Seventies soft rockers the Pousette-Dart Band mined the same musical territory as acts like the Eagles, James Taylor, and Orleans, but despite arena tours and major-label releases they were unable to gain the same widespread audience as those groups. During the second half of the '70s, the Pousette-Dart Band made four albums for Capitol Records and then called it quits. (Nashville veteran Norbert Putnam produced three of the albums.) Singer/guitarist John Pousette-Dart founded and fronted the group. At 13, he had played in a band with Soupy Sales' kids Tony and Hunt Sales, who years later would become members of David Bowie's Tin Machine. The Pousette-Dart Band started out as an acoustic combo (with John Troy and John Curtis) on the Northeastern coffeehouse circuit. Manager Don Law discovered them opening for John Hammond on Nantucket. In 1974, now a full-fledged rock band, they signed a multi-album deal with Capitol Records. The group toured incessantly throughout the 1970s, drawing on pop, folk, country, and blues styles. In 1980, however, they found themselves without a record deal and splintered. John Pousette-Dart returned with the album Ready to Fly in 1998. He followed that with Sample This in 2002. ~ Erik Hage