#49: A Nice Young Girl From Houston by Stu Mitchell

City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: December 1970
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “A Nice Girl From Houston”

Neville Stuart Mitchell was born in Saskatchewan in 1942. In his teens he played for a Saskatchewan band called the T-Birds. He learned how to play the drums and moved to Edmonton. It was there Mitchell joined Wes Dakus’ Rebels in 1960. With Wes Dakus, Mitchell was in the recording studio for “Cavalier Twist” in 1962, “Dog Food” in 1963,”Sour Biscuits” in 1964, and “Manipulator” in 1967, among others. In 1965, Stu Mitchell and Doug Roberts released “Wildcat”, which was a non-charting Capitol Records single. In 1966, Mitchell released a solo cover of the mid-50s R&B tune “Bo Diddley”. In 1966, Stu Mitchell and Doug Roberts recorded a duet titled “Say I Am” which charted in Edmonton.  In 1967, Mitchell was in the recording studio while Wes Dakus and his band backed Barry Allen for his local Top Ten hit “Armful of Teddy Bears”.

Stu Mitchell on drums in photo with Wes Dakus’ Rebels (1963)
with Barry Allen (middle-R) and Bob Clarke (right)

By 1966, Stu Mitchell was also part of a band called The Preachers. He wrote a song titled “Thoughts Of You” which the band recorded as a single.

In 1967, Stu Mitchell, with Wes Dakus’ Rebels, released a single on the Kapp Record label titled “Acid“. The psychedelic rock single was too arty to be able to capitalize on the psychedelic rock interest at the time. However, the lyrics had the singer confess “I live in a house on Nowhere Street in a town called L.S.D.” That year Mitchell wrote a song titled “I Think I’ll Catch A Bus (And Go Back Home)” which was recorded by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, and later the Gainsborough Gallery.

In 1968, Mitchell was back in the recording studio with Wes Dakus’ Rebels for “Casting My Spell”. In 1970, he released a solo single titled “A Nice Girl From Houston”.

Stu Mitchell wrote “A Nice Young Girl From Houston”. He played all of the instrumentation himself. The single so impressed Billboard Magazine that they named it Top New Song of the Month.

“A Nice Young Girl From Houston” concerns a young woman from Houston in a relationship with a man who worked himself to the bone and died at age 22. She subsequently gave birth to a “child without a name.” The singer tells us “times are hard and there’s a hungry mouth to feed.” The tale the song relates reminds us that life is a risk. The couple get married and a child is on the way, and then her husband dies suddenly at the young age of twenty-two. What may have been perceived as a charmed life quickly became a tragic life. And she is walking the streets. Where is her extended family? Her isolation – despite now being a single mother with a young infant – suggests her relationship with the young man who died at 22 was not supported by either her family or his. (Or she lives far away from family and they don’t have the means to help her…).

“A Nice Girl From Houston” peaked at #8 in Edmonton.

Mitchell’s followup single, “We Once Had It All”, failed to chart.

In the early 70s, Stu Mitchell joined Privilege, and played drums on all the tracks for their 1974 album Enjoy. He also wrote songs that were recorded by The Feeling, Ron Jeffery, R. Harlan Smith, Bill Bourne, Long John Baldry, and many others.

The Edmonton Journal reports that “In the early ‘80s, Stu was contracted to anchor the house band for a live music show on CFRN called Sun Country, which was hosted by Ian Tyson…. when word got out about the quality of musicianship on the show, singer-songwriters like Guy Clarke, Emmylou Harris, Townes Van Zandt and Chris Hillman (of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers) were more than happy to appear on it.”

In later years, Stu Mitchell got some gigs on cruise ships, as well as fielding requests to play as a backing musician for other groups coming through Edmonton.

Stu Mitchell died at the age of 79 in 2022.

March 8, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Tom Murray, “Life and Times: In-demand drummer, multi-instrumentalist Stu Mitchell made a mark,” Edmonton Journal, September 30, 2022.
“Stu Mitchell,” Discogs.com.