By 1967 Michael had found work as a songwriter at Good Sam Music, a publishing offshoot of Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss’ newly formed A&M records in Los Angeles.  Soon Tom arrived in L.A. in search of work and fate would take its course when he moved into a house around the corner from Michael.  Soon they began writing songs together, and Tom was also hired as staff writer for Good Sam Music.  Their early songs were recorded by Glen Yarborough, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Poor, Noel Harrison, and H.P. Lovecraft.

Even with a newly released album and mutual friends who were starting to make it big in Los Angeles in bands such as The Association, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield, Michael and Tom disliked L.A. and decided to move back to the Midwest.  They ended up settling in a farm-like hideaway just outside Kansas City, Missouri.  Tom Shipley described their decision to settle in Missouri as one of fortunate circumstance. "There was a music scene built up in Kansas City, and Michael and I used to come during Christmas and it was great. There would be clouds in the sky -- you don't see clouds in LA, just the haze. There was a significant period of time when we were essentially homeless. Then we set ourselves down with all these old friends to try and get a musical production company going."  

Once in Kansas City, Brewer & Shipley ended up on Kama Sutra Records after just one album on A&M, which is a story in itself.  "We really didn't care for L.A. very much," explained Michael.  "We had just had enough, and figured there had to be a better way to make music, without living there.  So we left California, and ended up coming back to the heartland. We ended up in Kansas City and started a management/production company with some friends, Good Karma Productions.

"At the time, it was just unheard of to not live in L.A., Nashville, or New York if you're actually in the business.  So the people at A&M pretty much thought that we'd just quit the business and gone home. But, of course, we hadn't.  We were just going back to what we'd originally done, which was traveling around and performing our songs for people. We got out of our contracts with no problem, 'cause they just assumed we'd quit the business.

"Our management went to the east coast to shop some labels. Buddah [of which Kama Sutra was a sister label] signed us, because [Buddah executive] Neil Bogart at the time was known as the king of bubblegum -- you know, [Buddah Records act] 1910 Fruitgum Company and all that stuff. He was trying to shatter that image, and looking for album artists. And that's what Tom and I were. We were never about singles. Every song on our albums was just as important as the next one. All of our albums, we meant to be whole packages."

"Weeds took on a life of its own; it kind of created sort of a hybrid music between our style and [the session musicians'] style." Brewer was also pleased with the album's country-rock accents: "Weeds, along with the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, were two of the first albums of the time to incorporate more of a country thing. We liked the sound of the pedal steel guitar played other than just a real twangy, hokey old-fashioned country...the instrument itself, we thought, could be incorporated into more of a folk-rock genre."

Their second Kama Sutra album Tarkio, boasted a similar sound to Weeds, again with the help of session players and Gravenites. The most celebrated guest appearance was by Jerry Garcia, who contributed pedal steel guitar. "Wally Heider's studio in San Francisco had a bunch of the Bay Area [musicians] in there every day," says Brewer. "It was like going into the office. The Dead was in there every day, or some offshoot of the Dead; the Airplane or offshoots were in there every day, Hot Tuna or whoever. We knew a lot of them from back in the folk days. I met Paul Kantner when he played banjo and had a flat-top haircut, so we went back a ways with some of these people. Jerry had just started playing pedal steel guitar. He came in one day, and we were working on some stuff. We said, 'Hey Jerry, we got a song here, would you like to play pedal steel?'  And he said, 'Sure."  So he set up his pedal steel and played on a song called 'Oh Mommy, I Ain't No Commie' -- the B-side to 'One Toke Over the Line.'" 

Of course “One Toke Over The Line” from Tarkio forever changed the dynamics for Brewer & Shipley.  From having a top-ten hit, to having it pulled from the airwaves and being labeled as subversive to America’s youth by Vice President Spiro Agnew, “One Toke” took Michael & Tom on quite a ride in 1971.  They made Nixon’s infamous Enemies List, which they still wear as a badge of honor even today.  While the duo of Nixon & Agnew faded in political disgrace, “One Toke” has lived on and become a classic rock anthem.  But Brewer & Shipley wrote the song tongue-firmly-in-cheek and never set out to create an icon to high culture.  Michael explained, "We had been songwriters for so long that it was just another song for us. It wasn't even one of our favorites," he adds a minute later. "We always thought our ballads were our better songs."

After the commercial success of Tarkio, Brewer & Shipley recorded two more albums for Kama Sutra, Shake Off The Demon, and Rural Space, that charted single hits with “Shake Off The Demon” and “Yankee Lady”.  Eventually, they moved to Capitol Records and recorded two albums ST-11261 and Welcome To Riddle Bridge in the mid-‘70s.  All these albums were well crafted with some standout songs, however none of them would come close to the commercial appeal of Tarkio.

"I never considered myself a hippie," commented Michael. "I was a young, married man paying taxes, working, pursuing a career. I wore the clothes of the time and had long hair -- back when I had hair -- but I never lived in a commune. I actually bathed and shaved."

Tom, however, had no problem with the label. "Back in the days when we were officially card-carrying hippies traveling cross-country and living out of our Volkswagen," he says, "I spent a lot of time on a Hopi reservation out in the middle of Arizona. But I did not take acid and go running naked through any of their pueblos. And I bathed."

Nevertheless, he is aware of the legacy and chalice they carry, laden with the fragrance of long ago.  "We were playing the Catskills a few years ago," he recalls, "and this beautiful girl comes gliding across the floor, just glowing.  She comes up to Michael and takes his hand and clutches it toward her chest.  'You guys,' she says, 'are the last of the hippies.  When you're gone there won't be any more.'"

But don't despair just yet, 40 years into their musical partnership, Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley are still writing, performing, and adding to the soundtrack of our lives.  You can tell them how much their music has meant to you by leaving a message on the message board on this website, which they monitor regularly.  If you would like to see them live, visit the Shows or Contacts pages on this site, for tour or booking information.