Podcast appearances and mentions of Stephen Stills

188 - Ray LaMontagne n episode 188 of “Have Guitar Will Travel”, presented by Vintage Guitar Magazine, host James Patrick Regan speaks with singer/songwriter and guitarist Ray LaMontagne. In their conversation Ray talks about living in Western Massachusetts and early on selling a Volkswagen Van that belonged to he and his wife for a Martin guitar and Ray talks about his wife's support of his music. Ray describes his early music experiences and how he went from writing songs for himself occasionally playing a coffee house to becoming a superstar albeit a humble one. Ray describes his friendship with Stephen Stills. Ray talks about his guitars his 70's Martin and Paul Reed Smith acoustics and Ray discusses his tunings and with method of amplifying his acoustics. Ray discusses his upcoming tour and his album “Trouble” that came out 20 years ago. Finally Ray tells us about his songwriting process and what he does in his spare time and his love of classic cars. To find out more about Ray and see his tour dates you can go to his website: raylamontagne.com Please subscribe, like, comment, share and review this podcast! #VintageGuitarMagazine #RayLaMontagne #MartinGuitar #Trouble #PRSAcousticguitars #PaulReedSmithAcoustic #StephenStills #theDeadlies #haveguitarwilltravelpodcast #HGWT Please like, comment, and share this podcast! Download Link

"And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoonLittle boy blue and the man on the moonWhen you comin' home sonI don't know when, but we'll get together then, DadWe're gonna have a good time then"Miss my Dad every day, lets celebrate Fatherhood together on this week's Super Sounds Of The 70's. Joining us are Joe Walsh, Joni Mitchell, Buddy Miles, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Jackson Browne, Lee Michaels, Stephen Stills, Lenny Kravitz, Chewy Marble, Paul  Simon, Jimi Hendrix, David Crosby, Graham Nash, The Kinks and Neil Young. We'll also pay tribute to two key contributors to the "Soundtrack Of Our Lives", Brian Wilson and Sly Stone.

Le chanteur de U2, Bono au cœur d'une vive controverse après son passage dans le podcast de Joe Rogan, il s'est attiré les foudres d'Elon Musk et d'une partie du public à propos des réductions de l'aide internationale américaine. Robbie Williams a dévoilé les coulisses de sa collaboration avec Tony Iommi, guitariste de Black Sabbath, pour son nouveau single "Rocket". Ce 31 mai, le groupe américain Linkin Park a enflammé l'Allianz Arena de Munich en ouverture de la finale de la Ligue des champions de l'UEFA. Al Jardine, le chanteur des Beach Boys, a sorti le nouveau single "My Plane Leaves Tomorrow (Au Revoir)", avec la participation de Neil Young. Le manager d'Iron Maiden avait demandé aux fans d'éviter de vivre les nouveaux shows via l'écran de leur smartphone, une demande bien accueillie et bien respectée sur les premières dates de la tournée. Mots-Clés : étude, université, Boston, décès, monde, réseau social X, entrepreneur, menteur, idiot, coupes budgétaires, USAID, pop, rock, album, studio, BRITPOP, performance, spectateurs, tubes, morceaux, victoire, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, record, histoire, compétition, sessions d'enregistrement, A Postcard From California, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, trompette, Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers, basse, solo, merci, téléphones, éteints, fans, salle, égoïste, filmer, douloureux. --- Classic 21 vous informe des dernières actualités du rock, en Belgique et partout ailleurs. Le Journal du Rock, en direct chaque jour à 7h30 et 18h30 sur votre radio rock'n'pop. Merci pour votre écoute Plus de contenus de Classic 21 sur www.rtbf.be/classic21 Ecoutez-nous en live ici: https://www.rtbf.be/radio/liveradio/classic21 ou sur l'app Radioplayer BelgiqueRetrouvez l'ensemble des contenus de la RTBF sur notre plateforme Auvio.be Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement. Découvrez nos autres podcasts : Le journal du Rock : https://audmns.com/VCRYfsPComic Street (BD) https://audmns.com/oIcpwibLa chronique économique : https://audmns.com/NXWNCrAHey Teacher : https://audmns.com/CIeSInQHistoires sombres du rock : https://audmns.com/ebcGgvkCollection 21 : https://audmns.com/AUdgDqHMystères et Rock'n Roll : https://audmns.com/pCrZihuLa mauvaise oreille de Freddy Tougaux : https://audmns.com/PlXQOEJRock&Sciences : https://audmns.com/lQLdKWRCook as You Are: https://audmns.com/MrmqALPNobody Knows : https://audmns.com/pnuJUlDPlein Ecran : https://audmns.com/gEmXiKzRadio Caroline : https://audmns.com/WccemSkAinsi que nos séries :Rock Icons : https://audmns.com/pcmKXZHRock'n Roll Heroes: https://audmns.com/bXtHJucFever (Erotique) : https://audmns.com/MEWEOLpEt découvrez nos animateurs dans cette série Close to You : https://audmns.com/QfFankxDistribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

EPISODE 132: A soulful and distinctive singer, talented keyboardist and songwriter, T Bear (Richard T Bear) made his mark as a solo artist and collaborator with many iconic artists—Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Blues Brothers, Richie Havens, Cher, Paul Shaffer, to name a few. In 1978, T Bear signed with RCA Records and released Red, Hot & Blue that featured Les Dudek, Billy Squier, and the Brecker Brothers. He has shared the stage with Richie Havens, Odetta, The Doobie Brothers and Jeff Beck. Domestic responsibilities and a struggle to regain his sobriety, which he did in 1983, forced him to put his music career on hold. He became instrumental in developing the Musicians Picnic, serving on its board of directors, which led to the creation of Musicians Assistance Program, now part of MusiCares Foundation. T Bear credits his late wife for encouraging his comeback.After a self-imposed hiatus from the music industry that lasted nearly three decades, T Bear, aka Richard T Bear, keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, returns with a new album, Fresh Bear Tracks, released on Quarto Valley Records. A blend of blues, soul and rock with a who's who of special guests including Stephen Stills, Robby Krieger, Edgar Winter, Tom Scott, Walter Trout, Hutch Hutchinson, Laurence Juber, and more. Produced by Grammy Award winner Tony Braunagel, Fresh Bear Tracks was recorded at Robby Krieger's studio in Los Angeles. instagram.com/richard_tbearContact us: makingsoundpodcast.comFollow on Instagram: @makingsoundpodcastFollow on Threads: @jannkloseJoin our Facebook GroupPlease support the show with a donation, thank you for listening!

This week Nik and Duncan decided to do a look in on Head by the Monkees. Lots of people my age don't recall that this movie even existed.But ask yourself what would happen if Jack Nicholson, Carole King, and The Monkees were all in a room together?Then you can add in Stephen Stills for fun!www.facebook.com/dmapodcasthttps://duncan-evans.bandcamp.com/https://www.discogs.com/seller/battra13/profile

En esta entrega de La Ruleta Rusa, hemos escuchado y comentado los discos:ÁLBUM DESTACADO. Aurora Clara. IV (2024).Emergency Group. Mind Screen (2024).Stefan Grossman. Shake That Thing: Fingerpicking Country Blues (1998),Fleetwood Mac. Penguin (1973).Yamning Balch. Volume Three (2025).Plants and Animals. Waltzed in from the Rumbling (2016).Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, Stephen Stills. Supersession (1968).

"In ev'ry day that passes us byI can't help the feelin' that you and IWe won't get to see another day together.Looks like bad weather.Yes it does,And I believe it's gonna rain"Yes a Rainy Spring Sunday in SoCal so please allow me to be your  musical umbrella, Joining us on this weeks Super Sounds Of The 70's are Dire Straits, David Bowie, Little Feat, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Mountain, Joe Walsh, Rod Stewart, The Byrds,, Flying Burrito Brothers, Procol Harum, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Stills, The Moody Blues, Alan Parsons Project, Supertramp, Derek & The Dominos and Poco.

Nate Runkel is back for a whole new week of Swans Crossing (as we always knew he would be).

Le Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a dévoilé ce 28 avril la liste des artistes qui seront intronisés en 2025. Noel et Liam Gallagher, ont été aperçus ensemble à Londres pour les préparatifs de leur très attendue tournée de reformation. Neil Young et Stephen Stills, les légendes du rock ont partagé la scène lors du concert caritatif annuel Light Up The Blues à Los Angeles. Bruce Springsteen a offert une performance mémorable lors d'un concert intime dans le New Jersey, partageant la scène avec des icônes de la musique américaine. Metallica inspire le cinéma d'horreur, c'est le réalisateur Ryan Coogler qui a dévoilé comment le titre "One" de Metallica a façonné son nouveau film "Sinners". Le fameux concert "Back To The Beginning" au Villa Park de Birmingham le 5 juillet prochain s'annonce comme un véritable festin musical. --- Classic 21 vous informe des dernières actualités du rock, en Belgique et partout ailleurs. Le Journal du Rock, en direct chaque jour à 7h30 et 18h30 sur votre radio rock'n'pop. Merci pour votre écoute Plus de contenus de Classic 21 sur www.rtbf.be/classic21 Ecoutez-nous en live ici: https://www.rtbf.be/radio/liveradio/classic21 ou sur l'app Radioplayer BelgiqueRetrouvez l'ensemble des contenus de la RTBF sur notre plateforme Auvio.be Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement. Découvrez nos autres podcasts : Le journal du Rock : https://audmns.com/VCRYfsPComic Street (BD) https://audmns.com/oIcpwibLa chronique économique : https://audmns.com/NXWNCrAHey Teacher : https://audmns.com/CIeSInQHistoires sombres du rock : https://audmns.com/ebcGgvkCollection 21 : https://audmns.com/AUdgDqHMystères et Rock'n Roll : https://audmns.com/pCrZihuLa mauvaise oreille de Freddy Tougaux : https://audmns.com/PlXQOEJRock&Sciences : https://audmns.com/lQLdKWRCook as You Are: https://audmns.com/MrmqALPNobody Knows : https://audmns.com/pnuJUlDPlein Ecran : https://audmns.com/gEmXiKzRadio Caroline : https://audmns.com/WccemSkAinsi que nos séries :Rock Icons : https://audmns.com/pcmKXZHRock'n Roll Heroes: https://audmns.com/bXtHJucFever (Erotique) : https://audmns.com/MEWEOLpEt découvrez nos animateurs dans cette série Close to You : https://audmns.com/QfFankxDistribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Le Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a dévoilé ce 28 avril la liste des artistes qui seront intronisés en 2025. Noel et Liam Gallagher, ont été aperçus ensemble à Londres pour les préparatifs de leur très attendue tournée de reformation. Neil Young et Stephen Stills, les légendes du rock ont partagé la scène lors du concert caritatif annuel Light Up The Blues à Los Angeles. Bruce Springsteen a offert une performance mémorable lors d'un concert intime dans le New Jersey, partageant la scène avec des icônes de la musique américaine. Metallica inspire le cinéma d'horreur, c'est le réalisateur Ryan Coogler qui a dévoilé comment le titre "One" de Metallica a façonné son nouveau film "Sinners". Le fameux concert "Back To The Beginning" au Villa Park de Birmingham le 5 juillet prochain s'annonce comme un véritable festin musical. --- Classic 21 vous informe des dernières actualités du rock, en Belgique et partout ailleurs. Le Journal du Rock, en direct chaque jour à 7h30 et 18h30 sur votre radio rock'n'pop. Merci pour votre écoute Plus de contenus de Classic 21 sur www.rtbf.be/classic21 Ecoutez-nous en live ici: https://www.rtbf.be/radio/liveradio/classic21 ou sur l'app Radioplayer BelgiqueRetrouvez l'ensemble des contenus de la RTBF sur notre plateforme Auvio.be Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement. Découvrez nos autres podcasts : Le journal du Rock : https://audmns.com/VCRYfsPComic Street (BD) https://audmns.com/oIcpwibLa chronique économique : https://audmns.com/NXWNCrAHey Teacher : https://audmns.com/CIeSInQHistoires sombres du rock : https://audmns.com/ebcGgvkCollection 21 : https://audmns.com/AUdgDqHMystères et Rock'n Roll : https://audmns.com/pCrZihuLa mauvaise oreille de Freddy Tougaux : https://audmns.com/PlXQOEJRock&Sciences : https://audmns.com/lQLdKWRCook as You Are: https://audmns.com/MrmqALPNobody Knows : https://audmns.com/pnuJUlDPlein Ecran : https://audmns.com/gEmXiKzRadio Caroline : https://audmns.com/WccemSkAinsi que nos séries :Rock Icons : https://audmns.com/pcmKXZHRock'n Roll Heroes: https://audmns.com/bXtHJucFever (Erotique) : https://audmns.com/MEWEOLpEt découvrez nos animateurs dans cette série Close to You : https://audmns.com/QfFankxDistribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

