It wasn’t until 1970 that Solo stumbled onto anything resembling a hit. Sam & Dave acolytes Theron Gafford and Darrell Buckner had been performing since high school with guitarist Earl Starks and bassist Valjean Littlejohn as the Metallics before joining up with area big shots Willie Wright & the VIPs on their traveling revue. After a few hard months on the road, the seasoned duo Theron & Darrell followed in Dick and John Smart’s footsteps and returned home. Reuniting with Starks and Littlejohn, with Charles Beans on drums and a fluctuating horn section, they would jokingly call themselves the Jr. Smarts. The elder band was only too happy to mentor them, calling on them to fill in at the Palace when the Smarts toured. Their trajectory toward Solo was locked in. Crafted in the downtime between out-of-town gigs, “I Was Made To Love Her” finds Darrell Buckner—a woodworker himself—getting literal with his lyrics. “A screwdriver was made to screw screws, a toolbox for a carpenter to use” was all local jocks needed to hear to add the 45 to their rotations. Smart’s Music City sold out the single more than once, but a lack of distribution capped the sales at whatever could be sold hand-to-hand from the stage or out of that one record shop. At the peak of their Wichita prominence, the group inked a deal with Isaac Hayes shortly before Stax went bankrupt. Theron & Darrell were left in the lurch, waiting outside the Memphis studio every day for someone to clue them in. After a few more tough years on the road, Theron developed inexplicable mental problems and was institutionalized. A few months later he returned, claiming a clean bill of health, but he had no clothes, no money, and no place to live. After his erratic behavior reemerged, it was discovered that he had escaped the institution and was being sought as a fugitive. He would never perform again. Darrell Buckner forged ahead as a solo act, but instead of watching disco’s demolition from the sidelines, he transitioned with the times into a club DJ.