Real name: Ken Johnson, Dennis Payne, Leo LeBlanc

Effective period / Period of releases: 1969

Members: Leo LeBlanc, Dennis Payne, Kenneth Johnson (12)

The California Poppy Pickers were one of several relatively anonymous studio projects assembled by Alshire label head Al Sherman to record budget-priced copycat LPs of '60's pop hits. They were helmed by producer and songwriter Gary Paxton, best-known for composing the novelty smash "The Monster Mash." In 1965, Paxton founded his own Hollywood recording studio, and by the late 1960s, Paxton was regularly licensing material to Alshire, and at Sherman's request, he put together the California Poppy Pickers to capitalize on the growing country-rock trend. Comprised of singers/multi-instrumentalists Kenneth Johnson and Dennis Payne, along with pedal steel guitarist Leo LeBlanc, the group released three 1969 LPs -- Sounds of '69, Hair/Aquarius, and Today's Chart Busters comprised primarily of covers and thinly-veiled rewrites.

For reasons unknown, the fourth and final California Poppy Pickers album, The California Poppy Pickers - Honky Tonk Women, was recorded without Paxton's involvement, and featured an entirely different lineup -- singer/guitarist Mike Messer, singer/bassist Don Larson, guitarist Randy Wilcox, and drummer Tom Slipp were, in reality, a Christian rock band called the Wilson McKinley, and they used the proceeds from their lone Alshire date to fund a self-released 1970 date titled Jesus People's Army: On Stage.

A selection of their output is also available via disc 2 of the Various - I Said, She Said, Ah Cid - The Exploito Psych World Of Alshire Records 1967-71 3CD.