Listening to this doo wop oldie by The Plants, it’s easy to be transported to a street corner in The Bronx in the early 1950s.

In fact they came from 200 miles further south in Maryland and did not make their debut until 1957 – though they recorded it for New York’s J&S Records, one of the few female-owned labels.

The barrelhouse piano, unusual for a barbershop quartet in New York at the time, makes it sound like it comes from an earlier time and place – perhaps Chicago, where the blues influence was understandably stronger as the genre evolved and mutated into R&B.

Originally called The Equadors, the group was formed in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1955, by George Jackson (lead), Steve McDowell (first tenor), James Lawson (baritone) and Thuman Thrower (bass).

They got their break after gatecrashing the backstage area at a concert by The Moonglows to perform for J&S Records owner Zell Sanders. Suitably impressed by their nerve, as well as their talent, she signed them on the spot, became their manager – and changed their name to The Plants.

They released their debut single, Dear I Swear – this song, It’s You, is the B-side – late in 1957, followed by From Me, but never achieved success outside their local area and split up the following year.

Undaunted, Sanders assembled a completely new line-up under the same name, who recorded I Searched the Seven Seas / I Took A Trip Way Over The Sea, without any of the original Plants.

Meanwhile Jackson (no relation of the Southern soul singer of the same name who penned hits for Candi Staton, Wilson Pickett, Bob Seger and The Osmonds) struck out on his own, releasing Watching The Rainbow in 1962 with a backing group called The Unisons (who were actually Sonny [Hatchett] and the Dukes).

In 1966 he had some local success in Baltimore with When I Stop Lovin’ You, backed by the Jive Five, but his solo career never really took off.