In Basgasten interview ik, Hidde Roorda, bassisten over hun carrière, hun spullen en hun inspiraties. In aflevering 103 ben ik in Eindhoven, om te praten met Wijnand Jansveld. Wijnand (a.k.a. Whynot) woont al jaren in Amerika en is daar een veelgevraagd sessiebassist die o.a. met Gavin DeGraw, Stephen Stills en Jakob Dylan werkte.Alle nummers die we bespreken staan in de Basgasten playlist op Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6YOFD8pqFXK2OET1oupRpA?si=a9943b716bfb4914Basgasten steunen? Word Vriend van de Show op vriendvandeshow.nl/basgastenTips? Vragen? Opmerkingen? basgasten@hidderoorda.nl

Buffalo Springfield -Again (Atco) Released October 30, 1967, and Recorded January 9-September 18 Buffalo Springfield Again is a landmark album that captures both the brilliance and dysfunction of one of rock's most influential short-lived bands. Recorded during a turbulent period marked by Neil Young's departures, Bruce Palmer's deportation, and rising tensions within the group, the album still delivers remarkable artistry. Each member shines: Stephen Stills' dynamic guitar work and songwriting drive tracks like “Bluebird,” Neil Young brings depth and experimentation with “Mr. Soul” and the ambitious “Broken Arrow.” At the same time, Richie Furay adds warmth and a country-rock flavor with “A Child's Claim to Fame” and “Sad Memory.” Despite its fragmented nature, the album's eclectic sound helped define the era. Though it only reached #44 on the charts, its critical reputation has grown over time. Following the release of the album, internal struggles led to the band's breakup, but its members went on to shape the folk and country rock genres through groups like CSNY and Poco. This record remains a vital, underrated piece of 1960s rock history.Signature Songs: "Mr Soul,"   "Bluebird"   "Broken Arrow"Full Album    YouTube, Spotify Playlist  YouTube    Spotify

Here is my Monday night radio show The Grateful Dead Hour with Leo Schumaker. I play the music of The Grateful Dead and other bands of that era or influence. Included along with The Dead are Country Joe and The Fish, Moby Grape, Santana, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills, The Jerry Garcia Band and more. Also some stories about the band and other facts and figures. Just click on the link/picture and enjoy the music on KMRE 88.3 FM, kmre.org, OnDemand and your Tunein app every Monday 7-8 PM.

Neil Young's most successful solo album is also considered his signature album.  Harvest was Young's fourth solo studio album, and it topped the Billboard 200 chart in the US for two weeks while also spawning two top 40 singles.  Young grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, and began playing and songwriting there in several groups.  His first success as a songwriter came for a song he wrote for The Guess Who which made it to the top 40 in Canada.  He was in the Mynah Birds, a Toronto group fronted by a young Rick James.  The Mynah Birds were attempting to get signed by Motown when James was arrested for being AWOL from the Navy reserves. Shortly after this, Neil Young and bassist Bruce Palmer sold the group's equipment, bought a hearse, and used it to move to Los Angeles.  He then worked as a session musician and a member of Buffalo Springfield before striking out on his own solo work while also joining Crosby, Stills & Nash.Harvest was written after an acoustic tour the previous year, a tour prompted by a back injury Young sustained that required him to play sitting down for an extended time.  The album contains significant acoustic elements, as several tracks he played on that tour would appear on the album.  Many of the lyrics are related to Young's growing relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress.  Young was a success before recording this album, and was able to bring in a number of session musicians on several tracks including Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, and the London Symphony Orchestra.Surprisingly, the album met mixed reviews when released, though over time the critics' assessments would turn much more positive.  The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.Wayne brings us this California country-tinged album for this week's podcast. Heart of GoldOne of the tracks that arose from Neil Young's acoustic tour, this song topped the charts in the United States and Canada, and went to number 10 in the UK.  Despite its success, Young had mixed feelings about the popularity he gained from the song.  Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor provided backing vocals on this track.  The lyrics talk about a man who may be overthinking life, searching for something just beyond his grasp.Old ManThe origin of this song was an encounter that Neil Young had with the caretaker of the Broken Arrow Ranch, which Young purchased in 1970.  The old caretaker was not pleased with the young (literally) hippie-looking Young purchasing the place, and this song's lyrics talk about how the two of them were not that different.AlabamaA continuation of a diatribe from Young's “Southern Man,” this track condemns the racism of the white people in Alabama specifically, and the southern United States in general.  Neil Young would eventually come to see the lyrics as too accusatory, and too easy to misconstrue as a general condemnation of all Southerners.The Needle and the Damage DoneThe inspiration for this song was a number of musicians whom Young had observed as they fell apart due to heroin addiction.  More specifically, Young wrote this song about bandmate Danny Whitten, whom Young had to let go from his tour due to his heroin use. Whitten would die of an overdose shortly thereafter.ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Cabaret by Liza Minnelli (from the motion picture “Cabaret”)Minnelli stars in this period musical drama based on the Broadway show, set in Germany before World War II. STAFF PICKS:Mother and Child Reunion by Paul SimonRob leads off the staff picks with a one of the earlier rock songs with reggae influences.  The song was written in response to a Jimmy Cliff song in which a mother receives a letter that her son had been killed in battle in Vietnam.  It was also inspired by Simon's loss of his dog.  The title was inspired by a menu item in a Chinese restaurant in New York - chicken and eggs - entitled “Mother and Child Reunion.”I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) by the New SeekersBruce brings us a hit song which originally appeared as a commercial jingle.  Coca-Cola produced an ad called “hilltop” featuring young people of various races coming together over a Coke.  The success prompted a rewrite of the jingle into a full-length song, dropping the product references.  It became a big hit for both the New Seekers who recorded the radio jingle, and the Hillside Singers who recorded the television commercial.Let's Stay Together by Al GreenLynch features the song which hit the top of the US singles charts, and was named number one R&B song on the Billboard Year-end chart for 1972.  It has been covered by a number of artists, with Tina Turner being the most prominent.  It was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Do You Know What I Mean by Lee MichaelsWayne's closes out the staff picks with a song about a girl that a guy lost to his best friend after taking her for granted.  It reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Lee Michaels came out of the San Francisco music scene, originally as a surf band before moving into a more "blue eyed soul" direction.  Van Halen opened for Lee Michaels at the Whiskey a Go Go in 1977. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Joy (feat. Tom Parker) by Apollo 100This jazz instrumental covers the baroque chorale "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by J.S. Bach.  Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

On this week's show, we kick things off with our regular monthly visit from The Confidence Doctor, Dr. Bob Winters. Doc shares insight into the incredible success his junior players are having, including several competing in the Augusta National Women's Amateur. One standout is Megha Ganne, who set a first-round record with a 63 at Champions Gate. Although our conversation was recorded the night before the tournament began, Doc explains exactly why her stellar performance came as no surprise. He also highlights the accomplishments of other young players he works with and reminds us once again why he's the best in the business—change your mind, change your game. Following Doc, Jay Delsing returns to the show. Jay is not only one of the kindest and most uplifting voices in the game, he's also got a new book coming out titled You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You, and trust me, you're going to want to read it. He shares some unforgettable stories, including teeing it up with Stephen Stills, meeting Sean Connery (who then introduced him to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas), and playing with presidents—and a young Tiger Woods. You'll love his energy and storytelling. Finally, we bring in our Resident Director of Instruction, Tom Patri. With a scheduling conflict bumping him up in the lineup, Tom gives us his take on Min Woo Lee's breakthrough victory at the Houston Open and the crucial role Lee's caddie played in avoiding disaster. We also look ahead to The Masters, and Tom shares the four players he expects to be battling it out on the back nine come Sunday.

One of the greatest rock bands in our generation was REO Speedwagon. At the beginning of this year, we received word that REO was officially no longer. But that doesn't mean that guitarist, song writter and lead vocalist Kevin Cronin is stopping. We had the opportunity to speak with Kevin not only about his upcoming tour (with many of the REO family members), but we spoke about his dad being in World War II, why REO broke up, how Stephen Stills is one of his all time heroes and a hint of his new book. 

You know what they say about the bird in the hand ... this week the bird is Buffalo Springfield's "Sit Down I Think I Love You." It's a nice jaunty tune with Stephen Stills (we think) pitchin' some clever woo at a potential beloved. And three guitarists! Lots of tasteful flourishes, with some fuzz. The second version (& the first one in the bush) is the hit version by The Mojo Men. It's like a Mississippi boat ride, or a trippy, caftan walk down Scarth Street in Regina, Saskatchewan. But most people just call it "baroque pop." The third bird is from Chicago - The Growing Concern give us a dual-woman vocal attack and a cool psychedelic arrangement - a wild solo! The fourth and final fowl is Simon Turner, who has appeared on our show before as The King of Luxembourg. This one reminds us of Lynn Redgrave's song in "Smashing Time" and the future sounds of Mike Alway's Él Records. Give us a try?

People Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith is taking over Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Luminaries including Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Courtney Barnett, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Harper, Kim Gordon, Flea, The National's Matt Berninger, Susanna Hoffs, Chrissie Hynde, and many others are participating in the festivities. https://musicof.org/ And, damn, if this epic event didn't make us think about our VIDEO with Amy Brenneman telling her story of a very awkward encounter while trying to snap a selfie with Patti in front of a live audience at Stephen Stills' Autism Speaks event. Word to the wise...don't do it! WATCH HERE: https://youtube.com/shorts/DwbYjiVEg68 Plus, in this episode Amy recounts being the first person ever to take off their clothes on network TV; offbeat moments with legends Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Joel Grey, and Sylvester Stallone; and, in all seriousness, what it means to be a good man in show business (and anywhere else). Amy IG: @amybrenneman Amy webs: theamybrenneman.com --- ***http://distrokid.com/vip/tmep*** Too Much Effing Perspective is proud to be sponsored by DISTROKID - the best way for Musicians, Songwriters, Producers, DJs to get their original music into Spotify, Apple, TikTok, and all the major platforms. Get the VIP treatment that you and your music deserve AND get 30% OFF your first year subscription to DISTROKID at this special link. ***http://distrokid.com/vip/tmep*** --- Get in touch with Too Much Effing Perspective Contact us: hello@tmepshow.com Website: https://tmepshow.com Social: @tmepshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canciones que cumplen medio siglo. La confirmación del country rock y del rock sureño que avanza hacia el género “americana” y de la hornada de cantantes compositores; la explosión global del rock progresivo o sinfónico; el brote imparable del funk que devendrá en música disco y del mismo modo la fusión del jazz, el rock y la electrónica; el año dorado de la música popular española. Primer capítulo de la serie de discos magistrales publicados en 1975 con artistas y grupos impregnados del espíritu de Laurel Canyon, de la herencia sonora de The Byrds y Buffalo Springfield, de la reivindicación del solista, del cantautor en su óptima expresión. ¿El sol de California? DISCO 1 THE DOOBIE BROTHERS Sala Key Soquel Rag () DISCO 2 FLEETWOOD MAC Landslide (8) DISCO 3 STEPHEN STILLS My Angel (3) DISCO 4 CROSBY & NASH Carry Me (1)  DISCO 5 NEIL YOUNG Stupid girl (6) DISCO 6 JONI MITCHELL In France They Kiss In Main Street (1) DISCO 7 JAMES TAYLOR Mexico (1) DISCO 8 AMERICA Sister Golden Hair ( )  DISCO 9 SOUTHER HILLMAN FURAY BAND Trouble In Paradise (Cara 1 Corte 1) DISCO 10 EAGLES One Of These Nights (1)  DISCO 11 TOM WAITS Eggs and sausages (In A Cadillac with Susan Michelson) (2) DISCO 12 ANDREW GOLD That’s Why I Love You (1?) DISCO 13 DAN FOGELBERG Old Tennessee (4) DISCO 14 THE DOOBIE BROTHERS Music Man (4)Escuchar audio

For this months episode we head back to 1971 for a batch of epicly long prog epics, peppered with the occasional bit of folk rock, powerpop, metal, jazz, and afrobeat. Our longest playlist yet, and lots of fun along the way! We've each chosen our 10 favourite songs of the year and sent them over to Colin's wife Helen, who put the playlists together and distributed them so we were each given a playlist of the 20 songs from the other two hosts, along with our own 10. We then ranked the playlists in order of preference and sent them back to Helen, who totalled up the points and worked out the order.She also joined us on the episode to read out the countdown, which we found out as we recorded so all reactions are genuine.Now, admittedly, in parts we're a little bit brutal to some of the songs in the list as we're three separate people with differing music tastes, but please remember that to be in this episode at all the songs have to have been in one of our top 10's of that year.Bands featured in this episode include (In alphabetical order, no spoilers here!) - Badfinger, The Beach Boys, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Can, Caravan, Neil Diamond, Nick Drake, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Flower Travelin' Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Focus, Hampton Grease Band, Jimi Hendrix, The Hollies, Billy Joel, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Nazz, Harry Nilsson, The Norman Haines Band, Osibisa, Pink FLoyd, The Rolling Stones, Pharoah Sanders, Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Stephen Stills, Traffic, Van Der Graaf Generator & The WhoFind all songs in alphabetical order here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/36GaQbyuHTepSEAQkXubCN?si=24673026411f4e51Find our We Dig Music Pollwinners Party playlist (featuring all of the winning songs up until now) here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45zfDHo8zm6VqrvoEQSt3z?si=Ivt0oMj6SmitimvumYfFrQIf you want to listen to megalength playlists of all the songs we've individually picked since we started doing best of the year episodes (which need updating but I plan on doing them over the next few months or so), you can listen to Colin's here – https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5x3Vy5Jry2IxG9JNOtabRT?si=HhcVKRCtRhWCK1KucyrDdgIan's here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2H0hnxe6WX50QNQdlfRH5T?si=XmEjnRqISNqDwi30p1uLqAand Tracey's here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2p3K0n8dKhjHb2nKBSYnKi?si=7a-cyDvSSuugdV1m5md9NwThe playlist of 20 songs from the other two hosts was scored as usual, our favourite song got 20 points, counting down incrementally to our least favourite which got 1 point. The scoring of our own list of 10 is now slightly more complicated in order to give a truer level of points to our own favourites. So rather than them only being able to score as many points as our 10th favourite in the other list, the points in our own list were distributed as follows -1st place - 20 points2nd place - 18 points3rd place – 16 points4th place – 14 points5th place – 12 points6th place – 9 points7th place – 7 points8th place – 5 points9th place – 3 points10th place -1 pointHosts - Ian Clarke, Colin Jackson-Brown & Tracey BGuest starring Helen Jackson-Brown.Playlist compiling/distributing – Helen Jackson-BrownRecorded/Edited/Mixed/Original Music by Colin Jackson-Brown for We Dig PodcastsThanks to Peter Latimer for help with the scoring system.Part of the We Dig Podcasts network along with Free With This Months Issue & Pick A Disc.Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/wedigmusic.bsky.socialInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/wedigmusicpcast/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wedigpusicpcast/Find our other episodes & podcasts at www.wedigpodcasts.com 

Americana, Roots, Folk, Blues and Country music. New and Classic tracks.A  Stephen Stills special.

