Damon Interview | The Story Behind His Rare Psychedelic LP ‘Song of a Gypsy’

Damon talks about his privately pressed 1968 album ‘Song of a Gypsy’, guitarist Charlie Carey, his years on the California music scene and the unusual life that led to the record.

David Carlton Del Conte, better known as Damon, was born in Rochester, New York, in 1940 and moved to Southern California with his family in 1948. He started out playing clarinet and saxophone at school before finding work as a singer. During the early ’60s, he performed in clubs around Los Angeles, moving between rock, jazz, blues and lounge music. He also recorded a number of singles, including ‘The Lonely Surfer’, which he recalled making with The Crossfires, the surf group that later became The Turtles.

By the late ’60s, Damon had grown tired of singing other people’s material. He began writing his own songs and developed what he called ‘Gypsy Rock’, bringing together his love of different musical styles. With guitarist Charlie Carey and a small group of musicians from the Los Angeles scene, he recorded ‘Song of a Gypsy’, released privately on his Ankh label in 1968.

The album received little attention at the time, but gradually became one of the most sought-after American psychedelic records. Original copies, issued in black gatefold and white sleeves, have sold for thousands of dollars. Its mixture of blues, Eastern influences, unusual percussion and Charlie Carey’s guitar playing gives the music a character of its own.

Damon went through difficult years after making the album, struggling with heroin addiction before becoming a Christian in 1979. He later returned to recording, releasing ‘Gypsy Eyes’ in 1999. In 2013, Now-Again Records issued an expanded edition of ‘Song of a Gypsy’, including his earlier singles, demos and a substantial collection of photographs and memorabilia.

I interviewed Damon that same year. He spoke about growing up in California, making a living as a singer, the musicians behind ‘Song of a Gypsy’ and what happened after its release. Damon passed away in June 2016, aged 75. Guerssen Records issued a new vinyl edition of the album in 2026.

“I needed to do my own music. That’s what brought me to ‘Gypsy Rock’ music. It was mine.”

You were born David Carlton Del Conte in Rochester, New York, but your family moved to California when you were still young. What do you remember about your childhood and growing up in all those different places?

I was born David Carlton Del Conte in Rochester, N.Y., in 1940. The Del Conte family lived in a two-story home, where the lower part of the house was Del Conte’s Beauty Parlor, and the upper floor was our home. Our family moved a few times while in Rochester, then moved to Southern California in 1948 and lived in several different cities – Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Alhambra, Westchester, Inglewood, Morningside Park, and more. This caused me to go to several different grade schools, and each new school taught me how to learn to get along with others (somewhat).

I was always ‘the new kid’, a bit of an outcast – I had no choice. Our whole family moved a lot. Even then I felt like a gypsy. It wasn’t till years later that I found out I come from a Viking, Italian, Romano Gypsy heritage.

Perhaps the first big change in my life was at around 15 years old. During high school summer break, while preparing for the move from sophomore to junior (10th–11th grade), I grew 6 inches in height to 6 feet tall and filled out to the point where I was no longer bullied. I got tough. Out of necessity (as well as a little payback), I got tough.

How did you first get interested in playing music?

In the 7th grade I heard a sax player named Earl Bostic on a song called ‘Danube Waves’. I spoke to a music teacher and he suggested I start with the clarinet because of the size. Same instrument as a sax, just smaller. By high school I was playing clarinet in marching band and sax in school orchestra. I got pretty good. I became first chair in the reed section. Our high school band was very good.

What were your teenage years like in California during the 1950s? Were you already travelling quite a bit?

My teenage years were the ’50s. On weekdays I went surfing, and weekends I used to go to the coffee houses to ‘dig on the beatniks, man. Too cool.’ Jazz, poetry and finger snappin’. Pot, puff, smoke, whatever – I was a teenage bum.

Did I travel much then? Then and now – always. Several states in the USA and many other countries.

The ’60s… Beatniks became ‘hippies’. I was in my late 20s and early 30s during the Haight-Ashbury era. Actually, I wasn’t a hippie. Never. Some were very nice and others weren’t. I just didn’t want to protest. At the time I liked America just the way it was. Not anymore. I feel sorry for the younger generation.

