J.D. Blackfoot was born Benjamin Franklin Van Dervort in Cleveland. The frontman for an Ohio band called the Ebb Tides (as Benny Van), he re-formed the group around his name in 1969 and recorded a single for Mercury called “Who’s Nuts Alfred.” The album, The Ultimate Prophecy, followed soon after, which is still prized in prog/psych circles. Blackfoot went on to record the mid-‘70s albums The Song of Crazy Horse and Southbound and Gone for Fantasy Records.

In 1988, he started a new company, Sisapa Records, which signed and recorded The Marshall Tucker Band, Paul Cotton (Poco), and Crazy Horse, as well as Blackfoot himself on the 1991 album Tokala (a sequel to The Song of Crazy Horse). Blackfoot continued releasing albums during the ‘90s and 2000s. In 2000, he issued Co-Dependent Dysfunctional You, and the career compilation Ultimate Years followed in 2002. Yellowhand appeared in 2005.