This week, we're joined by Leah Haslage, host of the Bridechilla podcast, to dive into the cultural and musical legacy of Buffalo Springfield's timeless classic, “For What It's Worth.” Though often linked with the Vietnam War, the song's origins trace back to the Sunset Strip curfew riots—a protest of a very different kind. With Neil Young and Stephen Stills at the helm, Buffalo Springfield laid the groundwork for an entire generation of folk rock. Together, we'll explore how this iconic protest anthem transcended its original context, the ways pop culture—like Forrest Gump—has revitalized its relevance, and how music's commercialization affects its impact. Let's hit rewind on the 60s and uncover what made this track thunder. One Hit Thunder is brought to you by DistroKid, the ultimate partner for taking your music to the next level. Our listeners get 30% off your first YEAR with DistroKid by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/onehitthunder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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National fruitcake toss day. Entertainment from 2019. Martin Luther excommunicated, Alaska became 49th state, Motorola clam shell flip phone went on sale, Bit Coin created. Todays Birthdays - J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen Stills, Victoria Principal, Mel Gibson, Danica McKellar. Conrad Hilton died.Intro - Pour some sugar on me - Def Leppard    http://defleppard.com/Fruitcake toss - Page TurnerThank U next - Ariana GrandeSpeechless - Dan & ShayRESPECT - Aretha FranklinBirthday - The BeatlesBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent      http://50cent.com/Southern cross - Crosby, Stills & NashAll I have to do is dream - Andy Gibb and Victoria PrincipleThe Wonder Years TV themeExit - It's not love - Dokken      http://dokken.net/

""I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and roundI really love to watch them rollNo longer riding on the merry-go-roundI just had to let it goI just had to let it go"Please join me on this somber anniversary of John Lennon's murder on December 8, 1980. Along with a remembrance of John we'll have music fromm Poco, Billy Joel, The Temptations, David Bowie, Elton John, Stephen Stills, Spirit, Dave Mason, Paul Simon, Jack Bruce, Marshall Tucker Band, Bob Seger & Silver Bullet Band, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Carly Simon and John Lennon....

A reasonable case can be made that the eighth studio album by the Beatles is the most important album in all of Rock and Roll.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band creates a dividing line between 60's rock and what Rock and Roll would become in the 70's.  Incorporating elements of eastern mysticism, psychedelic music and art, counter-culture sensibilities, and complex orchestration, Sgt. Peppers was a groundbreaking demonstration of what an album could be.Sgt. Peppers is one of the first concept albums - taking a theme and incorporating it into the entirety of the record.  The Beatles adopted personas for this album, becoming the fictional "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."  This allowed the band members to experiment with styles they either hadn't previously explored, or had not fully developed.  The studio also became an instrument for the band, and they incorporated techniques like multitracking, variable speed recording, and the use of sound effects to create complex soundscapes.Lyrics vary from social commentary to whimsy, to surrealism.  While many songs remain lighthearted, others take a more somber tone, mirroring the cultural upheaval that was happening in the late 60's counterculture.  The album also brings visual art into the mix, with psychedelic cover art rather than simple photographs.Sgt. Peppers tops many "best albums" lists, and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide.Friend of the show Steve Hardin presents this monster album this week, and we're joined by friend of the show Julie Doran as Wayne and Lynch are out of town for today's podcast. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThe opening track introduces us to the alter ego of the band, including an intro of a pit orchestra warming up and a transitional brass band in the middle of the song.  Paul McCartney acts as the carnival barker introducing the band, reunited after 20 years.  Lennon then takes over, thanking the audience for their attendance.  With A Little Help from My FriendsDrummer Ringo Starr takes lead vocal duties on this song that has a more intimate touch.  In contrast to the bombastic start, Starr shows vulnerability as he asks what would happen if he sang out of tune, and leans on his friends for support.  Ringo Starr didn't write the music like Lennon and McCartney, but typically would sing lead on one song on each album.Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!The track that finishes side 1 was inspired by an old circus poster from 1943 that Lennon had purchased in an antique store.  The song is a collage of circus images, complete with calliope.  It returns to the theme of the first song, but this time focusing on circus performers rather than the band. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/A Day in the LifeThe concluding album tracks are often played together.  The reprise of the opening track is faster paced, and more rock oriented.  The concluding track alternates between a dream sequence and the rush of an ordinary day.  It concludes with four pianos simultaneously sounding an E-major chord.   ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Casino Royale by Herb Alpert (from the motion picture “Casino Royale”)Not your ordinary James Bond fare, this film was a comedic spoof on the popular spy franchise starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Ursula Andress. STAFF PICKS:For What Its Worth by Buffalo SpringfieldBruce's staff pick peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Stephen Stills was inspired to write the song by the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles.  Buffalo Springfield got a close look at the riots as the house band at the Whiskey a Go Go, when young people rebelled against a strict 10:00 p.m. curfew successfully advocated by local residents, annoyed with club goers clogging the streets late at night.  The Loser (with a Broken Heart) by Gary Lewis and the PlayboysRob brings us a jangle pop hit from the son of Jerry Lewis. Gary Lewis and the Playboys cultivated a "boy next door" image and had a string of hits in the late 60's.  Lewis was drafted into the army in 1967, and though some songs previously recorded (like this one) continued to be successful, the band began to diminish in popularity.I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) by Aretha FranklinJulie features a soulful song from the iconic Queen of Soul.  This is off Franklin's tenth studio album.  The first nine were jazz oriented, and much less successful than this influential album.  This album was recorded in Mussel Shoals where an altercation resulted in an abrupt change of venue to New York.Strawberry Fields Forever by the BeatlesIt might appear that Steve is double dipping on this staff pick, but this well known Beatles song was a non-album single popular at the time.  The song was the result of multiple takes spliced together.  Lennon was inspired by a memory of a strawberry field where he played as a child. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Wade In the Water by Herb AlpertAlpert had a TV special this month on which he played his jazzy rendition of this gospel standard.  Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

In 1968, singer and songwriter Graham Nash joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. All of them had already been in successful bands: Graham Nash had been in The Hollies; David Crosby was in The Byrds; and Stephen Stills was in Buffalo Springfield. The next year, Neil Young joined them, to make Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The four of them released Deja Vu in 1970, and that album was a huge success. It sold over 8 million copies. It includes the song “Our House,” and for this episode, I spoke to Graham Nash about the making of that song, and the relationship that led to the song.For more, visit songexploder.net/crosby-stills-nash-and-young.

***This show is brought to you by DistroKid. Go to http://distrokid.com/vip/the500 for 30% off your first year!*** Despite encountering multiple speed bumps in the recording process and fractures within the band that were becoming more prevalent, Buffalo Springfield released their second album before band members like Neil Young and Stephen Stills went on to even bigger things. Adam Ferrara stops by to talk about tracks like “Mr. Soul” and “Broken Arrow.” Follow Adam On Social Media Via Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/AdamFerrara Tour Dates & More: https://www.adamferrara.com/ Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshadammeyers/ Follow Josh on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joshadammeyers Follow Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshAdamMeyers Follow Josh on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshameyers Josh's Website: https://www.joshadammeyers.com/ Follow The 500 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the500podcast/ Follow The 500 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/the500podcast Follow The 500 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The500PodcastWithJAM/ Email the show: 500podcast@gmail.com Check the show's website: http://the500podcast.com DistroKid Artist Of The Week: Nathan Jacques https://shorturl.at/TzUrp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author, radio host and songwriter Binnie Klein (WPKN Radio, In These Trees) brings us Joni Mitchell and her stunning 1972 release, 'For The Roses'. Searching for balance in her life after a tumultuous relationship with James Taylor - and trying to escape the craziness of Los Angeles - Joni trekked back up to the Canadian wilderness and wrote most of this, her 5th studio album, while in retreat: "You've got to shake your fists at lightning now You've got to roar like forest fire You've got to spread your light like blazes all across the sky They're going to aim the hoses on you Show 'em you won't expire Not till you burn up every passion, not even when you die" Songs discussed in this episode: Blonde In The Bleachers (Joni Mitchell cover) - Lou Barlow; Winter's Girl - Tartie; Orchard, Quiver - In These Trees & Tartie; You Can Close Your Eyes - James Taylor; Banquet, Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire - Joni Mitchell; Heroin - The Velvet Underground; Barangrill - Joni Mitchell; Visions Of Johanna - Bob Dylan; Lesson In Survival, Let The Wind Carry Me, For The Roses, See You Sometime, Electricity, You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio, Blonde In The Bleachers, Woman Of Heart and Mind, Judgement of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig's Tune) - Joni Mitchell; Orchard, Meet Me On The Mountain Top - In These Trees & Tartie

Today, the Spotlight shines On Brad Mindich, an entrepreneur who works directly with artists, athletes, and others in music, culture, and sports to expand their legacies and create powerful connections with their fans.Brad currently does this work as the founder and CEO of Inveniem/Definitive Authentic, which helps its clients organize, catalog, present, and oftentimes monetize their archives directly to their audiences.Brad has worked with Metallica, Def Leppard, Stephen Stills, basketball star Devin Booker, Monty Python co-founder Eric Idle, and many others.Our conversation took some fascinating turns, exploring the concept of “pre-nostalgia”, the longing for a future that was imagined in the past. We discussed the powerful impact of nostalgia on individuals and communities and how it can evoke positive or negative emotions.We also talked about the cultural influences and connections between various subcultures, particularly Rastafarianism, with its historical and social roots in and connection to Hinduism and Indian immigrants.At its most basic, Brad's work is about preserving cultural heritage, something his family has contributed to. Brad's father owned the Boston rock station WFNX and was the longtime publisher of The Boston Phoenix, the fabled underground newspaper with roots stretching back to 1965.–Dig DeeperVisit Definitive Authentic at definitiveauthentic.com and Inveniem at inveniem.comFollow Definitive Authentic on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X)The Inveniem Company: Dedicated to Preserving and Expanding the Cultural Legacies of Bands, Artists, and OthersWhat Happened to the Boston Phoenix?WFNX | The Music Museum of New EnglandBehind The Metallica Black BoxDig into this episode's complete show notes at spotlightonpodcast.com–• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate Spotlight On ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. • Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of Spotlight On in your podcast app of choice. • Looking for more? Visit spotlightonpodcast.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Spotlight On email newsletter. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, the Spotlight shines On Brad Mindich, an entrepreneur who works directly with artists, athletes, and others in music, culture, and sports to expand their legacies and create powerful connections with their fans.Brad currently does this work as the founder and CEO of Inveniem/Definitive Authentic, which helps its clients organize, catalog, present, and oftentimes monetize their archives directly to their audiences.Brad has worked with Metallica, Def Leppard, Stephen Stills, basketball star Devin Booker, Monty Python co-founder Eric Idle, and many others.Our conversation took some fascinating turns, exploring the concept of “pre-nostalgia”, the longing for a future that was imagined in the past. We discussed the powerful impact of nostalgia on individuals and communities and how it can evoke positive or negative emotions.We also talked about the cultural influences and connections between various subcultures, particularly Rastafarianism, with its historical and social roots in and connection to Hinduism and Indian immigrants.At its most basic, Brad's work is about preserving cultural heritage, something his family has contributed to. Brad's father owned the Boston rock station WFNX and was the longtime publisher of The Boston Phoenix, the fabled underground newspaper with roots stretching back to 1965.–Dig DeeperVisit Definitive Authentic at definitiveauthentic.com and Inveniem at inveniem.comFollow Definitive Authentic on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X)The Inveniem Company: Dedicated to Preserving and Expanding the Cultural Legacies of Bands, Artists, and OthersWhat Happened to the Boston Phoenix?WFNX | The Music Museum of New EnglandBehind The Metallica Black BoxDig into this episode's complete show notes at spotlightonpodcast.com–• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate Spotlight On ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. • Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of Spotlight On in your podcast app of choice. • Looking for more? Visit spotlightonpodcast.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Spotlight On email newsletter. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to SUPERSTARS WEEK! This week I'm rebroadcasting my interviews with five Superstars: Judy Collins, Al Kooper, David Amram, Ron Carter and Oscar Hammerstein II. Al Kooper is a true Superstar of rock music. He was a member of The Blues Project. He founded Blood Sweat & Tears. He recorded Super Session with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. He played the iconic organ part on Bob Dylan's “Like A Rolling Stone”. He played the french horn introduction and piano on the Rolling Stones' “You Can't Always Get What You Want”. He discovered and produced Lynyrd Skynyrd. He co-wrote “This Diamond Ring”, the #1 hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. And he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My featured song is “The Captain Of Her Heart”, the reimagined cover of the song by Double from the album Play by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link. ---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's new single featuring his song arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's recent single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Al atwww.alkooper.com Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

