Mackinaw Vinyl Record Albums

I gave her the ring (and she gave me the finger) was written by Gary "Crow" Caroll and performed and recorded by his band, Mackinaw. They were a country band in the late 70's early 80's named after the small town in Central Illinois (Mackinaw, which was also the name of a small nearby river) about 20 minutes from Peoria. Crow Carroll took a humorous approach to performing on stage, which carried over to his song writing. Carroll copyrighted I gave her the ring (and she gave me the finger) with BMI in 1980 just before Mackinaw recorded it for their "Legends in Their Spare Time" album that was released in 1981. John Hartford, a legend amongst the country pickers in Central Illinois was a major influence on Mackinaw at the time. When Crow Carroll had the gumption to ask him to play on the song, Hartford agreed to take the time outta his busy schedule and lay down some fiddle. Mackinaw converted one abandoned van to house a 4 track recording rig and another conversion van as a remote sound booth. During the recording Hartford had to improvise by sitting cross legged on the floor of the van because he kept hitting the roof with his bow. This was only the second time Hartford ever played on an album other than his own. He played a track for James Taylor a few years prior, charging Taylor $2000 for his services. But when Crow asked him to play on Mackinaw's album, Hartford agreed to play for union scale ($108) because he liked Carroll, liked the tune, and had a hell of a lot of fun with the band.