Exit

Side A - The Little Green Monster

Side B - One More Hour

Catalogue # SJ562

Posted in: Release Listings

Release Date: Monday September 15th 2025

Exit were a five-piece ensemble of journeymen musicians from the lone star state of Texas who came together in the early 1980’s to record a handful of popular local 45’s including two Football-mania songs. The groups line-up consisted of lead guitarist and vocalist Clennis High, rhythm guitarist Lonnie Jones, his brother Johnny K. Jones the groups keyboardist, bassist Frank Houston Jr and George Oliver on Drums.

Clennis High, a promising Football player with a flair for playing the guitar began his early musical career while attending Wheatley High school. In 1965 aged 17, Clennis entered Crazy Cajun, Huey P Meaux’s recording studio for his first ever session to play on what would be his first penned and published song “Strange Love” recorded by local Houston artist Eugene Gamble and released on Earl Feronberg’s highly collectable Feron label (Clennis and the older Eugene would remain lifelong friends). Further Crazy Cajon sessions for Barbara Lynn followed, before Clennis travelled to Sylvan Beach near Galveston Texas to play on sessions for Roy Head of hit recording “Treat Her Right” fame. An invitation by a neighborhood friend Willie James Parnell to play alongside a group of fellow students in a band called ‘The Drells’ soon followed. ‘The Drells’ had been founded by Archie Bell in 1966 pulling together his neighborhood friends James Wise, base singer Cornelius Fuller (who upon his High School graduation left the group prior to any recordings) Billy Butler, and the aforementioned Willie Parnell. Archie’s brother Lee Bell worked initially as the group’s road manager before after a few months on the road joining as a full-time singer, Lee was affectionally known as Bird Man. Later becoming ‘Archie Bell & The Drells’ the group signed for Skipper Lee Frazier’s Ovide label recording several sessions with occasional musical accompaniment by the ‘Texas Southern University Toronadoes’. The Drells scored a regional hit with “She’s My Woman”. A follow up release, which Skipper Lee had initially promoted for the “Dog Eat Dog” side, before being persuaded to push “Tighten Up” the quirky dance instruction song on the 45’s flipside. “Tighten Up” took off and became a local hit in Houston prompting Atlantic Records to pick it up for national distribution in April of 1968. “Tighten Up” topped both the Billboard R&B and Pop Charts by the summer of the same year, leading to The Drells recording three solo studio albums “Tighten Up”, “I Can’t Stop Dancing” and There’s Gonna Be A Showdown” under Gamble and Huff for Atlantic Records. Clennis being part of ‘The Drells’ new found fame brought his own academic studies to a temporary halt to enable him to travel the world with the group for the next two years or so, before quitting in 1971 to return home to Houston to complete the degree he had earlier started. It was around this time that Lucious Larkin whom the Drells had first met while performing on the same bill as The Impressions in Florida joined the group.

Once back in college he still needed to earn some money so Clennis began gigging with another High school friend Wilbert Freeman’s brothers band, Sonny Freeman & The Unusuals (who had been at one time part of ‘BB Kings Band), which led to them eventually working with Joe Tex as he promoted his 1976 hit “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)” before Sonny Freeman had to return home to Detroit causing the band to break up.

Unemployed again, Clennis began jobbing with several bands alongside another friend, a bad ass saxophone player, Jerald Grey. Clennis and Jerald worked for a while with Grady Gaines band the ‘Texas Upsetters’ who had previously been Little Richard’s touring band ‘The Upsetters’. After a while Jerald decided to put a small band of his own together. Jerald came up with a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter by the name of George Montgomery Oliver who acted predominately as the group’s drummer with Clennis being responsible for recruiting a bass player Frank Houston Jr (from another previous band that he had worked with). Frank was a very infrequent shaver and was thus nicknamed “Wolfman”. This newly formed ensemble performed as ‘The Reality Band’ (so called as Jerald had a thing about keeping things real). Occasionally ‘The Reality Band’ played with other groups with one group in particular (which Jerald Grey previously knew) being an outfit from Conroe, Texas (circa 40 miles north of Houston) called the ‘58 Engineers’, ‘The Engineers’ as they called themselves was founded by brothers Johnny and Lonnie Jones whose interest in music grew through singing in their Fathers church choir. Initially the brothers who both worked for the Union Pacific Railroad during the day formed a performing trio with a fellow musician Lonnie Pitts but over a period of time the band grew in size and Pitts moved on. The group was named ‘The 58 Engineers’ after the Army Unit that co-founder Johnny Jones served with during his time in the service. By 1973 the group had grown to 8 members with a line up consisting of Johnny Jones (Keyboards), Lonnie Jones (Rhythm Guitar), Johnny Lee (Lead Guitar), Ray Carter (Bass Guitar), Sylvester Washington (Drums), Napoleon Fisher (2nd Keyboards), Chester Taylor (Conga Drums) and Jocelyn Brown (Tambourine and lead vocals). All the group members contributed to the harmony parts with the sometime addition of band roadie Londell Carter. All the members were local to the Houston area. During the same year the group entered the studio to record the highly collectable and popular funk outing “The Funky Fly (Part1 & 2)” on their own Bryant Records label (Bryant being the Jones brother’s mother’s maiden name).