Welcome to SUPERSTARS WEEK! This week I'm rebroadcasting my interviews with five Superstars: Judy Collins, Al Kooper, David Amram, Ron Carter and Oscar Hammerstein II. Judy Collins is an iconic Renaissance Artist and Grammy Winning Singer/Songwriter with 55 albums and hit singles including Joni Mitchell's “Both Sides Now” and Stephen Sondheim's “Send In The Clowns”. She has been a dominating force in social activism, as a filmmaker, author and as a keynote speaker. And she had one of the greatest songs of the rock era written about her - “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” by Stephen Stills and Crosby Stills and Nash. In this wonderful interview we discuss her background and successes, including her artistic formative years in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s with fellow artists Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Richie Havens and Peter Paul and Mary, and she tells a few terrific stories. And we do a Double Songfest. In the first one we play and discuss several songs by other artists who she loves including Shawn Colvin and Joan Baez, and in the second one we play and discuss some of her greatest works. This is truly a “don't miss” episode. My featured song is “Stockbridge Fanfare” from the East Side Sessions album by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's new single featuring his song arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's recent single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Judy atwww.judycollins.com Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

A little bit of good, a little bit of bad, and a whole lot of Americana classics. This morning's Deeper Roots show runs the gamut from boogie Woogie to country ballads, classic rock, soul, blues, gospel and everything but the kitchen sink. Dave Stroud will be featuring songs that celebrate the band of gold, bad boys, bad girls, schooldays nostalgia, and the silly notion that black cats are no more than a warning when, in fact, they are a sign from on high of the very best being yet to come. Tune in for the likes of Stephen Stills, Johnny Cash, Cleo Brown, NRBQ and…yes, Billie Eilish as we celebrate America's roots from then until now where no ocean is wider nor mountain is high. Celebrate a free form extravaganza with us as we push our way through August, well past the dog days and into the breezy, cool nights of summer's waning. All for you and the neighborhood on KOWS Community Radio. 

#28-Buffalo Springfield-Self-Titled  Original Released October or December 1966? Without “For What It's Worth,” then Re-released in March 1967 - Recorded between July 18-September 11-1966 (ATCO)  Buffalo Springfield's self-titled debut album, initially released by Atco Records in late 1966, introduced the world to the band's distinctive blend of folk, rock, country, and psychedelia. The original release, recorded between July and September 1966, lacked a major hit but gained significant attention after a March 1967 re-release added the protest anthem "For What It's Worth." Inspired by the Sunset Strip riots, this song became a defining track of the 1960s. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1966 and featured Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin. Their music was marked by rich harmonies, shifting lead vocals, and layered guitar work. The album's tracks explore themes of self-reflection and relationships, with standout songs like "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" and "For What It's Worth." Despite their brief existence, Buffalo Springfield made a lasting impact on music. Internal conflicts and lineup changes led to their breakup in 1968. Afterward, members pursued successful careers: Stills with Crosby, Stills & Nash, Young as a solo artist, and Furay with Poco. Their legacy remains as pioneers of a sound that influenced rock music for years. Full Album YouTube  : https://youtu.be/1eD-8NTwP9I?si=omLhl8gszwcGg-hI Full Album Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1qRA5BS78u3gME0loMl9AA?si=f5a282e8f75c4b46 Curated Playlist Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7I6dzYc5UJfko8unziRMWf?si=4559f6bc82dc47e3

Born in New York City and raised in the Caribbean as Richard Gerstein - Richard T. Bear boasts a career that spans more than 40 years, one that led to a string of acclaimed solo albums and collaborations with a number of influential icons, including Al Kooper, Stephen Stills, former Rascals Gene Cornish and Dino Danelli, Kiss, Pat Benatar and many more. He has shared stages with artists such as Dave Mason, Mick Fleetwood, the Doobie Brothers, Richie Havens and Odetta. T. Bear penned "Love and Pain," a track found on Take Me Home, one of Cher's most successful albums and also tallied several hits on his own, including the single "Sunshine Hotel" from his debut album Red, Hot and Blue. He has appeared on a number of recordings including CSN's Southern Cross, Billy Squier's Tale of the Tape and The Blues Brothers Soundtrack album. After taking some time to focus on his own sobriety, T. Bear became an early activist helping others with addiction. His self-imposed hiatus lasted nearly three decades, and now T Bear is back with two striking new releases, Fresh Bear Tracks and The Way of the World, his first studio albums in 25+ years. Richard is a distinctive singer and talented keyboard player. His latest albums feature a host of special guests. From Stephen Stills, Robby Krieger, Edgar Winter, Walter Trout, to former Paul McCartney & Wings members Laurence Juber and Denny Seiwell and The Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench. His latest album, The Way of The World, was written and recorded as the world emerged from the pandemic. It boasts a stunning set of 13 original songs. Musically, it's a stirring melodic mix of blues, rock n roll, Americana, and roots. T. Bear's first album spawned the single “Sunshine Hotel.” A remix of the song climbed to #4 on the world dance charts before becoming the dance staple that it remains today. Richard has appeared on numerous recordings by iconic artists including Crosby, Stills and Nash's Southern Cross, The Blues Brothers Soundtrack, Richie Havens Mixed Bag II, Kiss members Gene Simmons and Peter Criss' solo ventures, as well as Toby Beau's hit single My Angel Baby. As a soloist T Bear found his initial inspiration in the sounds of the British Invasion. At age 13 he was writing his own songs.  An early break came when he was working at Manny's Music in New York City when Hot Tuna's Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady stopped in and hear him improvising on piano. They were impressed enough to ask him to sit in with them during a Hot Tuna show at the famed Fillmore East. He worked for a time as Carly Simon's road manager and opened shows for the likes of Jeff Beck and Richie Havens before moving to Los Angeles.  In 1983, he took a lengthy hiatus from making music to get his personal life in order before returning to action in 2017. Fast forward to the present and T Bear is so excited about the new album.  As he puts it, “Making The Way of the World was like getting a new pair of glasses. I see everything more clearly and in focus around me. These are songs that made me think and dream. It's an oasis for the mind.” Meet Richard T Bear this week as he unravels his incredible story of survival and comeback against all odds. I hope you really enjoy this episode.  

Harvey Brooks is one of the most important and heralded bass players of the entire rock era. Starting in the 1960s he played on so many seminal albums and singles including Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited", "Super Session" with Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills, Bloomfield's band, The Electric Flag, and even Miles Davis's groundbreaking album "Bitches Brew". He also played on hits by The Doors, John Sebastian, Seals and Crofts and Fontella Bass to name just a few.My featured song is “Out Of Tahini” from the album Play by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Harvey at:Harvey Brooks on Bass - YouTube Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

Blink-182 canceled Friday and Saturday's shows in Kansas City and St. Louis Green Day postponed their show in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Saturday to September 2nd because Billie Joe Armstrong lost his voice at the end of their Philadelphia show Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, which was home to a studio owned by producer James Guercio until it burned down in 1985, is for sale. $48.5 million will get you 1700 acres. Among the more than 150 artists who recorded there are Elton John, Chicago, Deep Purple, Joe Walsh, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Steely Dan, Stephen Stills, Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. Nine Inch Nails are scoring the upcoming third Tron movie, Tron: Ares. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the band -- officially the duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross -- was announced as the creators of the snippets of the score heard during a preview of the film Friday at Disney's D23 Expo. Described as the "Ultimate Disney fan event," D23 was held over the weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blink-182 canceled Friday and Saturday's shows in Kansas City and St. Louis Green Day postponed their show in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Saturday to September 2nd because Billie Joe Armstrong lost his voice at the end of their Philadelphia show Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, which was home to a studio owned by producer James Guercio until it burned down in 1985, is for sale. $48.5 million will get you 1700 acres. Among the more than 150 artists who recorded there are Elton John, Chicago, Deep Purple, Joe Walsh, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Steely Dan, Stephen Stills, Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty.Nine Inch Nails are scoring the upcoming third Tron movie, Tron: Ares. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the band -- officially the duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross -- was announced as the creators of the snippets of the score heard during a preview of the film Friday at Disney's D23 Expo. Described as the "Ultimate Disney fan event," D23 was held over the weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You can't argue with today's Doll's resumé. She has a Bond theme, 2 Grammys, an Olympics opening ceremony performance, and over 70 credits to her name. She co-wrote one of the Carpenters' greatest hits (and one of Eric Clapton's too…) rolled with Delaney and Bonnie and Mad Dogs and Englishmen, was muse to Leon Russell and Stephen Stills. Not to mention she was on the radio before she even had a single out! Be sure to follow @thedollspod on Instagram to see photos and clips from today's episode!https://www.instagram.com/thedollspod/

Today's guest has been through it. But he hasn't let it stop him.Welcome T Bear to the show. Born Richard Gerstein, he grew up spending time in both New York City and the Caribbean. He was playing pretty early on. In fact, he was invited to his first studio session at the age of just 17…by Richie Havens! Soon after, he was discovered by the KISS camp and began writing with the band. That helped him secure his first record deal, which led to the name change and a disco smash hit called Sunshine Hotel. Yeah the 70's were wild! Now rebranded as T Bear, he continued writing, recording, and playing with artists like Stephen Stills in Manassas and Crosby, Still, & Nash as well as his own solo albums. He has some great stories about recording the Daylight Again album. But after spending time writing with Stills and working with Greg Kihn and others, T Bear went on a 25 year hiatus. He talks about what happened, what he was doing instead of music, and what (and who) brought him back. He has recently released a new album that has some amazing cameos and a killer core band. It's called The Way Of The World and if you like songs that tell stories, you're going to love it. T Bear opened up and was very candid about some of the rough times he's gone through and I'm grateful I can now call him a friend. Go grab the album, on Quarto Valley Records. Follow him on social media @richard_tbear on Instagram and T. Bear on Facebook. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab our merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Feed us coffee at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now it's time for some stories with T. Bear on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest has been through it. But he hasn't let it stop him.Welcome T Bear to the show. Born Richard Gerstein, he grew up spending time in both New York City and the Caribbean. He was playing pretty early on. In fact, he was invited to his first studio session at the age of just 17…by Richie Havens! Soon after, he was discovered by the KISS camp and began writing with the band. That helped him secure his first record deal, which led to the name change and a disco smash hit called Sunshine Hotel. Yeah the 70's were wild! Now rebranded as T Bear, he continued writing, recording, and playing with artists like Stephen Stills in Manassas and Crosby, Still, & Nash as well as his own solo albums. He has some great stories about recording the Daylight Again album. But after spending time writing with Stills and working with Greg Kihn and others, T Bear went on a 25 year hiatus. He talks about what happened, what he was doing instead of music, and what (and who) brought him back. He has recently released a new album that has some amazing cameos and a killer core band. It's called The Way Of The World and if you like songs that tell stories, you're going to love it. T Bear opened up and was very candid about some of the rough times he's gone through and I'm grateful I can now call him a friend. Go grab the album, on Quarto Valley Records. Follow him on social media @richard_tbear on Instagram and T. Bear on Facebook. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab our merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Feed us coffee at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now it's time for some stories with T. Bear on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Bonamassa is not a household name. But if you ask any musician one of their top favorite guitarist, Joe will surely be included. Only in his 40s, Bonamassa has become a living legend with an astounding multi-genre catalogue. Collectively, Joe has over 40 albums to date with studio and live recordings, collaborative albums with blues sensation Beth Hart and his adventurous side projects: Black Country Communion and Rock Candy Fund Party. A prolific writer always on the hunt to expand his eclectic musical horizons, Bonamassa has a limitless work eithic whether it's in a studio, on the road or working with other artists to spur new music. The New York state native opened for B.B. King when he was only 12 years old and has since played alongside such artists as Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, John Lee Hooker, Warren Haynes, Steve Winwood, Peter Frampton and Buddy Guy, among others. B.B. King might not have guessed it at the time, but that 12-year-old prodigy would go on to become an industry powerhouse. Building on their 30-year parnership, Joe and manager Roy Weisman created their own record label, management, marketing and concert promotion company called J&R Adventures almost two decades ago. Together, the two mavericks devised a 360-degree independent business model that has survived and thrived during one of the music industry's most uncertain eras. 

