104.3, broadcasting from Radio Free Elsewhere. Your glitch in the airwaves.
The Night Owl EditionExtra
Brewer & Shipley
American folk rock duo
Brewer & Shipley were an American folk rock duo who enjoyed their peak success in the late 1960s through the 1970s. The duo consisted of singer-songwriters Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley.
They were known for their intricate guitar work, vocal harmonies, and socially conscious lyrics which reflected the concerns of their generation – especially the Vietnam War, and the struggles for personal and political freedom.
After graduating with a degree in geology from Baldwin Wallace College in 1963, Tom Shipley started playing the coffeehouse circuit. In Kent, Ohio, he met the Oklahoman Michael Brewer. They formed a duo and moved to Los Angeles in 1968, where they were quite unhappy. The title of their first album, Down in L.A., reflected their disaffection. It featured their demos and was released without their consent. Their next album was titled Weeds. Even though mutual friends in bands such as The Association and Buffalo Springfield lived in Los Angeles, they left California during 1969, returning to Kansas City, Missouri, where they made a meager living playing college towns. They derived the name of their next album, Tarkio, from a regular gig they...
American folk rock duo formed in 1967, consisting of Michael Brewer (died December 17, 2024) and Tom Shipley (died on Aug. 24, 2025).
Also known as: Brewer & Shipley, Brewer + Shipley, Brewer - Shipley, Brewer / Shipley, Brewer Shipley
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Brewer & Shipley, the records, oldest first
Down in L.A.
1968 album
Weeds
1969 album
Tarkio
1970 album
Shake Off the Demon
1971 album
Rural Space
1972 album
ST11261
1974 album
Welcome to Riddle Bridge
1975 album
Shanghai
1993 album
Heartland
1997 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"One Toke Over the Line" is a song written and performed by American folk rock duo Brewer & Shipley. It is a track from their 1970 LP Tarkio, and was released as their debut single in early 1971.
Background
Mike Brewer gives this account of the origin of the song, "One day we were pretty much stoned and all and Tom says, 'Man, I'm one toke over the line tonight.' I liked the way that sounded and so I wrote a song around it."
Cover versions
The song was performed in early 1971 by Gail Farrell and Dick Dale on The Lawrence Welk Show, which Brewer credited with giving the duo "more publicity than we could pay for." Welk described the song as a "modern spiritual" and later blamed his network ABC for forcing him to incorporate the song into the show, which would be a factor in his leaving the network that year.