As members of the ‘58 Engineers’ moved on, the Jones brothers found themselves working with the aforementioned Jerald Grey’s ‘Reality Band’ when Jerald Grey too later moved on the remaining ‘Reality Band’ members Clennis, George and Wolfman (who by then having grown fond of the two “Country Brothers from Conroe” as they affectionally called the Jones brothers) made the decision to continue working with them, which led to the foundation of the group, Exit.

On another note, Clennis’s meeting with the Jones brothers was to have an even greater effect on his later personal life. The Jones brothers had a sister Mary who Clennis through shared values and interests enjoyed talking to with no romantic involvement at the time as both of them were married. Over time both Clennis and Mary divorced from their respective partners. Clennis would often meet Mary while visiting Johnny’s house on band business and eventually their romance blossomed. Clennis eventually asked Mary to marry him by performing a song he had written for her entitled “Do You Think You Can Do This” with his old friend Archie Bell also present at the performance acting as Clennis’s back singer!

During 1980 the recently formed Exit recorded the first of their two Football -mania songs entitled “The Houston Oilers Mania Song” (Part 1 & 2) which appeared firstly on their Byrant label credited as ‘The Engineers’. At this point Johnny and Lonnie decide on a rebranding of the group with a change of artist and label name that they hoped would resonate with Texans which led to “The Houston Oilers Mania Song” being released for a second time credited under the new performing artist name of ‘Exit’ on their new Dal-Tex label (both the Bryant and Dal-Tex releases share the same catalogue number, LS-451). Exit’s second Dal-Tex (105) release came in 1981 with the disco influenced song “Success” backed with the excellent ballad “One More Hour” both sides were penned by the Jones brothers and Clennis. “One More Hour” received considerable local radio play which led to Exit playing many dates in and around Texas and farther afield in Los Angeles.

Exit returned to the recording studio again in 1983 from which sessions came their third 45 single “You Got To Put Your Head Down” (Dal-Tex 106) once again a disco influenced dance song backed with yet another excellent ballad “The Little Green Monster”. The spoken intro on “The Little Green Monster” side is very reminiscent of the 58 Engineers earlier release “The Funky Fly” before the song leads into the subject matter of a grandmother’s warning of the perils of being all consumed by jealousy. The group’s fourth and final Dal-Tex release was a second attempt at a Football-mania song this time in support of The Dallas Cowboys, “Honeybee/Dallas Cowboys Mania Song” (Dal-Tex 106) which they reverted back to the recording artist name of the ‘Engineers’ on. Although credited on one side as “Honeybee” the 45 features the “Dallas Cowboys Mania Song as a part 1 & 2 with Honeybee being the name of the studio where the recording session was held, miscommunication between the studio engineer and pressing plant are thought to be to blame on that one?

Clennis sang lead on all of ‘Exit’s’ recordings with ‘Wolfman’ (who had similar vocal tones) joining him on the harmony parts.

Following the demise of Exit, Lonnie and Johnny Jones alongside their sister Mary and now brother- in-law Clennis moved away from secular music to become the ‘Gospel Engineers’ with the addition of Eddie Floyd Pierson who became their lead singer. Lonnie Jones later entered the ministry to become a Reverend (like his father before him), sadly Lonnie passed away in 2007. George Oliver continued with his day job of some 20 years as a courier for the Sunlife Corporation before he too in 1985 turned his back on secular music to become a licensed Bishop, founding 3 Churches and numerous religious committees and community projects in and around Houston before he too sadly passed away in 2003. The other group members lost contact with Frank “Wolfman” Houston Jr during the ensuing years and he too is believed to have passed, leaving Johnny and Clennis as the only surviving members of Exit. The 2025 variant of the ‘Gospel Engineers is now even more of a family affair, (the un-family related) Eddie Pierson remains alongside Clennis, Mary, Johnny and Johnny’s son Anthony.

One can only wonder if Superbowl success had been achieved by either team featured on ‘Exit’s Football-mania songs how things may have turned out differently, sadly these 45’s are now consigned to objects of their respective supporter’s memorabilia collections. Exit may now be gone but they are most certainly not forgotten, with their disco influenced sides “Success” and “You’ve Got To Put Your Head Down” finding favour with record collectors in Europe and their respective ballad sides “One More Hour” and more so “The Little Green Monster” now becoming highly regarded and sort after by sweet soul/lowrider connoisseurs alike. Both of these songs have been put back-to-back to feature on Soul Junction’s forthcoming September 45 release.

Words By: David Welding
With acknowledgements to: Clennis High and Johnny K. Jones Sr
Photograph courtesy of: Clennis High and Johnny K. Jones Sr