tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post8595424333687984733..comments2023-12-30T20:24:29.179-05:00Comments on Setting The Woods On Fire: Who Invented Country Rock?, Part IIUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-75535296344490044362010-02-10T11:10:56.660-05:002010-02-10T11:10:56.660-05:00Country rock is often assumed to start with the Ea...Country rock is often assumed to start with the Eagles and Rick Nelson but was around obviously a lot longer than that. It depends on what people mean by country rock. Here in my opinion are some of the early styles that predated the popular country rockers like Merle Haggard, Eagles, Kris Kristofferson, Dire Straits, Garth Brooks, etc.:<br /><br />Rockabilly: The earliest manifistation of country rock is often considered to be rockabilly, as lead by early Elvis, Carl Perkins and so on. Rockabilly has its roots firmly in a mix of blues and bluesy guitar-based country like Delmore Brothers.<br /><br />Piano based rock 'n' roll: The other form of early country based rock 'n' roll was similar to rockabilly but featured piano rather than guitar as the predominant instrument. Jerry Lee Lewis was the primary exponent - later he too was a leading figure in the country rock movement in the 1970s. He influenced the Eagles. Jerry Lee was influenced by blues and bluesy country and singer pianists in bluesy country like Moon Mullican.<br /><br />Western swing/country boogie: Obviously, the roots of both piano rock 'n' roll and rockabilly point back to western swing and country boogie. It is here that we often seen some of the first mixes of blues with country that later typified the rock 'n' roll era. Records like Moon Mullican's "Pipeliner blues" or "You don't know my mind" or Delmores "Rounder's blues" or "Mobile boogie" show us exactly the same style mixes of blues and ountry that Jerry Lee and Elvis would later be doing (and that Hank Williams also did a lot of before that). In turn, western swing and country boogie had its roots in the blue yodel traditions of Jimmie Rodgers. So, Jimmie Rodgers must be the original country rocker.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-56838531245599333702008-11-28T23:59:00.000-05:002008-11-28T23:59:00.000-05:00Everyone has their own take on early country-rock....Everyone has their own take on early country-rock.<BR/><BR/>Some example songs, many are obvious and well known of course, and have been previously mentioned. <BR/><BR/>Some here, are not so well known. <BR/><BR/>The Beatles - I Don't Want To Spoil The Party (Capitol/EMI) 1964<BR/><BR/>The Byrds - Satisfied Mind (Columbia) 1965<BR/><BR/>Downliners Sect - I Got Mine (Columbia) 1965<BR/><BR/>The Dillards - Lemon Chimes (Capitol) 1965<BR/><BR/>Byrds - Mr. Spaceman (Columbia) 1966<BR/><BR/>Charles River Valley Boys - I've Just Seen A Face (Elektra) 1966<BR/><BR/>The Greenbriar Boys - Up To My Neck In High Muddy Waters (Vanguard) 1966<BR/><BR/>International Submarine Band - Truck Drivin' Man (Ascot) 1966<BR/><BR/>Gosdin Brothers - Love At First Sight (World Pacific) 1966<BR/><BR/>The Greenbriar Boys - Different Drum (Vanguard) 1966<BR/><BR/>Gene Clark & The Gosdin Brothers - Keep On Pushin' (Columbia) 1967<BR/><BR/>Gosdin Brothers - A Hundred Years From Now (Edict) 1967<BR/><BR/>Byrds - Time Between (Columbia) 1967<BR/><BR/>Hearts And Flowers - I'm A Lonesome Fugitive (Capitol) 1967<BR/><BR/>Byrds - The Girl With No Name (Columbia) 1967<BR/><BR/>Ian & Sylvia - Big River (MGM) 1967<BR/><BR/>Buffalo Springfield - A Child's Claim To Fame (Atco) 1967<BR/><BR/>Kaleidoscope - Louisiana Man (Epic) 1967<BR/><BR/>Buffalo Springfield - Whatever Happened To Saturday Night (Atco outtake)<BR/>1967<BR/><BR/>Lewis And Clarke Expedition - Chain Around The Flowers (Colgems) 1967<BR/><BR/>Monkees - What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round? (Colgems) 1967<BR/><BR/>Moby Grape - Ain't No Use (Columbia) 1967<BR/><BR/>Leonard Cohen - So Long Maryanne (Columbia) 1967<BR/><BR/>Mary McCaslin - This All Happened Once Before (Capitol) 1967<BR/><BR/>The Wind In The Willows - My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died (Capitol)<BR/>1968<BR/><BR/>The Band - The Weight (Capitol) 1968<BR/><BR/>Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit & Greenhill - Just Me And Her (Uni) 1968<BR/><BR/>The Byrds - Old John Robertson (Columbia) 1968<BR/><BR/>The Action - Dustbin Full Of Rubbish (Ace) 1985, Recorded 