The All Saved Freak Band was one of the earliest influences in what has since become a distinct sub-category of Rock and Roll, Contemporary Christian Music. Broadcasting their first recorded songs on WREO radio in Ashtabula County, Ohio in the fall of 1968, ASFB joined Larry Norman and the California group, Agape, as one of the original "pioneers" of Jesus music, birthed in that same year. ASFB was a large, ensemble group of 12 musicians. Their music was known for its combination of blues and string arrangements. ASFB recorded four albums now recognized as classic examples of the earliest "Jesus music." Though courted by RCA and Columbia, ASFB never signed a contract in an effort to maintain control of the band's music and direction. Brief history Based out of a Christian commune near Orwell, Ohio, members included co-founders Joe Markko and Larry Hill, Mike Berkey, Ed Durkos, Tom Eritano, Tim Hill, Morgan King, Norris McClure, Carole King, Randy Markko, Kim Massman, Pam Massman, Tom Miller, and rock guitarist Glenn Schwartz. Schwartz was lead-guitarist for the rock group, the James Gang (later replaced by Joe Walsh) and Pacific Gas & Electric who recorded a top 20 song in 1969, Are You Ready? Temporary replacements for Glenn Schwartz and Tom Eritano were guitarist Phil Keaggy of Glass Harp and drummer, Val Fuentes from the California band, It's a Beautiful Day. Prior to recording their first album, three band members - Brett Hill [Larry's son], Joe's brother Randy and Tom Miller - all lost their lives in automobile accidents while traveling to concerts. Singing backup and playing piano, Tom "Aquinas" Miller was one of the "Kent-25" and had been featured in Life magazine as part of the protests on the Kent State campus at the time of the Kent State shootings. Though the music on their first album, My Poor Generation, was written between 1968 and 1972, it wasn't released until 1973 and was dedicated to the memories of Randy Markko and Tom Miller. "The totally essential Jesus rock album featuring some baroque chamber folk with harpsichord, strings, piano and woodwinds, some otherworldly smoky dream psych and some stripped-down electric boogie blues. This was an odd congregation that collectively created an atmosphere representing the best in what was once Jesus rock." Their second album, For Christians, Elves and Lovers (1976) combined evangelical theology and millennialism with admiration for the fantasy world of The