Judy Collins is an iconic Renaissance Artist and Grammy Winning Singer/Songwriter with 55 albums and hit singles including Joni Mitchell's “Both Sides Now” and Stephen Sondheim's “Send In The Clowns”. She has been a dominating force in social activism, as a filmmaker, author and as a keynote speaker. And she had one of the greatest songs of the rock era written about her - “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” by Stephen Stills and Crosby Stills and Nash. In this wonderful interview we discuss her background and successes, including her artistic formative years in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s with fellow artists Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Richie Havens and Peter Paul and Mary, and she tells a few terrific stories. And we do a Double Songfest. In the first one we play and discuss several songs by other artists who she loves including Shawn Colvin and Joan Baez, and in the second one we play and discuss some of her greatest works. This is truly a “don't miss” episode. My featured song is “Stockbridge Fanfare” from the East Side Sessions album by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Intro/Outro Voiceovers courtesy of:Jodi Krangle - Professional Voiceover Artisthttps://voiceoversandvocals.com Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Judy atwww.judycollins.com Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

In this episode of the LEGENDS Podcast by All Day Vinyl, our host Scott Dudelson speaks with a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, country rock pioneer and co-founder of Buffalo Springfield & Poco - Richie Furay. Furay describes his extraordinary musical journey which has spanned over four decades and his intriguing transition from a rock star to a pastor, and an in-depth recollection of his time with The Buffalo Springfield and Poco. This episode offers a unique ride through music history as Richie Furay discusses the days before Buffalo Springfield's meeting & playing with Stephen Stills in a small apartment, meeting Neil Young on Sunset Strip and recollections of the early days of the band, through the making of Buffalo Springfield Again. Furay talks about the songs he sings written by and about Neil Young, the unique curiosities and co-writes that make up the album "Last Time Around," (Hard to Wait, The Hour of Not Quite Rain), the infamous police raid in 1968 that found Neil Young, Eric Clapton and Richie hauled to a Los Angeles jail, the first meeting with Rusty Young, the exit of Randy Meisner from Poco, Furay's relationship with Gram Parsons and later transition to ministering. Fans of Buffalo Springfield and Poco will find this episode particularly engaging and will shed further insights onto the music that you already love. Be sure to check out other episodes of LEGENDS: Podcast by All Day Vinyl for more interviews with legendary musicians. Editors Note: Interview conducted March 2024

Recorded live on KX FM 104.7 in Laguna Beach, California, today's Keith's Music Box show features Green Day, Ramones, Nirvana, Muse, Steve Miller Band, Jackson Browne, Robin Trower, The Beach Boys, The Staple Singers, Dusty Springfield, Foreigner, Stephen Stills, Timbuk 3, The Stray Cats, Stone Temple Pilots, King Crimson, Grateful Dead, R.E.M., and a deep dive into the music of 1974 with Bad Company, Genesis, The Doobie Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad, Sweet and Supertramp.,

Today, we bring you part 2 of the Big Sur Folk Festival, 1969. The BSFF occurred at Esalen Institute on September 13th and 14th of 1969, just about a month after Woodstock. As related in part one of this two part series, the festival was captured in a documentary called "Celebration at Big Sur," directed by Baird Bryant and Johanna Demetrakas - available on YouTube, a great watch. Set list for part 2: -John Sebastian, formerly of the Lovin Spoonful, with “Rainbows All Over Yours Blues" -"Woodstock" by Joni Mitchell, who accompanies herself on piano. -Some audio of an audience member, a school teacher who identifies as "a freak." - ”Red-Eye Express" performed by John Sebastian with Stephen Stills - “Malagueña Salerosa" by Carol Ann Cisneros - an extended ”Down By the River" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young. -“Sweet Sir Galahad" by Joan Baez - to end the show, "Oh Happy Day" by Dorothy Combs Morrison and the Combs Sisters, accompanied by Joan Baez. Some trivia about some of the musicians: -Joni Mitchell was dating a member of Crosby Stills Nash and Young at the time, Graham Nash. -Joni's song “Woodstock” was in fact inspired by the famous music festival, but she did not attend. Instead she opted to stay in New York City and appear on the Dick Cavett show. -John Sebastian: He was a founding member of the Lovin' Spoonful, known for hits like "Do You Believe in Magic?" and “Summer in the City." The Spoonful imploded after a 1967 marijuana bust. In the 80's Sebastian began writing and recording music for children's TV, including 1983's "Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise" and 1985's "Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins." -Stephen Stills: a founding member of Buffalo Springfield who wrote one of the most recognizable songs of the 1960s, "For What It's Worth." Buffalo Springfield broke up in 1968, and Stills joined with David Crosby of the Byrds and Graham Nash of the Hollies to form early supergroup Crosby Stills and Nash. Neil Young wouldn't join them until August 1969, just a few short weeks before the performance that you're about to listen to. -Dorothy Combs Morrison won a Grammy in 1969 for her song "Oh Happy Day," which ends this episode - it reached #4 in the US and #1 in France that year. It was recorded in a church in Berkeley, California, a couple hours away from Big Sur. George Harrison stated that "Oh Happy Day" was a primary influence for his 1970 hit “My Sweet Lord.” -Joan Baez dated Steve Jobs in the 1980s. He was in his mid twenties and she was in her 40's. DIdn't matter. She was Joan Baez. At the time that Big Sur Folk Festival occurred she was married to an activist named David Harris, who was in prison in 1969 for refusing to serve in the armed forces. (In part one, we hear “Song for David,” written to her man behind bars.) During this performance, Baez is actually seven months pregnant; her son, Gabriel, was born in December 1969. Baez's performance of Pete Seeger's We Shall Overcome during the 1963 March on Washington is one of the most enduring images of the 1960s. In 1964, she publicly endorsed resisting taxes by withholding 60 % of her income. In 1972, Baez traveled to North Vietnam, to address human rights in the region, and was caught in a bombing of Hanoi, North Vietnam, during which the city was bombed for eleven straight days. Al Capp, the cartoonist for the strip Li'l Abner, created a character called "Joanie Phoanie" based on Baez - a communist radical who sang songs about class warfare but also rode in a limousine and charged outrageous performance fees to impoverished orphans. Beyond all of this, Baez is a genius songwriter and performer with a magical voice. She performed at each of the Big Sur Folk Festivals, beginning in 1964 and going until 1971. She still can occasionally be seen in the Carmel and Big Sur area. Ms. Baez, if you're listening now - come on back. There's a space at the Esalen baths with your name on it.

Feast your ears on this little gem from our archives - a partial recording of the Big Sur Folk Festival of 1969, which was also captured in a documentary film called "Celebration at Big Sur," directed by Baird Bryant and Johanna Demetrakas, from which this recording was culled. The Big Sur Folk Festival occurred September 13th and 14th of '69, about a month after Woodstock, and it featured some of the same performers, including Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and John Sebastian, who had left the Lovin' Spoonful the year earlier. The lineup, while not quite at the Woodstock level was still quite impressive, including Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Mimi Fariña , the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Dorothy Combs Morrison, a gospel singer whose song “All God's Children Got Soul,” reached number 95 on the Billboard top 100 in October of 1969. Joan Baez, of course, has a long history with the Big Sur area and with Esalen - before Esalen was even Esalen, when it was still Big Sur Hot Springs or Slate's Hot Springs, she lived in Carmel and often came to the Hot Springs, where she could be heard playing her guitar and singing; she also had a friendship with the former Esalen gate guard Hunter S. Thompson. Baez taught her first workshop at Esalen in 1964, entitled “The New Folk Music,” which became the basis for the first Big Sur Folk Festival. The festival would reoccur each year thereafter until 1971. a couple of albums came out of the various festivals, including Celebration, From the 1970 festival, One Hand Clapping, from the 1971 festival. and Live at the Big Sur Folk Festival, featuring Kris Kristofferson's performance from 1971. This episode will comprise part one of the 1969 festival, and in our next episode we'll get part two. The setlist for this episode goes like this: Joan Baez singing “I Shall Be Released” , then “Mobile Line” by John Sebastian with Stephen Stills, followed by “Song for David” by Baez, and then “All God's Children Got Soul” by Dorothy Combs Morrison and the Combs sisters. Then we have a nice "Sea of Madness" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, followed by an interesting scene where a heckler interrupts the performance taking place down at the Esalen pool and ultimately gets into a fistfight with Stephen Stills. This scene is pretty wild and you might want to refer to the actual movie for this one; it's available to watch on YouTube. Really a fun watch, especially if you've been to Esalen before and you want to see the property and how it looked in the late 60's overrun by 10,000 friendly young people. Then we get Stills doing "4 and 20," followed by a very young Joni Mitchell accompanying Crosby Stills and Nash with John Sebastian on "Get Together." At this time Joni was dating Graham Nash. You'll also hear her talking about spotting some whales off the coast. Then we'll end with Dorothy Combs Morrison kinda stealing the show with her cover of Put a Little Love in your Heart. I really hope you enjoy this dip into Esalen history and a glimpse back to the days when a rock festival cost four dollars to attend. Yes indeed. It's true.