1968<BR/><BR/>International Submarine Band - Blue Eyes (LHI) 1968<BR/><BR/>Hearts And Flowers - When I Was A Cowboy (Capitol) 1968<BR/><BR/>The Byrds - Goin' Back (Columbia) 1968<BR/><BR/>The Millennium - Some Sunny Day (Columbia) 1968<BR/><BR/>Merrell Fankhauser - Tampa Run (Sundazed) 1997, Recorded 1968<BR/><BR/>The Byrds - You Don't Miss Your Water (Columbia) 1968<BR/><BR/>Bobby Atkins, Frank Poindexter & Tony Rice - Mary's Gone (Old Homestead) 1981, recorded 1968<BR/><BR/>Beau Brummels - Turn Around (Warner Bros.) 1968<BR/><BR/>Dillard & Clark - With Care From Someone (A&M) 1968<BR/><BR/>The Dillards - I've Just Seen A Face (Elektra) 1968<BR/><BR/>Beau Brummels - Love Can Fall A Long Way Down (Warner Bros) 1968<BR/><BR/>Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Reason To Believe (Liberty /BGO) 1968<BR/><BR/>Kangaroo - Maybe Tomorrow (Verve) 1968<BR/><BR/>Ian & Sylvia - The Mighty Quinn (Vanguard) 1968<BR/><BR/>Ian & Sylvia - Here's To You (MGM) 1968<BR/><BR/>Jerry Jeff Walker - The Shell Game<BR/>(Vanguard) 1968<BR/><BR/>Everly Brothers - Ventura Boulevard (WB) 1968<BR/><BR/>Dillard & Clark - Why Not Your Baby (A&M) 1968<BR/><BR/>Everly Brothers - Mama Tried (WB) 1968<BR/><BR/>Gib Guilbeau - Your Gentle Ways Of Loving Me (Bakersfield International)<BR/>1968<BR/><BR/>Gosdin Brothers - Sounds Of Goodbye (Capitol) 1968<BR/><BR/>Buffalo Springfield - I Am A Child (Atco) 1968<BR/><BR/>Fraternity Of Man - Don't Bogart Me (Dot) 1968<BR/><BR/>Stone Country - Magnolia (RCA) 1968<BR/><BR/>Judy Collins - Someday Soon (Elektra) 1968<BR/><BR/>Buffalo Springfield - Kind Woman (Atco) 1968<BR/><BR/>Mary McCaslin - Boy From The Country (Capitol) Rec. 1968, issued 1999<BR/><BR/>In the mid 1960s two folkies The Texas Twosome (Michael Martin Murphey and Boomer Castleman) actually recorded a set of material with The Buckaroos, yes, Buck Owens band. these have yet to be reissued. <BR/><BR/>Under different name, Boomer and Murph formed The Mewis & Clarke Expedition, who were more folk-rock. <BR/>They recorded some material with Gary Paxton and a steel player (Larry Petree) in Bakersfield in 1967, but Colgems ditched that material for sessions cut at RCA Studios in Hollywood. <BR/><BR/>The Monkees cut their song "What Am I Doing Hangin' Around" the Lewis & Clark Exp. had one LP and several singles be fore they split in 1968. Boomer and Murph worked with Earl Scruggs in '68, Boomer in particular recorded with Flatt & Scruggs at the time. <BR/>In 1969 they were part of a Monkees inspired western TV show The Kowboys, which only made it as far as a pilot episode. <BR/>In late '69, Boomer joined Sonny Curtis an the rhythm section of Rock Nelson's band the Stone Canyon Band, with producer Lee Hazelwood, to record the bulk of Waylon Jennings' Singer Of Sad Songs LP (RCA, 1970). <BR/><BR/>They had a country-rock band called Tex in 1970, which like the Flying Burrito Brothers, played the Palomino Club. Longhairs at the biggest country joint in Hollywood. <BR/><BR/>Murph went solo, cut some excellent solo albums for A&M and Columbia in the 70s, later re-invented his sound as a modern cowboy singer and still performs to this day. <BR/>Boomer became a session guit-slinger in Nashville, although he had a hit in 1975 with a song called "Judy Mae." <BR/><BR/>I use these guys as an example of how much like material was happening in the 60s, if you consider that Gram Parsons ISB album flopped and hardly ever played a gig after they moved to Hollywood. the Byrds "Sweetheart" LP was the worse-selling of the group's career in 1968, then one must assume that GP's role is more a case of rock and roll revisionism. <BR/><BR/>Yes he was pivotal, but why him, why not the Gosdin Brothers or Gene Clark as the godfather? <BR/>In 1968 Vanguard Records recorded most of their main singer-songwriters in Nashville. In fact, one of their artists Buffy Saint Marie cut her weird-ass country album there in 1967. (issued in 1968 as "I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again") <BR/><BR/>Two albums that did sell extremely well were The Band's debut and Dylan's "John Wesly Harding: LP in 1968. <BR/><BR/>If we accept that popular records, selling well, help influence popular music and fans. then surely these two albums are the cornerstone of the genesis of country-rock as a popular genre?