Geils was a vocalist and guitarist for The J. Geils Band, which he formed in Worcester, Mass., in 1967, when he was attending school at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The J. Geils Band produced minor hits throughout the ’70s (“Must of Got Lost,” “Give It to Me,” “One Last Kiss”), but the divine moments took place onstage.

In recent years, when the J. Geils Band played reunion shows, they tended to hold them just in Detroit and Boston; they were homecoming events, as opposed to large, revenue-generating tours.

The death this week of J. Geils Band co-founder and guitarist Jay Geils prompts a look back at the strange, between-worlds year of music in which the group cemented its legacy.

The band could write a country song so convincing it was covered by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris (“Cry One More Time”) and even came up with the first U.S. reggae hit (“Give It To Me”).

Peter Wolf, frontman from the J. Geils Band and a bona fide rock 'n' roll raconteur, has had Forrest Gump or Zelig type of life -- to the point where it's probably easier to list who he hasn't met ...