For those who haven't heard the announcement I just posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a multi-episode look at the Byrds in 1966-69 and the birth of country rock. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a half-hour bonus episode, on "With a Little Help From My Friends" by Joe Cocker. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud at this time as there are too many Byrds songs in the first chunk, but I will try to put together a multi-part Mixcloud when all the episodes for this song are up. My main source for the Byrds is Timeless Flight Revisited by Johnny Rogan, I also used Chris Hillman's autobiography, the 331/3 books on The Notorious Byrd Brothers and The Gilded Palace of Sin, I used Barney Hoskyns' Hotel California and John Einarson's Desperadoes as general background on Californian country-rock, Calling Me Hone, Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock by Bob Kealing for information on Parsons, and Requiem For The Timeless Vol 2 by Johnny Rogan for information about the post-Byrds careers of many members. Information on Gary Usher comes from The California Sound by Stephen McParland. And this three-CD set is a reasonable way of getting most of the Byrds' important recordings. The International Submarine Band's only album can be bought from Bandcamp. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before we begin, a brief warning – this episode contains brief mentions of suicide, alcoholism, abortion, and heroin addiction, and a brief excerpt of chanting of a Nazi slogan. If you find those subjects upsetting, you may want to read the transcript rather than listen. As we heard in the last part, in October 1967 Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman fired David Crosby from the Byrds. It was only many years later, in a conversation with the group's ex-manager Jim Dickson, that Crosby realised that they didn't actually have a legal right to fire him -- the Byrds had no partnership agreement, and according to Dickson given that the original group had been Crosby, McGuinn, and Gene Clark, it would have been possible for Crosby and McGuinn to fire Hillman, but not for McGuinn and Hillman to fire Crosby. But Crosby was unaware of this at the time, and accepted a pay-off, with which he bought a boat and sailed to Florida, where saw a Canadian singer-songwriter performing live: [Excerpt: Joni Mitchell, "Both Sides Now (live Ann Arbor, MI, 27/10/67)"] We'll find out what happened when David Crosby brought Joni Mitchell back to California in a future story... With Crosby gone, the group had a major problem. They were known for two things -- their jangly twelve-string guitar and their soaring harmonies. They still had the twelve-string, even in their new slimmed-down trio format, but they only had two of their four vocalists -- and while McGuinn had sung lead on most of their hits, the sound of the Byrds' harmony had been defined by Crosby on the high harmonies and Gene Clark's baritone. There was an obvious solution available, of course, and they took it. Gene Clark had quit the Byrds in large part because of his conflicts with David Crosby, and had remained friendly with the others. Clark's solo album had featured Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke, and had been produced by Gary Usher who was now producing the Byrds' records, and it had been a flop and he was at a loose end. After recording the Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers album, Clark had started work with Curt Boettcher, a singer-songwriter-producer who had produced hits for Tommy Roe and the Association, and who was currently working with Gary Usher. Boettcher produced two tracks for Clark, but they went unreleased: [Excerpt: Gene Clark, "Only Colombe"] That had been intended as the start of sessions for an album, but Clark had been dropped by Columbia rather than getting to record a second album. He had put together a touring band with guitarist Clarence White, bass player John York, and session drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh, but hadn't played many gigs, and while he'd been demoing songs for a possible second solo album he didn't have a record deal to use them on. Chisa Records, a label co-owned by Larry Spector, Peter Fonda, and Hugh Masekela, had put out some promo copies of one track, "Yesterday, Am I Right", but hadn't released it properly: [Excerpt: Gene Clark, "Yesterday, Am I Right"] Clark, like the Byrds, had left Dickson and Tickner's management organisation and signed with Larry Spector, and Spector was wanting to make the most of his artists -- and things were very different for the Byrds now. Clark had had three main problems with being in the Byrds -- ego clashes with David Crosby, the stresses of being a pop star with a screaming teenage fanbase, and his fear of flying. Clark had really wanted to have the same kind of role in the Byrds that Brian Wilson had with the Beach Boys -- appear on the records, write songs, do TV appearances, maybe play local club gigs, but not go on tour playing to screaming fans. But now David Crosby was out of the group and there were no screaming fans any more -- the Byrds weren't having the kind of pop hits they'd had a few years earlier and were now playing to the hippie audience. Clark promised that with everything else being different, he could cope with the idea of flying -- if necessary he'd just take tranquilisers or get so drunk he passed out. So Gene Clark rejoined the Byrds. According to some sources he sang on their next single, "Goin' Back," though I don't hear his voice in the mix: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Goin' Back"] According to McGuinn, Clark was also an uncredited co-writer on one song on the album they were recording, "Get to You". But before sessions had gone very far, the group went on tour. They appeared on the Smothers Brothers TV show, miming their new single and "Mr. Spaceman", and Clark seemed in good spirits, but on the tour of the Midwest that followed, according to their road manager of the time, Clark was terrified, singing flat and playing badly, and his guitar and vocal mic were left out of the mix. And then it came time to get on a plane, and Clark's old fears came back, and he refused to fly from Minneapolis to New York with the rest of the group, instead getting a train back to LA. And that was the end of Clark's second stint in the Byrds. For the moment, the Byrds decided they were going to continue as a trio on stage and a duo in the studio -- though Michael Clarke did make an occasional return to the sessions as they progressed. But of course, McGuinn and Hillman couldn't record an album entirely by themselves. They did have several tracks in a semi-completed state still featuring Crosby, but they needed people to fill his vocal and instrumental roles on the remaining tracks. For the vocals, Usher brought in his friend and collaborator Curt Boettcher, with whom he was also working at the time in a band called Sagittarius: [Excerpt: Sagittarius, "Another Time"] Boettcher was a skilled harmony vocalist -- according to Usher, he was one of the few vocal arrangers that Brian Wilson looked up to, and Jerry Yester had said of the Modern Folk Quartet that “the only vocals that competed with us back then was Curt Boettcher's group” -- and he was more than capable of filling Crosby's vocal gap, but there was never any real camaraderie between him and the Byrds. He particularly disliked McGuinn, who he said "was just such a poker face. He never let you know where you stood. There was never any lightness," and he said of the sessions as a whole "I was really thrilled to be working with The Byrds, and, at the same time, I was glad when it was all over. There was just no fun, and they were such weird guys to work with. They really freaked me out!" Someone else who Usher brought in, who seems to have made a better impression, was Red Rhodes: [Excerpt: Red Rhodes, "Red's Ride"] Rhodes was a pedal steel player, and one of the few people to make a career on the instrument outside pure country music, which is the genre with which the instrument is usually identified. Rhodes was a country player, but he was the country pedal steel player of choice for musicians from the pop and folk-rock worlds. He worked with Usher and Boettcher on albums by Sagittarius and the Millennium, and played on records by Cass Elliot, Carole King, the Beach Boys, and the Carpenters, among many others -- though he would be best known for his longstanding association with Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, playing on most of Nesmith's recordings from 1968 through 1992. Someone else who was associated with the Monkees was Moog player Paul Beaver, who we talked about in the episode on "Hey Jude", and who had recently played on the Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd album: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Star Collector"] And the fourth person brought in to help the group out was someone who was already familiar to them. Clarence White was, like Red Rhodes, from the country world -- he'd started out in a bluegrass group called the Kentucky Colonels: [Excerpt: The Kentucky Colonels, "Clinch Mountain Backstep"] But White had gone electric and formed one of the first country-rock bands, a group named Nashville West, as well as becoming a popular session player. He had already played on a couple of tracks on Younger Than Yesterday, as well as playing with Hillman and Michael Clarke on Gene Clark's album with the Gosdin Brothers and being part of Clark's touring band with John York and "Fast" Eddie Hoh. The album that the group put together with these session players was a triumph of sequencing and production. Usher had recently been keen on the idea of crossfading tracks into each other, as the Beatles had on Sgt Pepper, and had done the same on the two Chad and Jeremy albums he produced. By clever crossfading and mixing, Usher managed to create something that had the feel of being a continuous piece, despite being the product of several very different creative minds, with Usher's pop sensibility and arrangement ideas being the glue that held everything together. McGuinn was interested in sonic experimentation. He, more than any of the others, seems to have been the one who was most pushing for them to use the Moog, and he continued his interest in science fiction, with a song, "Space Odyssey", inspired by the Arthur C. Clarke short story "The Sentinel", which was also the inspiration for the then-forthcoming film 2001: A Space Odyssey: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Space Odyssey"] Then there was Chris Hillman, who was coming up with country material like "Old John Robertson": [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Old John Robertson"] And finally there was David Crosby. Even though he'd been fired from the group, both McGuinn and Hillman didn't see any problem with using the songs he had already contributed. Three of the album's eleven songs are compositions that are primarily by Crosby, though they're all co-credited to either Hillman or both Hillman and McGuinn. Two of those songs are largely unchanged from Crosby's original vision, just finished off by the rest of the group after his departure, but one song is rather different: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Draft Morning"] "Draft Morning" was a song that was important to Crosby, and was about his -- and the group's -- feelings about the draft and the ongoing Vietnam War. It was a song that had meant a lot to him, and he'd been part of the recording for the backing track. But when it came to doing the final vocals, McGuinn and Hillman had a problem -- they couldn't remember all the words to the song, and obviously there was no way they were going to get Crosby to give them the original lyrics. So they rewrote it, coming up with new lyrics where they couldn't remember the originals: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Draft Morning"] But there was one other contribution to the track that was very distinctively the work of Usher. Gary Usher had a predilection at this point for putting musique concrete sections in otherwise straightforward pop songs. He'd done it with "Fakin' It" by Simon and Garfunkel, on which he did uncredited production work, and did it so often that it became something of a signature of records on Columbia in 1967 and 68, even being copied by his friend Jim Guercio on "Susan" by the Buckinghams. Usher had done this, in particular, on the first two singles by Sagittarius, his project with Curt Boettcher. In particular, the second Sagittarius single, "Hotel Indiscreet", had had a very jarring section (and a warning here, this contains some brief chanting of a Nazi slogan): [Excerpt: Sagittarius, "Hotel Indiscreet"] That was the work of a comedy group that Usher had discovered and signed to Columbia. The Firesign Theatre were so named because, like Usher, they were all interested in astrology, and they were all "fire signs".  Usher was working on their first album, Waiting For The Electrician or Someone Like Him, at the same time as he was working on the Byrds album: [Excerpt: The Firesign Theatre, "W.C. Fields Forever"] And he decided to bring in the Firesigns to contribute to "Draft Morning": [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Draft Morning"] Crosby was, understandably, apoplectic when he heard the released version of "Draft Morning". As far as Hillman and McGuinn were concerned, it was always a Byrds song, and just because Crosby had left the band didn't mean they couldn't use material he'd written for the Byrds. Crosby took a different view, saying later "It was one of the sleaziest things they ever did. I had an entire song finished. They just casually rewrote it and decided to take half the credit. How's that? Without even asking me. I had a finished song, entirely mine. I left. They did the song anyway. They rewrote it and put it in their names. And mine was better. They just took it because they didn't have enough songs." What didn't help was that the publicity around the album, titled The Notorious Byrd Brothers minimised Crosby's contributions. Crosby is on five of the eleven tracks -- as he said later, "I'm all over that album, they just didn't give me credit. I played, I sang, I wrote, I even played bass on one track, and they tried to make out that I wasn't even on it, that they could be that good without me." But the album, like earlier Byrds albums, didn't have credits saying who played what, and the cover only featured McGuinn, Hillman, and Michael Clarke in the photo -- along with a horse, which Crosby took as another insult, as representing him. Though as McGuinn said, "If we had intended to do that, we would have turned the horse around". Even though Michael Clarke was featured on the cover, and even owned the horse that took Crosby's place, by the time the album came out he too had been fired. Unlike Crosby, he went quietly and didn't even ask for any money. According to McGuinn, he was increasingly uninterested in being in the band -- suffering from depression, and missing the teenage girls who had been the group's fans a year or two earlier. He gladly stopped being a Byrd, and went off to work in a hotel instead. In his place came Hillman's cousin, Kevin Kelley, fresh out of a band called the Rising Sons: [Excerpt: The Rising Sons, "Take a Giant Step"] We've mentioned the Rising Sons briefly in some previous episodes, but they were one of the earliest LA folk-rock bands, and had been tipped to go on to greater things -- and indeed, many of them did, though not as part of the Rising Sons. Jesse Lee Kincaid, the least well-known of the band, only went on to release a couple of singles and never had much success, but his songs were picked up by other acts -- his "Baby You Come Rollin' 'Cross My Mind" was a minor hit for the Peppermint Trolley Company: [Excerpt: The Peppermint Trolley Company, "Baby You Come Rollin' 'Cross My Mind"] And Harry Nilsson recorded Kincaid's "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune": [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune"] But Kincaid was the least successful of the band members, and most of the other members are going to come up in future episodes of the podcast -- bass player Gary Marker played for a while with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, lead singer Taj Mahal is one of the most respected blues singers of the last sixty years, original drummer Ed Cassidy went on to form the progressive rock band Spirit, and lead guitarist Ry Cooder went on to become one of the most important guitarists in rock music. Kelley had been the last to join the Rising Sons, replacing Cassidy but he was in the band by the time they released their one single, a version of Rev. Gary Davis' "Candy Man" produced by Terry Melcher, with Kincaid on lead vocals: [Excerpt: The Rising Sons, "Candy Man"] That hadn't been a success, and the group's attempt at a follow-up, the Goffin and King song "Take a Giant Step", which we heard earlier, was blocked from release by Columbia as being too druggy -- though there were no complaints when the Monkees released their version as the B-side to "Last Train to Clarksville". The Rising Sons, despite being hugely popular as a live act, fell apart without ever releasing a second single. According to Marker, Mahal realised that he would be better off as a solo artist, but also Columbia didn't know how to market a white group with a Black lead vocalist (leading to Kincaid singing lead on their one released single, and producer Terry Melcher trying to get Mahal to sing more like a white singer on "Take a Giant Step"), and some in the band thought that Terry Melcher was deliberately trying to sink their career because they refused to sign to his publishing company. After the band split up, Marker and Kelley had formed a band called Fusion, which Byrds biographer Johnny Rogan describes as being a jazz-fusion band, presumably because of their name. Listening to the one album the group recorded, it is in fact more blues-rock, very like the music Marker made with the Rising Sons and Captain Beefheart. But Kelley's not on that album, because before it was recorded he was approached by his cousin Chris Hillman and asked to join the Byrds. At the time, Fusion were doing so badly that Kelley had to work a day job in a clothes shop, so he was eager to join a band with a string of hits who were just about to conclude a lucrative renegotiation of their record contract -- a renegotiation which may have played a part in McGuinn and Hillman firing Crosby and Clarke, as they were now the only members on the new contracts. The choice of Kelley made a lot of sense. He was mostly just chosen because he was someone they knew and they needed a drummer in a hurry -- they needed someone new to promote The Notorious Byrd Brothers and didn't have time to go through a laborious process of audtioning, and so just choosing Hillman's cousin made sense, but Kelley also had a very strong, high voice, and so he could fill in the harmony parts that Crosby had sung, stopping the new power-trio version of the band from being *too* thin-sounding in comparison to the five-man band they'd been not that much earlier. The Notorious Byrd Brothers was not a commercial success -- it didn't even make the top forty in the US, though it did in the UK -- to the presumed chagrin of Columbia, who'd just paid a substantial amount of money for this band who were getting less successful by the day. But it was, though, a gigantic critical success, and is generally regarded as the group's creative pinnacle. Robert Christgau, for example, talked about how LA rather than San Francisco was where the truly interesting music was coming from, and gave guarded praise to Captain Beefheart, Van Dyke Parks, and the Fifth Dimension (the vocal group, not the Byrds album) but talked about three albums as being truly great -- the Beach Boys' Wild Honey, Love's Forever Changes, and The Notorious Byrd Brothers. (He also, incidentally, talked about how the two songs that Crosby's new discovery Joni Mitchell had contributed to a Judy Collins album were much better than most folk music, and how he could hardly wait for her first album to come out). And that, more or less, was the critical consensus about The Notorious Byrd Brothers -- that it was, in Christgau's words "simply the best album the Byrds have ever recorded" and that "Gone are the weak--usually folky--tracks that have always flawed their work." McGuinn, though, thought that the album wasn't yet what he wanted. He had become particularly excited by the potentials of the Moog synthesiser -- an instrument that Gary Usher also loved -- during the recording of the album, and had spent a lot of time experimenting with it, coming up with tracks like the then-unreleased "Moog Raga": [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Moog Raga"] And McGuinn had a concept for the next Byrds album -- a concept he was very excited about. It was going to be nothing less than a grand sweeping history of American popular music. It was going to be a double album -- the new contract said that they should deliver two albums a year to Columbia, so a double album made sense -- and it would start with Appalachian folk music, go through country, jazz, and R&B, through the folk-rock music the Byrds had previously been known for, and into Moog experimentation. But to do this, the Byrds needed a keyboard player. Not only would a keyboard player help them fill out their thin onstage sound, if they got a jazz keyboardist, then they could cover the jazz material in McGuinn's concept album idea as well. So they went out and looked for a jazz piano player, and happily Larry Spector was managing one. Or at least, Larry Spector was managing someone who *said* he was a jazz pianist. But Gram Parsons said he was a lot of things... [Excerpt: Gram Parsons, "Brass Buttons (1965 version)"] Gram Parsons was someone who had come from a background of unimaginable privilege. His maternal grandfather was the owner of a Florida citrus fruit and real-estate empire so big that his mansion was right in the centre of what was then Florida's biggest theme park -- built on land he owned. As a teenager, Parsons had had a whole wing of his parents' house to himself, and had had servants to look after his every need, and as an adult he had a trust fund that paid him a hundred thousand dollars a year -- which in 1968 dollars would be equivalent to a little under nine hundred thousand in today's money. Two events in his childhood had profoundly shaped the life of young Gram. The first was in February 1956, when he went to see a new singer who he'd heard on the radio, and who according to the local newspaper had just recorded a new song called "Heartburn Motel".  