The Safe At Home "Originals" (Updated)

Before joining The Byrds for Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, Gram Parsons (and what was left of the International Submarine Band) recorded another album of country rock called Safe At Home.

The ten song LP included six covers and four new songs written by Parsons. Here are some earlier versions of the cover songs:

1. Merle Haggard – Somebody Else You've Known (buy)
2. Porter Wagoner - A Satisfied Mind (buy)
3. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (buy)
4. Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - That's All Right (buy)
5. Bobby Bare - Miller's Cave (buy)
6. Johnny Cash - I Still Miss Someone (buy)

Bonus tracks:
Uncle Tupelo - Blue Eyes (buy) (Here's a great cover of a Parsons' original from Safe At Home.)

Hank Snow - Miller's Cave (buy) (You may prefer this over the Bobby Bare version. I don't, but it's still good. More importantly: Does anybody have the Dickey Lee version? It was the first one, but it's out of print and I've never heard it. Please send it over if you have it.)

Elvis Presley - That's All Right (Mama) (buy) (This is almost certainly the version that inspired the ISB's cover.)

Marty Robbins - Knee Deep In The Blues (buy) (The ISB's cover of this hit is included as a bonus track on the CD re-issue of Safe At Home.)

See also:
The Original Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

*** UPDATE!***
Thanks to loyal STWOF reader Dave, you can now hear Dickey Lee's version of Miller’s Cave (which I believe was the first recorded version).

Dickey Lee – Miller’s Cave (out of print).

Dickey Lee did not write Miller’s Cave (that was Jack Clement), but he did write one of the all-time great country songs, She Thinks I Still Care. He also sang one of the most bizarre pop hits of the 1960’s, Laurie (Strange Things Happen).

Thanks Dave!

What now?

Setting the Woods on Fire is now entering its third phase of life as a blog. First I had to figure out how to work everything (i.e., html, hosting, feeds). Then I had to get noticed (i.e., elbows, hype machine, links). Now that I can work the controls and have a fair amount of readers, it's time to figure out what I really want to do with this blog.

My plate is pretty full these days. Like the man said, I've got chores to keep me busy (house), a clock to keep my time (work), and a pretty girl to love me with the same last name as mine (family). So what's the point of adding a time-consuming blog to the mix? Well, it’s a lot of fun. I’m learning more about music, and I’m getting in touch with great music fans and musicians. Maybe a few of you have even discovered some new music in the process. [Please let me know if you have. It would make my day.]

But I don’t want to feel obligated to feed the blog every day or two. This project will stop being fun when it becomes just another chore hanging over my head. So my new plan is to do fewer, but slightly better, posts. I want to spend more time digging deeper into things so that I can provide more thoughtful information along with the music. For example, I've been studying the work of Clarence White over the last few weeks, in preparation for a post about his career. It's an interesting story that I'm learning more about myself. But I can't just slap it together.

Don't worry, I’m not going to get thoughtful on every post—especially if I’ve had a few glasses of wine. (Or whiskey.) But I am going to try to step it up a notch.* So please be patient if you see a chunk of days go by without a post.

Now for some music:

The International Submarine Band – Blue Eyes (buy album).
Guy Clark – Come From The Heart (buy album).

*Disclaimer: Actual improvements to the quality of this site may not be readily observable to the untrained eye. But they will be there. Just take my word for it.