The Persuaders

Doug Kenny

None|, |Brian PatnodeNone|, |Terry TylerNone|, |Johnny KainsNone|, |Al SutphenNone
|Courtesy of Phil Griffin]]
The Persuaders were a local band popular in the 1960s.

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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 9, 1964

"The Persuaders": A New Sound in Town

By L. M. CHAMPAGNE

There is a new sound in town. Two songs, "[of Atlantis]" and "[Sunday]" are on a record that was made last month by a local group of musicians, who are called The Persuaders. Doug Kenny, 19, the leader of the group, worked with Alan Sutphen, 19, the saxaphone player, on the music for "Cry of Atlantis." Brian Patnode, at 15, the youngest member of the band, and Doug Kenny are the authors of the slower piece, "Stormy Sunday. "

Local radio stations in Plattsburgh and the Tri-Lakes area have been giving exposure to the record since its release. It is now in juke-boxes and is being sold in local stores. The five young men who play the pieces have hopes that their record will make a hit in the area and catch on around the state. Both sides have been played by WPTR in Albany by disc jockey Boom Boom Branigan. Rondack record company, who have a six month contract with The Persuaders, is handling distribution for the group.

The Persuaders have worked together as a unit for less than a year. There are three guitarists: Johnny Kains, 27, who plays bass, is married and works at the state hospital at Ray Brook; Brian Patnode, who plays rythm, is a junior in high school; and Doug Kenny, lead guitar, who has been playing a guitar for five years. All taught themselves to play the guitar. Twenty-year-old Lerry Tyler is the drummer. He played in the band while in high school. Alan Sutphin, the saxophone player, has been playing for seven years. All members of the band, except student Brian, are graduates of the local schools and live in this area.

Weekends the Persuaders play at "Brodie's", a restaurant in Plattsburgh where they draw a large crowd of college, air force, and local people. It was at Brodies that the name "The Persuaders" replaced their former title The Del Rays. As there were about five other North country bands using the name Del Ray, the boys decided to have a contest and award $10 for a new name. Nearly 400 suggestions were received and "The Persuaders" won.

The two original pieces that the Persuaders play on their first record combine beat and melody for a clean, appealing sound that is designed for popular dancing. The group class themselves as rock and roll, as they play all the popular music, including the many requests for the songs of the Beatles, another group who started in much the same way as Saranac Lake's ambitious new band.

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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 7, 2020

Bob Seidenstein

If you ain’t rockin’ it, don’t be knockin’ it

...The Persuaders were a quintet — Doug Kenny on lead guitar and vocals, Al Sutphen on sax and vocals, Brian Patnode on rhythm guitar, John Kains on bass and Terry Tyler on drums — and they rocked the house … EVERY house. Not only were they the tight, skilled and dynamic rock and roll group you had to love, they LOOKED the part as well, in slick lapel-less suits with pegged pants and pointed shoes.

For a four-hour gig, they were paid a hundred bucks, which sounds like peanuts, but it’s not. Catch this: They gigged seven nights a week, so each guy made $140 a week, which at the time was more than any of their fathers made. Peanuts, indeed.

My favorite place to see them was in the K of C hall (now the Elks Club) every Thursday during the summer of ’64. It was also their favorite place to play, since hundreds of us paid a buck apiece to get in, making it the band’s most lucrative venue. The joint was jammed to the rafters with kids from all the Tri-Lakes, every one of them having a ball.

My favorite song by them was the Gerry and the Pacemakers classic, “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying.” If there was ever a better song to close a dance, and a better band to play it, I never heard it.

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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 24, 1964

21-Year-Old Musician Killed in Auto Crash

Saranac Lake was saddened by the death of popular 21-year-old Terry Lee Tyler of 15 Riverside Drive early Sunday. The musician was returning from a Plattsburgh engagement when his car struck a tree about 1:45 a. m. on Route 3, 400 feet west of the Farrell Road intersection. Wet road conditions were presumed partly responsible.

The vehicle, a 1961 Plymouth station wagon, left the right side of the road on a gradual right curve, travelled about 180 feet and struck a tree. He was alone. Cadyville state police received word of the accident from James Toolan who called from Redford after discovering the partly demolished auto.

State Police in turn summoned the Dannemora Rescue Squad to the scene and Tyler was extricated from the wreckage and rushed by ambulance to the Physician's Hospital in Plattsburgh where he died at 5:30 a. m.

Dr. Dana A. Weeks, coroner, said an inquest would be scheduled. Mr. Tyler was a drummer in "The Persuaders," a popular dance band which had filled engagements in Plattsburgh for a year and a half at Brodies Restaurant near the Air Base.

The Clinton County engagement was the last of the season for the five-piece combo which had skyrocketed to North Country fame over the past year.

Other members of the group were said to have stayed in Plattsburgh after the long hours of playing rather than drive back to Saranac Lake in a tired condition.

Mr. Tyler was a native of Saranac Lake , the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Tyler of 21 William Street. He was a graduate of the class of 1961 Saranac Lake High School, and an Eagle Scout. He had been an Adirondack Enterprise newsboy and had worked in the paper's mailing department. Surviving are his wife, Susan, and three children, his parents and two sisters, (see obituary page)

He had been employed by Currier Press in Saranac Lake for three-and-a-half years and was to have started a new job with Nadon Atlantic Service Station today. He was a member of the Saranac Lake Fire Department Rescue Squad and a former diver in the Scuba underwater unit.

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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 23, 1965

TOWN BOARD TALKS ABOUT HALL USE

Meeting in regular session Thursday evening, the Harrietstown Town Board discussed a number of items, none of them more than routine matters.

In discussing a request by a band, the Persuaders, for rental of the Town Hall each Thursday night, board members expressed a desire to sponsor band concerts or some other form of entertainment for tourists.

Supervisor William Mansion pointed out to the board that rental of the hall would involve janitorial service, a lavatory matron, and the duties of fire police. Ray LaRose said he thought the hall should not be "tied up" every Thursday by a band, if the Teen's Canteen used it every Tuesday and Friday during the summer. He said such an arrangement would leave the board little flexibility in allowing the hall to be used by civic group.

The board agreed to postpone decision on the request, They also wanted to investigate the possibility of bands concerts by Stonegate Camp or some other group...