Parsons had tried to persuade his friends that this new singer was about to become a big star -- one of his friends had said "I'll wait til he becomes famous!" As it turned out, the day Parsons and the couple of friends he did manage to persuade to go with him saw Elvis Presley was also the day that "Heartbreak Hotel" entered the Billboard charts at number sixty-eight. But even at this point, Elvis was an obvious star and the headliner of the show. Young Gram was enthralled -- but in retrospect he was more impressed by the other acts he saw on the bill. That was an all-star line-up of country musicians, including Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, and especially the Louvin Brothers, arguably the greatest country music vocal duo of all time: [Excerpt: The Louvin Brothers, "The Christian Life"] Young Gram remained mostly a fan of rockabilly music rather than country, and would remain so for another decade or so, but a seed had been planted. The other event, much more tragic, was the death of his father. Both Parsons' parents were functioning alcoholics, and both by all accounts were unfaithful to each other, and their marriage was starting to break down. Gram's father was also, by many accounts, dealing with what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder from his time serving in the second world war. On December the twenty-third 1958, Gram's father died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Everyone involved seems sure it was suicide, but it was officially recorded as natural causes because of the family's wealth and prominence in the local community. Gram's Christmas present from his parents that year was a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and according to some stories I've read his father had left a last message on a tape in the recorder, but by the time the authorities got to hear it, it had been erased apart from the phrase "I love you, Gram." After that Gram's mother's drinking got even worse, but in most ways his life still seemed charmed, and the descriptions of him as a teenager are about what you'd expect from someone who was troubled, with a predisposition to addiction, but who was also unbelievably wealthy, good-looking, charming, and talented. And the talent was definitely there. One thing everyone is agreed on is that from a very young age Gram Parsons took his music seriously and was determined to make a career as a musician. Keith Richards later said of him "Of the musicians I know personally (although Otis Redding, who I didn't know, fits this too), the two who had an attitude towards music that was the same as mine were Gram Parsons and John Lennon. And that was: whatever bag the business wants to put you in is immaterial; that's just a selling point, a tool that makes it easier. You're going to get chowed into this pocket or that pocket because it makes it easier for them to make charts up and figure out who's selling. But Gram and John were really pure musicians. All they liked was music, and then they got thrown into the game." That's not the impression many other people have of Parsons, who is almost uniformly described as an incessant self-promoter, and who from his teens onwards would regularly plant fake stories about himself in the local press, usually some variant of him having been signed to RCA records. Most people seem to think that image was more important to him than anything. In his teens, he started playing in a series of garage bands around Florida and Georgia, the two states in which he was brought up. One of his early bands was largely created by poaching the rhythm section who were then playing with Kent Lavoie, who later became famous as Lobo and had hits like "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo". Lavoie apparently held a grudge -- decades later he would still say that Parsons couldn't sing or play or write. Another musician on the scene with whom Parsons associated was Bobby Braddock, who would later go on to co-write songs like "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" for Tammy Wynette, and the song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", often considered the greatest country song ever written, for George Jones: [Excerpt: George Jones, "He Stopped Loving Her Today"] Jones would soon become one of Parsons' musical idols, but at this time he was still more interested in being Elvis or Little Richard. We're lucky enough to have a 1962 live recording of one of his garage bands, the Legends -- the band that featured the bass player and drummer he'd poached from Lobo. They made an appearance on a local TV show and a friend with a tape recorder recorded it off the TV and decades later posted it online. Of the four songs in that performance, two are R&B covers -- Little Richard's "Rip It Up" and Ray Charles' "What'd I Say?", and a third is the old Western Swing classic "Guitar Boogie Shuffle". But the interesting thing about the version of "Rip it Up" is that it's sung in an Everly Brothers style harmony, and the fourth song is a recording of the Everlys' "Let It Be Me". The Everlys were, of course, hugely influenced by the Louvin Brothers, who had so impressed young Gram six years earlier, and in this performance you can hear for the first time the hints of the style that Parsons would make his own a few years later: [Excerpt: Gram Parsons and the Legends, "Let it Be Me"] Incidentally, the other guitarist in the Legends, Jim Stafford, also went on to a successful musical career, having a top five hit in the seventies with "Spiders & Snakes": [Excerpt: Jim Stafford, "Spiders & Snakes"] Soon after that TV performance though, like many musicians of his generation, Parsons decided to give up on rock and roll, and instead to join a folk group. The group he joined, The Shilos, were a trio who were particularly influenced by the Journeymen, John Phillips' folk group before he formed the Mamas and the Papas, which we talked about in the episode on "San Francisco". At various times the group expanded with the addition of some female singers, trying to capture something of the sound of the New Chrisy Minstrels. In 1964, with the band members still in school, the Shilos decided to make a trip to Greenwich Village and see if they could make the big time as folk-music stars. They met up with John Phillips, and Parsons stayed with John and Michelle Phillips in their home in New York -- this was around the time the two of them were writing "California Dreamin'". Phillips got the Shilos an audition with Albert Grossman, who seemed eager to sign them until he realised they were still schoolchildren just on a break. The group were, though, impressive enough that he was interested, and we have some recordings of them from a year later which show that they were surprisingly good for a bunch of teenagers: [Excerpt: The Shilos, "The Bells of Rhymney"] Other than Phillips, the other major connection that Parsons made in New York was the folk singer Fred Neil, who we've talked about occasionally before. Neil was one of the great songwriters of the Greenwich Village scene, and many of his songs became successful for others -- his "Dolphins" was recorded by Tim Buckley, most famously his "Everybody's Talkin'" was a hit for Harry Nilsson, and he wrote "Another Side of This Life" which became something of a standard -- it was recorded by the Animals and the Lovin' Spoonful, and Jefferson Airplane, as well as recording the song, included it in their regular setlists, including at Monterey: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "The Other Side of This Life (live at Monterey)"] According to at least one biographer, though, Neil had another, more pernicious, influence on Parsons -- he may well have been the one who introduced Parsons to heroin, though several of Parsons' friends from the time said he wasn't yet using hard drugs. By spring 1965, Parsons was starting to rethink his commitment to folk music, particularly after "Mr. Tambourine Man" became a hit. He talked with the other members about their need to embrace the changes in music that Dylan and the Byrds were bringing about, but at the same time he was still interested enough in acoustic music that when he was given the job of arranging the music for his high school graduation, the group he booked were the Dillards. That graduation day was another day that would change Parsons' life -- as it was the day his mother died, of alcohol-induced liver failure. Parsons was meant to go on to Harvard, but first he went back to Greenwich Village for the summer, where he hung out with Fred Neil and Dave Van Ronk (and started using heroin regularly). He went to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium, and he was neighbours with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay -- the three of them talked about forming a band together before Stills moved West. And on a brief trip back home to Florida between Greenwich Village and Harvard, Parsons spoke with his old friend Jim Stafford, who made a suggestion to him -- instead of trying to do folk music, which was clearly falling out of fashion, why not try to do *country* music but with long hair like the Beatles? He could be a country Beatle. It would be an interesting gimmick. Parsons was only at Harvard for one semester before flunking out, but it was there that he was fully reintroduced to country music, and in particular to three artists who would influence him more than any others. He'd already been vaguely aware of Buck Owens, whose "Act Naturally" had recently been covered by the Beatles: [Excerpt: Buck Owens, "Act Naturally"] But it was at Harvard that he gained a deeper appreciation of Owens. Owens was the biggest star of what had become known as the Bakersfield Sound, a style of country music that emphasised a stripped-down electric band lineup with Telecaster guitars, a heavy drumbeat, and a clean sound. It came from the same honky-tonk and Western Swing roots as the rockabilly music that Parsons had grown up on, and it appealed to him instinctively.  In particular, Parsons was fascinated by the fact that Owens' latest album had a cover version of a Drifters song on it -- and then he got even more interested when Ray Charles put out his third album of country songs and included a version of Owens' "Together Again": [Excerpt: Ray Charles, "Together Again"] This suggested to Parsons that country music and the R&B he'd been playing previously might not quite be so far apart as he'd thought. At Harvard, Parsons was also introduced to the work of another Bakersfield musician, who like Owens was produced by Ken Nelson, who also produced the Louvin Brothers' records, and who we heard about in previous episodes as he produced Gene Vincent and Wanda Jackson. Merle Haggard had only had one big hit at the time, "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers": [Excerpt: Merle Haggard, "(My Friends are Gonna Be) Strangers"] But he was about to start a huge run of country hits that would see every single he released for the next twelve years make the country top ten, most of them making number one. Haggard would be one of the biggest stars in country music, but he was also to be arguably the country musician with the biggest influence on rock music since Johnny Cash, and his songs would soon start to be covered by everyone from the Grateful Dead to the Everly Brothers to the Beach Boys. And the third artist that Parsons was introduced to was someone who, in most popular narratives of country music, is set up in opposition to Haggard and Owens, because they were representatives of the Bakersfield Sound while he was the epitome of the Nashville Sound to which the Bakersfield Sound is placed in opposition, George Jones. But of course anyone with ears will notice huge similarities in the vocal styles of Jones, Haggard, and Owens: [Excerpt: George Jones, "The Race is On"] Owens, Haggard, and Jones are all somewhat outside the scope of this series, but are seriously important musicians in country music. I would urge anyone who's interested in them to check out Tyler Mahan Coe's podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, season one of which has episodes on Haggard and Owens, as well as on the Louvin Brothers who I also mentioned earlier, and season two of which is entirely devoted to Jones. When he dropped out of Harvard after one semester, Parsons was still mostly under the thrall of the Greenwich Village folkies -- there's a recording of him made over Christmas 1965 that includes his version of "Another Side of This Life": [Excerpt: Gram Parsons, "Another Side of This Life"] But he was encouraged to go further in the country direction by John Nuese (and I hope that's the correct pronunciation – I haven't been able to find any recordings mentioning his name), who had introduced him to this music and who also played guitar. Parsons, Neuse, bass player Ian Dunlop and drummer Mickey Gauvin formed a band that was originally called Gram Parsons and the Like. They soon changed their name though, inspired by an Our Gang short in which the gang became a band: [Excerpt: Our Gang, "Mike Fright"] Shortening the name slightly, they became the International Submarine Band. Parsons rented them a house in New York, and they got a contract with Goldstar Records, and released a couple of singles. The first of them, "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming" was a cover of the theme to a comedy film that came out around that time, and is not especially interesting: [Excerpt: The International Submarine Band, "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming"] The second single is more interesting. "Sum Up Broke" is a song by Parsons and Neuse, and shows a lot of influence from the Byrds: [Excerpt: The international Submarine Band, "Sum Up Broke"] While in New York with the International Submarine Band, Parsons made another friend in the music business. Barry Tashian was the lead singer of a band called the Remains, who had put out a couple of singles: [Excerpt: The Remains, "Why Do I Cry?"] The Remains are now best known for having been on the bill on the Beatles' last ever tour, including playing as support on their last ever show at Candlestick Park, but they split up before their first album came out. After spending most of 1966 in New York, Parsons decided that he needed to move the International Submarine Band out to LA. There were two reasons for this. The first was his friend Brandon DeWilde, an actor who had been a child star in the fifties -- it's him at the end of Shane -- who was thinking of pursuing a musical career. DeWilde was still making TV appearances, but he was also a singer -- John Nuese said that DeWilde sang harmony with Parsons better than anyone except Emmylou Harris -- and he had recorded some demos with the International Submarine Band backing him, like this version of Buck Owens' "Together Again": [Excerpt: Brandon DeWilde, "Together Again"] DeWilde had told Parsons he could get the group some work in films. DeWilde made good on that promise to an extent -- he got the group a cameo in The Trip, a film we've talked about in several other episodes, which was being directed by Roger Corman, the director who worked a lot with David Crosby's father, and was coming out from American International Pictures, the company that put out the beach party films -- but while the group were filmed performing one of their own songs, in the final film their music was overdubbed by the Electric Flag. The Trip starred Peter Fonda, another member of the circle of people around David Crosby, and another son of privilege, who at this point was better known for being Henry Fonda's son than for his own film appearances. Like DeWilde, Fonda wanted to become a pop star, and he had been impressed by Parsons, and asked if he could record Parsons' song "November Nights". Parsons agreed, and the result was released on Chisa Records, the label we talked about earlier that had put out promos of Gene Clark, in a performance produced by Hugh Masekela: [Excerpt: Peter Fonda, "November Nights"] The other reason the group moved West though was that Parsons had fallen in love with David Crosby's girlfriend, Nancy Ross, who soon became pregnant with his daughter -- much to Parsons' disappointment, she refused to have an abortion. Parsons bought the International Submarine Band a house in LA to rehearse in, and moved in separately with Nancy. The group started playing all the hottest clubs around LA, supporting bands like Love and the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, but they weren't sounding great, partly because Parsons was more interested in hanging round with celebrities than rehearsing -- the rest of the band had to work for a living, and so took their live performances more seriously than he did, while he was spending time catching up with his old folk friends like John Phillips and Fred Neil, as well as getting deeper into drugs and, like seemingly every musician in 1967, Scientology, though he only dabbled in the latter. The group were also, though, starting to split along musical lines. Dunlop and Gauvin wanted to play R&B and garage rock, while Parsons and Nuese wanted to play country music. And there was a third issue -- which record label should they go with? There were two labels interested in them, neither of them particularly appealing. The offer that Dunlop in particular wanted to go with was from, of all people, Jay Ward Records: [Excerpt: A Salute to Moosylvania] Jay Ward was the producer and writer of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Peabody & Sherman, Dudley Do-Right and other cartoons, and had set up a record company, which as far as I've been able to tell had only released one record, and that five years earlier (we just heard a snippet of it). But in the mid-sixties several cartoon companies were getting into the record business -- we'll hear more about that when we get to song 186 -- and Ward's company apparently wanted to sign the International Submarine Band, and were basically offering to throw money at them. Parsons, on the other hand, wanted to go with Lee Hazlewood International. This was a new label set up by someone we've only talked about in passing, but who was very influential on the LA music scene, Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood had got his start producing country hits like Sanford Clark's "The Fool": [Excerpt: Sanford Clark, "The Fool"] He'd then moved on to collaborating with Lester Sill, producing a series of hits for Duane Eddy, whose unique guitar sound Hazlewood helped come up with: [Excerpt: Duane Eddy, "Rebel Rouser"] After splitting off from Sill, who had gone off to work with Phil Spector, who had been learning some production techniques from Hazlewood, Hazlewood had gone to work for Reprise records, where he had a career in a rather odd niche, producing hit records for the children of Rat Pack stars. He'd produced Dino, Desi, and Billy, who consisted of future Beach Boys sideman Billy Hinsche plus Desi Arnaz Jr and Dean Martin Jr: [Excerpt: Dino, Desi, and Billy, "I'm a Fool"] He'd also produced Dean Martin's daughter Deana: [Excerpt: Deana Martin, "Baby I See You"] and rather more successfully he'd written and produced a series of hits for Nancy Sinatra, starting with "These Boots are Made for Walkin'": [Excerpt: Nancy Sinatra, "These Boots are Made for Walkin'"] Hazlewood had also moved into singing himself. He'd released a few tracks on his own, but his career as a performer hadn't really kicked into gear until he'd started writing duets for Nancy Sinatra. She apparently fell in love with his demos and insisted on having him sing them with her in the studio, and so the two made a series of collaborations like the magnificently bizarre "Some Velvet Morning": [Excerpt: Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, "Some Velvet Morning"] Hazlewood is now considered something of a cult artist, thanks largely to a string of magnificent orchestral country-pop solo albums he recorded, but at this point he was one of the hottest people in the music industry. He wasn't offering to produce the International Submarine Band himself -- that was going to be his partner, Suzi Jane Hokom -- but Parsons thought it was better to sign for less money to a label that was run by someone with a decade-long string of massive hit records than for more money to a label that had put out one record about a cartoon moose. So the group split up. Dunlop and Gauvin went off to form another band, with Barry Tashian -- and legend has it that one of the first times Gram Parsons visited the Byrds in the studio, he mentioned the name of that band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and that was the inspiration for the Byrds titling their album The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Parsons and Nuese, on the other hand, formed a new lineup of The International Submarine Band, with bass player Chris Ethridge, drummer John Corneal, who Parsons had first played with in The Legends, and guitarist Bob Buchanan, a former member of the New Christy Minstrels who Parsons had been performing with as a duo after they'd met through Fred Neil. The International Submarine Band recorded an album, Safe At Home, which is now often called the first country-rock album -- though as we've said so often, there's no first anything. That album was a mixture of cover versions of songs by people like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard: [Excerpt: The International Submarine Band, "I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known"] And Parsons originals, like "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome?", which he cowrote with Barry Goldberg of the Electric Flag: [Excerpt: The International Submarine Band, "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome?"] But the recording didn't go smoothly. In particular, Corneal realised he'd been hoodwinked. Parsons had told him, when persuading him to move West, that he'd be able to sing on the record and that some of his songs would be used. But while the record was credited to The International Submarine Band, everyone involved agrees that it was actually a Gram Parsons solo album by any other name -- he was in charge, he wouldn't let other members' songs on the record, and he didn't let Corneal sing as he'd promised. And then, before the album could be released, he was off. The Byrds wanted a jazz keyboard player, and Parsons could fake being one long enough to get the gig. The Byrds had got rid of one rich kid with a giant ego who wanted to take control of everything and thought his undeniable talent excused his attempts at dominating the group, and replaced him with another one -- who also happened to be signed to another record label. We'll see how well that worked out for them in two weeks' time.  