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-75340788364142816192008-06-13T13:13:00.000-04:002008-06-13T13:13:00.000-04:00I meant to say, It's a shame that not one of the M...I meant to say, It's a shame that not one of the MP3 links worked. I realise these traditionally stay around only a short time after a piece is written, but an article like this has longevity and will be used as a source for a long time to come. Without the music links it becomes much less the formidable work it is. Can they be reinstated?MrQwertyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13957737099555180379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-71300706980182293792008-06-13T13:10:00.000-04:002008-06-13T13:10:00.000-04:00It's a shameIt's a shameMrQwertyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13957737099555180379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-20278959412878614072008-05-13T15:50:00.000-04:002008-05-13T15:50:00.000-04:00What about chuck berry - maybelline?What about chuck berry - maybelline?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-5993565218158256322008-05-03T16:25:00.000-04:002008-05-03T16:25:00.000-04:00Repo Man is definitely one of my favorite movies. ...Repo Man is definitely one of my favorite movies. We'll have to talk about that next week at the x show. Did you see the reference in the wikipedia article that Indie-rock label American Laundromat Records will be releasing a tribute CD covering the soundtrack? Their website says that the CD is scheduled for release in 2009.blessedmatchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05498680649954840686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-30090170235603859162008-04-29T22:54:00.000-04:002008-04-29T22:54:00.000-04:00Carl,Now I'm double-commenting back at you. I rea...Carl,<BR/><BR/>Now I'm double-commenting back at you. <BR/><BR/>I read a review of your book that was very complimentary. It sounds interesting and It's on my list of things to read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-11765463861760876542008-04-29T22:49:00.000-04:002008-04-29T22:49:00.000-04:00Hey Carl, I mentioned a lot of those other perform...Hey Carl, I mentioned a lot of those other performers in Part I of this series. Thanks for the comments. (I don't mind triple comments. Makes the post look more popular.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-72451912952793138202008-04-29T22:13:00.000-04:002008-04-29T22:13:00.000-04:00Ugh, sorry to triple-time you but also - the Osbor...Ugh, sorry to triple-time you but also - the Osbornes are a good catch and so would be the Lovin' Spoonful and other jug-band revivalists, since that stuff is more country in the Nashville sense than most of what you got in the folk-to-folk-rock genre.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-89796649615332901982008-04-29T22:10:00.000-04:002008-04-29T22:10:00.000-04:00By the way, the above comment was from me.By the way, the above comment was from me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-62131633257035354972008-04-29T22:09:00.000-04:002008-04-29T22:09:00.000-04:00Naming the inventor of country-rock is pretty much...Naming the inventor of country-rock is pretty much impossible, since rock was an outgrowth of country and blues (plus pop music of many other kinds), and since country and blues/R&B never stayed all that separate for long (going back to pre-recorded music, old-time country and early blues drew upon each other, and you have to assume that goes all the way down in American vernacular music, as black people and white people heard each other's songs and sometimes sang the same songs - that's American history for you). Besides the cases you've mentioned, see under "western swing" and "hillbilly boogie" or "country boogie" for midcentury cases of rockin' country music.<BR/><BR/>When you look at the big breakthrough period for rock, you've got the whole Sun Records stable - Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and of course Elvis. All doing country and R&B-ish stuff simultaneously (Cash less so, except that Cash of the four was probably the biggest direct influence on "country rock" as it later came to be understood, especially Dylan).<BR/><BR/>When you get out of the rockabilly era (look at that name!), and into Rock as such, then, yeah, I'd start with Dylan and The Byrds and Clarence White. I'd say the notable thing about "country rock" is that it took up country as a retro thing, and in that way it had more in common with the folk revival before it and the soon-to-come back-to-the-land movement.