While broken down on the side of a road near Chuckatuck, Virgina Alvin Blount heard singing coming from a run down shack at the end of a dusty driveway. Practicing inside on cardboard boxes and cheap guitars were the Townsend brothers, Jake, Ricky, and Jack, and two cousins. Eventually, all six brothers would join the group, though none of their five sisters would take the Janet or Latoya path. Led by bassist Jack, and named so for his eldest status, Jack & the Mods real talent lay with nine-year-old brother Jake. Nowhere on this collection will you find the level of control exhibited on “One Is Enough For One,” and outside of Michael, there are very few in the entire genre that rival Jake Townsend’s vocal prowess. Alvin Blount unhesitatingly took the group under his wing, supplying them with a real drum kit, apparel, and the financial means to record and release a single. He set up performances all over the region, and even had the Mods booked at the Apollo, but the group got lost on the way to New York. The break they needed always seemed to be just out of reach. When Blount was transferred to a military base outside of Virginia, the group was left in the charge of a friend, who passed it on to another friend, who died. He returned three years later to find their once new equipment piled in the corner of the shack collecting dust. Perhaps the Townsend’s ambition for stardom went out with their youth, but Alvin Blount had placed that hunger in them. He packed up more than a drum kit that day; he packed up an entire pipe dream. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.