The manager of the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center and his band from the 1970s will be inducted into the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame, formerly the Minnesota Rock and Roll and Country Music Hall of Fame, this weekend in Sherburn.

The band, Clutch and the Shifters, will join others, including Eddie Cochran, Bobby Vee and Bob Dylan, previously inducted.

Patrick Rasmussen, who is part of the band, said the Clutch and the Shifters was selected out of about 60 nominated rock bands.

“You could have knocked us over with a feather,” Rasmussen said of finding out about the induction. “We were more than surprised by it. We were happy to even be nominated.”

The band, which Rasmussen was a part of from 1973 through 1976, originated at Southwest Minnesota State University for a homecoming talent contest. During the contest, the band won the first-place prize of $50.

After the contest, the group was asked to play by a man who owned a bar and pizza business.

Rasmussen said at that point the band had only learned three songs for the talent contest, so they rehearsed for a few weeks and came up with material to do a four-hour show.

Band members at the start included theater, music and TV/radio majors: Gary Petersen of Fairmont, Isiah Whitlock of South Bend, Idaho, Jerry Lindberg of North St. Paul, Lee and Don Kanten of Ortonville, Joe Keyes of Pipestone, Keith Hocking of Ellsworth and Rasmussen, who was from Jackson at the time. Whitlock later left to concentrate on theater, and Chris Nolte of Fairmont joined the group.

Clutch and the Shifters formed their first rock concert in Marshall in the spring of 1974 at Liberty Park for an event on Mother’s Day called the Woodtick Festival of Peace, Love and Mothers.

The band dissolved for a short time that same year, and then in the fall decided to get back together.

Eventually, the band traveled in an old green 60-passenger school bus through the Midwest, out to Michigan, to the Atlantic Ocean in Florida and mountains of Colorado, said band member Lee Kanten in the release.

The band signed with Alpha Productions in Minneapolis and soon after shared billing with rock legends like Dion and Chubby Checker, the release said. Frankie Avalon and Joey Dee saw the group when they played in Orlando.

Rasmussen said the band is thrilled to grow from what was a little college band to a band with more popularity. The induction is “a great honor,” he said.

He said he hopes some of the group’s fans and others interested in hearing the band will show up to hear them play the night of the induction.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the I-90 Expo Center in Sherburn. Rasmussen estimated Clutch and the Shifters would go on stage around 9 p.m. They will play for about 45 minutes.

Also being inducted that night is Millie Kittelson and the Saddlepals.

Other performances include Marilyn Sellars with “One Day at a Time,” Tony Andreason of the Trashmen, the DC Drifters, and Doug Spartz and Phil Humphrey of the Fendermen.