Anyway, somewhere in the 1960s I had become a junkie. Strung out on heroin, used LSD often, and was bailed out of jail a lot. In 1979 I gave my life to Jesus. I did what He told me to do – START OVER!!!

Before ‘Song of a Gypsy’, you released several singles on your Del Con label, including ‘I Wonder Why’, ‘Lovin’ Man’ and ‘They Call Me a Fool’. How did those early recordings come about, and what was your life like as a working singer at the time?

Yes, I recorded those songs. Being a pretty good club singer, having a nice following, several recording studio owners, engineers, or others would offer me free studio time.

My very first record was a song I wrote, ‘The Lonely Surfer’, recorded around 1961. I heard about a band called The Crossfires who were playing weekends at the Hermosa Biltmore Hotel. I went to see them. They were a surf band and could really play. There were five of them. I paid them $20 each to back me on my surf record. They eventually became The Turtles.

In the early ’60s, I was playing lots of clubs – mostly as just a singer. No instruments, just my voice. Over that decade I had a three- or four-piece combo. I was the frontman. I’d sing in various languages, doing all kinds of music from blues to boogie, jazz to rock, and even did some comedy.

Here’s how it worked – the band would play for approximately 15 minutes. I would go up and sing for about half an hour. The band would take a break while I was on stage for the next 15 minutes to talk, tell stories, jokes, whatever.

It was lots of fun, but in time I realized that I was becoming a ‘lounge lizard’ and I didn’t want to end up that way in my ‘later years’.

Well, it’s now my later years (I’m 72) and I never became a ‘star’. I accomplished a whole lot and shared my music with people all over the world who have been touched by it. Believe it or not, my CDs are still selling. Not a lot, but very steady. I’m getting small orders every week. I’m amazed.

As far as everything else, you are right. From Yalta to Sweden, Argentina, Lithuania, Spain, Chile, Ukraine, Amsterdam, several islands in the Caribbean, and more.

Where did you record ‘Song of a Gypsy’, and what were the songs about?

I recorded ‘Song of a Gypsy’ at Western Recorders in Hollywood. I recorded the next nine songs on the album at Hollywood Sound Recorders. I pressed it at a shop in El Segundo, California, but I can’t remember the name of the place.

The songs were about my life as it was at the time.

You worked in rock, jazz and lounge music before becoming a travelling folk singer. What made you leave the club circuit and concentrate on your own songs?

I began singing in a rock band. I soon moved into Top 40. Eventually I became a jazz singer. I then moved on to become a lounge singer. I actually enjoyed that. I could do show tunes, songs in other languages, ballads, and light rock. It was fun.

Pretty soon I realized that I had to be more ME, and then became a folk singer. I also filled in as a rhythm guitar player with several other bands when they were short a guitar player. These were one or two nights at a time. At the time I would take whatever I could.

There was only one job I quit after one night. It was a topless, bottomless club in Hollywood. To be honest with you, it was gross seeing those women spreading their legs for the audience. I sang mostly in Southern California until around 1967, when I began traveling as a gypsy folk singer.

As I just said, I enjoyed being a lounge singer, doing show tunes, ballads, foreign-language songs, and oldies. It was the easiest, but I saw no future in it. Singing other people’s songs left me a bit empty. I needed to do my own music. That’s what brought me to ‘Gypsy Rock’ music. It was mine.

What was your day-to-day life like around that time? Did you have somewhere permanent to live, or were you mostly on the road?

I had a little place that had been a storage shed that I made into a little crash pad. It had a big room, a bedroom, and a bathroom with a shower in it. I also had a Chevy Suburban that had a mattress in back for traveling.

Charlie Carey’s guitar playing is such an important part of ‘Song of a Gypsy’. How did the two of you meet?

I was playing a club in L.A. and Don Preston was my regular guitar player. Don was one of the guitar players with the Shindogs on the TV show ‘Shindig!’. Every once in a while they would call him in to do a show and he always sent me someone to fill in for him.

One night Charlie showed up and said, ‘Howdy, I’m Charlie Carey and I’m filling in for Don Preston tonight.’ I handed him the chord charts of the show and he looked at me and said, ‘That’s OK. I won’t need them.’

He was right – he didn’t need them. He has a great ear.

Was ‘Song of a Gypsy’ something you and Charlie developed together, or had you already written the material before bringing him into the studio?

