Bobby Dick and the Sundowners have been channeling the music of some of rock ‘n’ roll’s best artists to audiences throughout the Northeast for more than 25 years.

However, before becoming known as the “the Cover Band’s Cover Band” they were a group of pop/rockers in the 1960s known as the Sundowners who were on the cusp of stardom playing with some of the era’s biggest acts and appearing in Tiger Beat magazine, television shows and motion pictures.

The band started playing in Glens Falls, New York during the late 1950s after they were kicked out of the club scene in New York City for being underage. During that time they got their first break by getting the opportunity to open for the Rolling Stones at the Palace Theater in Albany, NY.

In 1966, they eventually made their way out to Los Angeles, California with hopes of making it big. In 1967, while playing a show at the Sunset Strip night club Ciro’s, the band was noticed by Michael Nesmith of the Monkees. Impressed by their performance he asked them to be the group’s opening act during their summer concert tour (the tour’s openers also included Jimi Hendrix and Ike & Tina Turner).

In 1968, the band signed with Decca Records and produced their only album “Captain Nemo,” which had a small cult following, but failed to sell well to mainstream audiences. Nonetheless, the band was able to garner a host of guest appearances on television and motion pictures. In February, they guest starred as “The Raspberry Wristwatch” on an episode of “It Takes a Thief.” In September, they appeared as “Sonny and the Sundowners” on an episode of the Flying Nun. The band can also be heard in the film “Don’t Make Waves,” which starred Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale and Sharon Tate.

The band eventually broke up, but was reunited in 1981 by Dick. They are now billed as “The Cover Band’s Cover Band” and have played more than 10,000 gigs, including developing a repertoire of music that ranges from Tony Bennett to Dave Matthews. I sat down with Dick to talk about how the band got started, their experiences of opening up for some of music’s biggest acts and how the band has evolved into one of the Northeast’s best-known cover bands.

How did you and your band get started?

I grew up in Brooklyn during the doo-wop era singing in the subways because they had such a great echo system. I was always into the doo-wop bands, but then Elvis came along and totally changed how I looked at music. At that time I didn’t play, I just sang, and I eventually won a talent show and met this band who said we need a singer and I said good because I need a band and we started playing high school dances together. Since we were so good at such a young age, we started playing the Café Wha, the Copa Cabana and The Peppermint Lounge, which were the hot spots in New York City at the time and then we started opening for doo-wop bands like Dion and The Ronettes. We eventually got reported to the liquor authority for being too young, so we got thrown out of the clubs down in New York City and that’s how we ended up in Glens Falls.

You toured with the Monkees in 1967. What was that experience like?

Looking back now, while it was great, it probably led to the demise of the Sundowners because at that time we didn’t have the big hit record like those bands did, so it was hard going from playing stadiums with 10 to 15 thousand people back to local clubs, where some seedy club owner is saying hey you’re five minutes over your limit — that’s tough and it eventually led to our break-up…We almost would have been better off not having done the tour because it would have kept our heads on straight.

How has the band changed since then?

Well, after the tour we had a chance to go to Vegas where they were going to build a show around us where we covered all these different artists, but instead we decided not to do it and eventually we broke up. After our break-up I ended up starting my own solo act for awhile and then in 1980 I was going around and hearing what bands were like and thought I was better than that 20 years ago, so I started the band back up and we haven’t missed a weekend of work in almost 30 years.

How do you choose what songs you are going to learn?

Everybody fills a niche and our niche is corporate gigs and weddings—that’s what pays the bills. We don’t have day jobs, so when you don’t have a day job you have to turn it into a business, it’s not a question of selling out it’s a question of getting in at four in the morning and having to go to a job and not being able to function that well. We are basically a ski lodge band that own a tuxedo, so when we get together to rehearse we don’t know if we are going to rehearse a new new tune or a new old tune, but if you look at our repertoire, we do everything from the Grateful Dead to Garth Brooks, Elvis to Phish, and everything in between. I could go on and on, but the difference in our band is some groups try to jump on the corporate band wagon and they do oldies because it’s the hip thing to do, or they try to do new things and they sound like an oldies band trying to be new and some of the new bands try to be old and they don’t do it well. We were there, so we still do it very well, plus we still have some great musicians with us. Sometimes we have to be picky about what songs we do because there are only four of us and it can be hard to recreate a band that has a lot more going on within it.

Is there any one song that you would consider the most requested?

Not really, but we force the Beatles on them. We do a Beatles medley, which was recorded by a cover band called Stars on 45 and people like it and expect us to do it because not many people cover the Beatles anymore. We usually don’t write out set lists, instead we just wing it because we are good at reading a crowd and since we have such a diversity of material, we have the ability to switch gears when needed…We usually ask people what they don’t want instead of what they do want.

What sets Bobby Dick and the Sundowners apart from other cover bands?

I think execution and energy is really important. I am surprised when I go out and hear other cover bands and they do the same songs we do and they just don’t understand that even if it is not going to be a magical night you have to suck it up and put out a good product. The only time that we do not put out 100 percent is if we are sick and we can’t sing, because we are singers and singing is very important to us, so we are very cognizant of being healthy, but that’s the difference, we are constantly putting out a good product and we are all about never giving up.

Who have been your biggest influences musically?

I would say Elvis and the Beatles. Elvis because people don’t appreciate that he could sing anything. They bust on his personal life, but no one seems to concentrate on his diversity as a musician. The same thing goes for the Beatles - they were a band that could do almost anything. One minute they are doing “Baby You Can Drive My Car” and “Tax Man” and the next minute they are doing “Act Naturally” and that diversity is very impressive to me.

What is your most memorable show?

I would have to say playing at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angles, California with the Monkees. The venue is literally carved into a canyon and its been there so long that the ivy and the foliage has grown around it, so it feels like you’re playing in a stadium made by God and you sort of are because it is built into the canyon. Plus like all outdoor venues, when you have that special night where the weather is just perfect, there is nothing else like it.

What is your secret to such a long career in music?

We have become the total opposite of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll because today I am at the stage where the first thing that will go is my voice. Often times singers lose their voices because they don’t get the proper rest. Lack of sleep creates most physical breakdowns, so today I am a big napper and I don’t do drugs. I can also be a bit of a hypochondriac because I can’t get sick before a gig because I can’t call up the bride the night before the wedding and tell her that I don’t feel good and I won’t be there — the show must go on might be an old cliché, but it’s true. We also don’t take ourselves too seriously, we take the business seriously, but we know what our job is and that is to create as much fun as possible and still produce great music.

You can learn more about Bobby Dick and the Sundowners at: www.bobbydick.com