Chris Hillman (L) and Gram Parsons of The Flying Burrito Brothers
Through a fortuitous set of circumstances, this morning I happened upon a 2007 BBC documentary called, Hotel California: From The Byrds To The Eagles. While the title was promising and the documentary well-made, it covered the SoCal folk scene I’ve never much cared for (Neil Young excepted), it seemed to talk around, rather than about The Byrds (despite the titular high-five), and well, the less said about The Eagles the better. However, in a brief sequence midway through the film, there’s a discussion about the rise of the SoCal country-rock scene and I was damn near shocked that it mentioned so many principals from last week’s Clarence White post — though Clarence himself is conspicuous by his absence. Therefore, without further ado, here’s the Beeb’s take on LA’s country-rock origins, pretty much concurrent with where we’re at in the Clarence Chronicles. Enjoy.
From The Byrds To The Eagles (Part 5 of 7)
http://youtu.be/wF4P5SM_m1s&start=435&w=560
Interesting. Though I would have to say, contrary to the BBC, that Clarence is definitely the country-rock figure who “has been overlooked the most.” (And he’s not a girl.)
The fact that White’s name doesn’t come up–especially in the Leadon interview–shows the value of your amazing Clarence White series.
It’s blogs like this that get the word out. Keep up the GREAT work!
wow they are really a hit.
You KNOW I love this. I got to see almost everyone of these guys at one time or another back then doing that 'country-rock' as we called it then. Bluegrass and folk had an older more Pete Seeger-ish style that said hand knit sweaters and brown rice while most of us that were getting into country back in 1969-1972 were drinking beer & whiskey and eating late night diner food (if we bothered eating). Aboutvthe only thing we had in common with the 'older' acoustic crowd was they IGHT smoke some weed here and there and listen to some cool 78s.
Seeing all those names mentioned at clubs like the Electric Factory in Philly or the Main Point in Bryn Mar or the Red Creek in Rochester and various concerts in NYC, Allentown, Philly, Syracuse, Buffalo and Ithaca (the last five being often jump-off points for tours out of NYC) was heady stuff. I also had a friend who did sound for Bonnie, Jackson and Little feat among others so I got to see a lot of the bcakstage shenanigans and of course it led me to want to work in the field which I did for far too long or short a time, depending on your point of view.
The music was so good and we knew it and those of us who didn't rise up the ladder played it for what it was worth at a local level, playing those obscure LP cuts and digging in the same direction as we saw our 'heroes' doing it and getting pissed when Ronstadt or Tom Rush or some major label signing covered the same song we were doing on their next LP (but also feeling vindicated that we had similar good taste.)
After the initial bloom had died (goodbye Gram) we dug deeper into the honky tonk pile and puddles and re-found our Rockabilly , Blues, Deep Soul & Country roots…by the next time it came around as 'Cowpunk' we were almost ready, though strill a little unsure. We knew we were steeped in a strong tradition but it took the Alt.Country wave to show us we had arrived as elder statesmen. Suddenly knowuing 10 Waylon songs and 15 Hank songs and 8 Lefty songs MEANT something.
That's where it stands right now for the crew I was a part of back in the early 1970s. Those of us still alive (we've lost a few) are stiil doing it and sharing it with a whole new generation and finally getting around to recording ourselves. Keep watching. You might be surprised what could come out of the Upstate New York Finger Lakes Region.
Duncan, you had me at hand knit sweaters and brown rice. Classic.
Thanks for writing, my man. For the record, many of us into the alt.country bands of the mid-’90s came out of regional DIY punk rock scenes and left-of-center college towns. That was certainly the case for me where I was a DJ and eventually music director of KCSC (The LiveWire!) in Chico, California. We were a collection of misfits who weren’t particularly ambitious, but we nurtured a helluva scene, lemme tell ya. It’s interesting that your background is so similar, in the way it paralleled and played off the mainstream, where rough edges and individual character so often becomes sanded down into boring, professional, corporate homogeneity. I suppose it’ll always be that way. Hell, I moved to Austin over 8 years ago to get away from the suburban infection and I’ll be damned if it hasn’t hit here like a dust storm of Starbucks and Ikeas!
As for upstate NY, one of my all-time favorite Austin bands was The Damnations, who were led by a pair of sisters from Schoharie, NY, which I believe is in the greater Schenectady/Albany area. They have two albums, Half Mad Moon (which is the best starting point) and Where It Lands. Check ’em out.
“the less said about The Eagles the better” is a useful lesson for life. Happy new year. W.
The Burrito Brothers clip has Michael Clarke “playing” bass – someone should have at least shown him how to hold a bass guitar.
In the Gram Parsons obsessed post-70s country-rock world, it's all about the Byrds and the Burritos, which y'know is great, but seems to smack of alt-country delusion about what country-rock was.
Poco.
Yep, Poco.
They were a rock band that sold records and toured their asses off, and basically the first country-rockers to have hits.
The Burritos didn't have a hit until the '72 live album, the Byrds did okay after Sweetheart, for example Chestnut Mare was a hit in '70.
But let's face it, most country rockers followed the Poco formula, lots of hyper-harmonies, ballads galore, a pop approach and a few rockers to mix it up.
this stuff is too syrypy for the post-punk crowd to relate to, it's all Neil and Gram to those guys.. great, so country rock is about ten albums. thanks fuckers.
I'm not saying that Poco were it, and that's all, but bands that cut records much more similar to Poco, than say the Byrds and Burritos were:
Cowboy, yeah their 1970 and 1971 albums on Capricorn, yeah, the Allman Bros. loved them too.
Mason Profitt, from Chicago, on smaller labels like Happy Tiger (70), and Ampex (71) before Warners sanpped them up.. hell they got sued by Happy Tiger for stealin' them while still under contract.
Shiloh and Uncle Jim's Music were Hollywood based, but mostly Texans, both bands supplied Ronstadt with bandmembers.. and yeah..yeah I know, Eagles related as well.
Rio Grande from Texas, their only album from '71 was obviously Poco influenced.
The Flying Burrito Brothers 1971 album with Rick Roberts on lead vox with Hillman is an amazing blend of the poppy side of the Burritos, and not overly disimilar to ..uh, Poco.
Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band, also Poco influenced, and scored their bass player from Poco.. and of course the Eagles.. who used the same bass player, Randy Meisner.
So yeah, I dig the recognition Whitey has been getting the last few years, say ten years..
Epecially since a few Byrds websites surfaced in the 90s, the CD reissue of the Nashville West album on Sierra, and the Byrds reissues and the Clarence White Forum online.
I find it depressingly weird, how a key band like Poco can be all but ignored, a band that continued cutting records and still does.
I get that it's a basic overview with some cool talking heads (c'mon, how rocking was it to see Chris Darrow, you could make a film on him alone)
Personally I could have done with more Gene Clark and Mike Nesmith.. but geez, Poco at least.
Poco. Absolutely. One of the best and most popular touring bands of the early 70’s. Jim Messina’s Telecaster picking was easily equal to that of Clarence White, but he gets little credit. Rusty Young’s pedal steel work was impeccable whether playing it clean or through a Leslie speaker or with an overdrive pedal. Richie Furay’s voice is still one of the best in the business. And their rythym section of Tim Schmidt and George Grantham was as tight as, well, a drum. When Paul Cotton replaced Messina, they lost a bit of their bluegrass inspired instrumental prowess, but still delivered excellent country-rock. Through multiple changes in personnel, with Rusty at the helm Poco continued to produce great music until his passing last year. Over 50 years of excellence with millions of ardent fans, yet they’ve been ignored by the powers that be. I don’t understand it.