‘Song of a Gypsy’ was all mine. I wrote it and picked the best musicians I knew at the time to go into the studio with me. Charlie caught the vibe right away, and so did everyone else on the session.

How did you put the musicians together for the album? And did you have a particular idea of how you wanted the record to sound?

Charlie and I had become friends over the previous years. He had his own band and I had mine.

When I was offered a free recording session at Western Recorders in Hollywood, I got Charlie for lead guitar. I played my gypsy guitar (a five-string instrument that I sort of invented while in Big Sur, California).

I found Helena at a club called ‘The Fez’ and asked her and her dumbek player, Richard Barham, to play on the session. But at the time I didn’t have a regular band, so I had no drummer or bass player.

I forgot where I found Mike Pastora, the conga player, and I used him on drums – good conga player, but not a good drummer – but I remember how I got Atlee Yeager to play.

He was a friend of Charlie and he had his own trio playing at the Whisky a Go Go at the time. I couldn’t stand the guy. He had an enormous ego and he was a real jerk. But I have to admit he could really play the bass. Charlie convinced him to play. He played great.

My concept was to write what I was living. Song after song just came into my head.

The original album came in two versions, the black gatefold and the white sleeve. Why did you make both, and how many copies did you press? I’m also curious about the Ankh label and what that symbol meant to you.

The black one was expensive, but I felt the music was worth it. I pressed 500 black gatefold albums and 500 white ones because of the cost.

Yes, the Ankh was part of Egyptian history. The top half represented the circle of life, while the cross was beneath it to show that we could rise above any crosses we bore in life. It was also the sign of ‘Rah’, the sun god, worshipped in Egyptian culture.

Who was responsible for the cover artwork?

I met a girl named Betty McCarroll on Catalina Island. We hit it off and she drew the cover for me. She was a wonderful lady – gorgeous too.

I’d love to go through the songs on ‘Song of a Gypsy’ one by one. Could you tell me a little about what inspired each of them?

‘Song of a Gypsy’ – We all have times of darkness and despair.

‘Poor Poor Genie’ – This was about a real girl who had nowhere to run, so she ran with us.

‘Don’t You Feel Me’ – Just what the words say. You can feel someone you love even when you’re apart.

‘Did You Ever’ – Life brings many unexpected things.

‘Funky Funky Blues’ – Good blues cures all.

‘Do You’ – It’s all about dreaming.

‘The Night’ – It’s all about a night of love that brought me into manhood.

‘I Feel Your Love’ – Same thought as song number three – feeling love.

‘Birds Fly So High’ – Life can be what you make it.

‘Road of Life’ – My life experiences.

There were also singles featuring ‘Don’t You Feel Me’ backed with ‘Poor Poor Genie’, and ‘Song of a Gypsy’ with ‘Oh What a Good Boy Am I’. Were these pressed around the same time as the album? Do you remember how many copies were made?

All done at different times. I honestly can’t remember. It’s been over 50 years ago.

Did you perform much of the album material live with the musicians who played on the record? What do you remember about those shows?

Several concerts. Things have changed a lot, but locally ‘The Coach House’, ‘The Galaxy’, and several joints in San Fran – a big tour of Spain, and others.

What made you want to write songs in the first place? And how much of a role did psychedelic drugs play in the music you were making?

Need to connect with others.

Yes. Drugs, life, love, pain, pleasure, passion – all had a role in my music.

You’ve spoken very openly about your struggles with heroin. What happened in the years after ‘Song of a Gypsy’, and how did your life eventually change?

Heroin was my life throughout the ’70s, then Jesus took over in 1979 and life has been wonderful since.

You released ‘Gypsy Eyes’ in 1999 and were planning a third album. Was there a larger idea connecting all three records?

Yes. It is a concept. From being lost, to living life, and finally finding a home.

Are you still in touch with any of the musicians who played on ‘Song of a Gypsy’? And what have you been working on recently?

Only Helena. She is a special lady and a special friend. The rest either died or became self-centered. I hope I am Christ-centered.

I found two sisters, Hannah and Maia Currie, aged 13 and 15, who are gifted in music. I am currently recording them.

Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to our readers?

Yes. Don’t give up your dreams. My dream took 50 years to come true. Just be you.

Klemen Breznikar