Cherry Red excavate the other Parsons and expand.
GP#2
Byrds and Burritos who go by the name of Parsons are more widespread than you might think, especially with the initial G, but, I guess, it is understandable that most go straight to Gram. Sure, all the mythology lies at that door, the cosmic cowboy who turned the Byrds and Keith Richards onto country music, with early death guaranteeing a fond place in the firmament of popular music. But consider his near namesake, Gene, no relation yet destined to follow into the same band footprints. His flame may never have burnt as bright, but, I’d argue, of near equal, if understated and briefly, importance.
BYRD TO BURRITO
Gene Parsons joined the Byrds a year after Gram left or was fired from the Byrds, as, initially, a drummer, although he was also adept upon all things stringed, notably banjo and pedal steel. His tenure lasted 3 years, 1972 – 1975, and like many another Byrd, when his time up was there, became a Flying Burrito Brother, 1977 – 1978. But, crucially, in the gap, he produced his most significant work, the solo album, Kindling.
A remarkable album, this showed the depth of his knowledge and abilities across a whole prairie’s worth of country styles and idioms, predominantly tending towards the acoustic and bluegrass. Exactly the sort of primer a teenage boy becoming obsessed by what was not yet called Americana might covet, and it became an instant firm favourite in my burgeoning collection.
With a distinctive clear tenor voice, his contributions to each of these bands produced lasting gems that, together with his solo work, guaranteed him a place of affection in the hearts and minds of those lucky enough to appreciate his talents. This was never enough, however, to break him much to a wider recognition. A gig I attended, a solo performance in a then somewhat maverick Birmingham music pub, the Ceol Castle, around 2001, was attended by an audience of maybe 20, possibly 30, astonished that an ex-Byrd should be gracing us, here in a rainy Balsall Heath. So it is all the more fabulous that Cherry Red should see fit to put together this set, bringing together Kindling, the later album, Melodies and some recordings made but never released for a 3rd set, along with some captured live shows.
A VERY SPECIAL ALBUM
Made up of 5 discs, it is Kindling and Melodies, these 2 studio albums that fill the first. From the sprightly banjo and guitar of Monument through to the Byrdsy psychedelic whimsy of Back Again, Kindling really is a very special album, still able to bump all geese on my back. Songs stretch from plaintive lamentations: Long Way Back, to simple yodelled hoedowns: Do Not Disturb. In lesser hands the latter could seem trite, but the conviction in his delivery removes any sense of throwaway, making these almost childlike songs the epitome of charming.
Most the material his own, it also includes an early version of Lowell George’s Willin’, the first I heard and the best. Playing the vast bulk of instruments himself, guitars, banjo, steel, bass, harmonica, autoharp and drums, it is only the best he allowed to join him, with Clarence White the most prominent. (Parsons, White and fiddler, Gib Guilbeau, who also appears, had made up the pre-Byrds band, Nashville West.)
The album is also unusual in being an early promoter of Cajun styles, courtesy Guilbeau’s participation, he later also joining Parsons in the Burritos. White and Parsons together developed the B-bender, a guitar accessory known also as the stringbender, enabling the sounds of pedal steel to be reproduced on an orthodox guitar. Indeed, alongside his musical career, and following the tragic early death of White, shortly after the release of Kindling, Parsons himself personally built and installed the device, before outsourcing, installing it on over 2000 guitars over a decade and a half.
STILL WORTH A SPIN
Melodies, released after he left the Burritos, in 1979, is perhaps a slightly lesser work, but still worth a spin. Very much a product of those fertile times for fusing country and rock, it is very much more a band record, with a bevy of friends and session men, including Albert Lee. Anyone with a penchant for the early albums by (the) Eagles will find here a lot to enjoy. Highlights include My Kingdom For A Car and an elegy to his friend and bandmate, Melodies For A Bird in Flyght (For Clarence). Some banjo workouts are also included, lest anyone forget his facility on the instrument. There is also a version of Burrito favourite, Hot Burrito #1, to further confuse those who muddle Gene with Gram.