<BR/><BR/>Fun subject and great song selections, though.Carl Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16240124063576914112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-81718069806213948122008-04-29T10:40:00.000-04:002008-04-29T10:40:00.000-04:00re: Merle - I've got to save something for Part II...re: Merle - I've got to save something for Part III! No doubt Merle is a giant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-59367063890232625982008-04-29T07:27:00.000-04:002008-04-29T07:27:00.000-04:00I'm surprised Merle Haggard doesn't get more of a ...I'm surprised Merle Haggard doesn't get more of a mention when it comes to major country rock influences. One of his songs is covered here and the original amongst other gems like 'Branded Man' were without doubt major influences on the country rock genre as well as a prime influence on Outlaw Country also.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-5781935915313134162008-04-28T23:50:00.000-04:002008-04-28T23:50:00.000-04:00I love Repo Man and I love this blog.I love Repo Man and I love this blog.Santohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15193814043446318270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-58287006016727097932008-04-28T13:51:00.000-04:002008-04-28T13:51:00.000-04:00great list.gave me lots of new artists to seek out...great list.<BR/><BR/>gave me lots of new artists to seek out.<BR/><BR/>http://decayofcamelot.com/register.php?REF=1158Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-39441127464218782622008-04-28T11:24:00.000-04:002008-04-28T11:24:00.000-04:00great as usual. nashville west theme comes in and ...great as usual. nashville west theme comes in and takes over. clarence every time. just ordered the muleskinner live on tv dvd! i'm hooked on CW.<BR/><BR/>oh our next podcast we're doing our take on the evolution of country rock. i only hope it can scratch the companion piece surface to these fine posts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-24489478166489193252008-04-28T07:35:00.000-04:002008-04-28T07:35:00.000-04:00Hey Joel. Sorry I didn't give you some credit for...Hey Joel. Sorry I didn't give you some credit for the Osborne brothers idea. I had the Osborne brothers in my notes, but wasn't sure where it came from. (I'm kind of a lazy blogger that way.)<BR/><BR/>Good thought on the folk scene issue. The Osborne brothers expanded both the audience for and the sound of bluegrass music.<BR/><BR/>PaulAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-28510073212420862642008-04-28T04:28:00.000-04:002008-04-28T04:28:00.000-04:00I don't think I mentioned it last time, but the Os...I don't think I mentioned it last time, but the Osborne Brothers are also usually credited as the first bluegrass band to play in the college folk revival scene. c. 1960. So, even if they weren't necessarily doing country-rock themselves that early, their incorporation of bluegrass into the folk scene might be seen as influential on early '60s folk-rock bands, which in turn leads to the country-rock of the later decade.Joel T. Luberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01425059756986844099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-70131748687927541422008-04-27T21:46:00.000-04:002008-04-27T21:46:00.000-04:00Paul, thanks for the shout-out. By the way, did y...Paul, thanks for the shout-out. By the way, did you know Clarence White recorded 4 sessions with Wynn Stewart in 1968? If you haven't heard these tracks, I'll gladly fire 'em off to you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-50736135574351432202008-04-27T21:00:00.000-04:002008-04-27T21:00:00.000-04:00anon - That bit about Jimmie Rodgers came from a c...anon - That bit about Jimmie Rodgers came from a critic of my last post. I think country rock was invented by: Wynn Stewart, Buck Owens, The Beatles, The Byrds, Clarence White, Gram Parsons, and many others who were performing in the 1960s.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8757398021270225218.post-77524244507314765892008-04-27T17:19:00.000-04:002008-04-27T17:19:00.000-04:00Interesting selections. I'm not sure about the ide...Interesting selections. I'm not sure about the idea of country rock being invented before country or rock. Beau Brummels and Stone Country are good contenders. Michael Nesmith's definitely a player too. Thanks for getting me thinking! Love the blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com