazz And Blues Festival – a nomadic event that had previously rocked up in Richmond. In fact, they turned out to be a one-off support slot to Free, a break from their Marquee residency.

The second two boxes – marked ‘Pocono’ were recorded at what would turn out to be the final show for this seminal line up of line up of Tony McPhee (guitar and vocals), Pete Cruikshank (bass) and Ken Pustelnik (drums), from Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania in 1972, when their truncated hurricane-threatened US tour ended abruptly as Tony broke his arm in a freak horse riding accident.

The new release includes liner notes with unearthed photos from the Groundhogs archive, bumper sticker and poster.