SOLO STRINGS
The second disc is a live set, originally self-released in 2001, where a solo Parsons runs through possibly a similar set that I caught all those years ago. A mix of songs encompass 3 from Kindling and his best known Byrds song, Gunga Din, but also a stack of largely traditional covers, together with a couple by Guilbeau. Swapping between guitar and banjo, it is a relaxed and warm performance. A driving version of City Bride, from Kindling, sticks out, alternating unaccompanied verses with incendiary harmonica, rhythm from clicking fingers. 5 further songs, not issued at the time, extend the show, ending on a rendition of You Ain’t Going Nowhere, stripped back to strummed banjo, voice and audience.
COUNTRY MEET ROCK
Discs 3 and 4 represent more live, dipping back into the early 1980’s, each from the Gene Parsons Trio, comprising Parsons, Peter Oliva and Richie Rosenbaum, on bass and drums respectively. Whilst these provide an interesting historical perspective, speaking personally these are always the least essential part of these elaborate box sets. The additional musicians ply a respectable enough country rock backing, but the material isn’t all that outstanding, relying to much on lacklustre covers.
If nothing else, this does allow Parsons to display the somewhat remarkable properties of the stringbender. A decent enough Hickory Wind suggests a reliance too much on his illustrious namesake, causing the ghastly frisson of realisation that any confusion as to who he was, might be to his advantage. The second set is then somewhat schizophrenic as, even when he lets his bluegrass banner fly, it is matched with intrusive electric bass.
GLIMMERS
The final disc is part yet more live, and never previously heard. With a few more glimmers of promise, this is headlined by a band version of the Parsons’ take on Willin’, transposed to electric guitar, garlanded by some glorious harmonics. Gram’s In My Hour Of Darkness also gets a trundle out, reviving that aforementioned concern. Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers To Cross is the other stand out, perhaps indebted to the Linda Ronstadt version.
The disc concludes with 7 studio outtakes from the aborted final album sessions, along with another Willin’, this time from 1986. Track 1 is You Don’t Miss Your Water, the soul banger transported into a bizarre but effective mash of bluegrass vocals, country guitars and a sturdier than that rhythm section. Followed by a banjo fumed Swing Low, as in sweet chariot, the spiritual that the live band had been touring with for some time, it shows potential, if needing more polish.
THE MOURNFUL VOICE
The Parsons/Guilbeau Wind And Rain makes the best of Parsons’ mournful voice, a song in a style the singer has returned to often. Actually a lovely song, if reprised from his days as a Burrito. Annoyingly, the version of Jimmie Rodgers’ California Blues is a bit lumpen and by rote, screaming filler, if with some neat harmonica fills.
Lily’s Hot Bread is a nifty bit of jangle in the same sort of style as the Nashville West repertoire, but breaks no moulds, with Dark Moon also capable of being written in his sleep. This session ends with Turquoise which, if I am reading this right, appears to be a raga, transposed to banjo, of the sort, if less developed, that Dan Walsh can do so well. So, all in all, a tad disappointing, perhaps explaining no consequent then release. The 1986 Willin’ lifts things a bit, but is actually the least convincing of the 3 versions offered across this whole set. Lovely bit of stringbender, mind.
IF YOU CAN’T GET THAT, GET THIS
OK, if I can convince you this 5 CD is worth it on the strength of the first in the box, my job is done. and, in absence of being able to source any original copy of Kindling, which makes up half that disc, I would say it is. Alternatively, it may be worth seeking out a 2nd hand copy of the 1992 Kindling Collection, which adds 5 Parsons related Byrds tracks to the original album, along with 4 from when he was with the Flying Burrito Brothers. But, if you can’t, get this. Boxed as lavishly as Cherry Red are renowned for, it does include an extensive and informative essay on the singer, by Peter Doggett, author of Are You Ready For The Country.
Whilst you are pondering, try the final track from Kindling, the album, Back Again:
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