For those who haven't heard the announcement I just posted , songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the first part of a multi-episode look at the Byrds in 1966-69 and the birth of country rock. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a half-hour bonus episode on "My World Fell Down" by Sagittarius. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud at this time as there are too many Byrds songs in this chunk, but I will try to put together a multi-part Mixcloud when all the episodes for this song are up. My main source for the Byrds is Timeless Flight Revisited by Johnny Rogan, I also used Chris Hillman's autobiography, the 331/3 books on The Notorious Byrd Brothers and The Gilded Palace of Sin, For future parts of this multi-episode story I used Barney Hoskyns' Hotel California and John Einarson's Desperadoes as general background on Californian country-rock, Calling Me Hone, Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock by Bob Kealing for information on Parsons, and Requiem For The Timeless Vol 2 by Johnny Rogan for information about the post-Byrds careers of many members. Information on Gary Usher comes from The California Sound by Stephen McParland. And this three-CD set is a reasonable way of getting most of the Byrds' important recordings. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript When we left the Byrds at the end of the episode on "Eight Miles High", they had just released that single, which combined folk-rock with their new influences from John Coltrane and Ravi Shankar, and which was a group composition but mostly written by the group's lead singer, Gene Clark. And also, as we mentioned right at the end of the episode, Clark had left the group. There had been many, many factors leading to Clark's departure. Clark was writing *far* more material than the other band members, of whom only Roger McGuinn had been a writer when the group started, and as a result was making far more money than them, especially with songs like "She Don't Care About Time", which had been the B-side to their number one single "Turn! Turn! Turn!" [Excerpt: The Byrds, "She Don't Care About Time"] Clark's extra income was making the rest of the group jealous, and they also didn't think his songs were particularly good, though many of his songs on the early Byrds albums are now considered classics. Jim Dickson, the group's co-manager, said "Gene would write fifteen to twenty songs a week and you had to find a good one whenever it came along because there were lots of them that you couldn't make head or tail of.  They didn't mean anything. We all knew that. Gene would write a good one at a rate of just about one per girlfriend." Chris Hillman meanwhile later said more simply "Gene didn't really add that much." That is, frankly, hard to square with the facts. There are ten original songs on the group's first two albums, plus one original non-album B-side. Of those eleven songs, Clark wrote seven on his own and co-wrote two with McGuinn. But as the other band members were starting to realise that they had the possibility of extra royalties -- and at least to some extent were starting to get artistic ambitions as far as writing goes -- they were starting to disparage Clark's work as a result, calling it immature. Clark had, of course, been the principal writer for "Eight Miles High", the group's most experimental record to date: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Eight Miles High"] But there he'd shared co-writing credit with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, in part because that was the only way he could be sure they would agree to release it as a single. There were also internal rivalries within the band unrelated to songwriting -- as we've touched on, Crosby had already essentially bullied Clark off the guitar and into just playing tambourine (and McGuinn would be dismissive even of Clark's tambourine abilities). Crosby's inability to get on with any other member of any band he was in would later become legendary, but at this point Clark was the major victim of his bullying. According to Dickson "David understood when Gene left that ninety-five percent of why Gene left could be brought back to him." The other five percent, though, came from Clark's fear of flying. Clark had apparently witnessed a plane crash in his youth and been traumatised by it, and he had a general terror of flying and planes -- something McGuinn would mock him for a little, as McGuinn was an aviation buff. Eventually, Clark had a near-breakdown boarding a plane from California to New York for a promotional appearance with Murray the K, and ended up getting off the plane. McGuinn and Michael Clarke almost did the same, but in the end they decided to stay on, and the other four Byrds did the press conference without Gene. When asked where Gene was, they said he'd "broken a wing". He was also increasingly having mental health and substance abuse problems, which were exacerbated by his fear, and in the end he decided he just couldn't be a Byrd any more. Oddly, of all the band members, it was David Crosby who was most concerned about Clark's departure, and who did the most to try to persuade him to stay, but he still didn't do much, and the group decided to carry on as a four-piece and not even make a proper announcement of Clark's departure -- they just started putting out photos with four people instead of five. The main change as far as the group were concerned was that Hillman was now covering Clark's old vocal parts, and so Crosby moved to Clark's old centre mic while Hillman moved from his position at the back of the stage with Michael Clarke to take over Crosby's mic. The group now had three singer-instrumentalists in front, two of whom, Crosby and McGuinn, now thought of themselves as songwriters. So despite the loss of their singer/songwriter/frontman, they moved on to their new single, the guaranteed hit follow-up to "Eight Miles High": [Excerpt: The Byrds, "5D (Fifth Dimension)"] "5D" was written by McGuinn, inspired by a book of cartoons called 1-2-3-4 More More More More by Don Landis, which I haven't been able to track down a copy of, but which seems to have been an attempt to explain the mathematical concept of higher dimensions in cartoon form. McGuinn was inspired by this and by Einstein's theory of relativity -- or at least by his understanding of relativity, which does not seem to have been the most informed take on the topic. McGuinn has said in the past that the single should really have come with a copy of Landis' booklet, so people could understand it. Sadly, without the benefit of the booklet we only have the lyrics plus McGuinn's interviews to go on to try to figure out what he means. As far as I'm able to understand, McGuinn believed -- completely erroneously -- that Einstein had proved that along with the four dimensions of spacetime there is also a fifth dimension which McGuinn refers to as a "mesh", and that "the reason for the speed of light being what it is is because of that mesh." McGuinn then went on to identify this mesh with his own conception of God, influenced by his belief in Subud, and with a Bergsonian idea of a life force. He would talk about how most people are stuck in a materialist scientific paradigm which only admits to  the existence of three dimensions, and how there are people out there advocating for a five-dimensional view of the world. To go along with this mystic view of the universe, McGuinn wanted some music inspired by the greatest composer of sacred music, and he asked Van Dyke Parks, who was brought in to add keyboards on the session, to play something influenced by Bach -- and Parks obliged, having been thinking along the same lines himself: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "5D (Fifth Dimension)"] Unfortunately for the group, McGuinn's lyrical intention wasn't clear enough and the song was assumed to be about drugs, and was banned by many radio stations. That plus the track's basically uncommercial nature meant that it reached no higher than number forty-four in the charts. Jim Dickson, the group's co-manager, pointed to a simpler factor in the record's failure, saying that if the organ outro to the track had instead been the intro, to set a mood for the track rather than starting with a cold vocal open, it would have had more success. The single was followed by an album, called Fifth Dimension, which was not particularly successful. Of the album's eleven songs, two were traditional folk songs, one was an instrumental -- a jam called "Captain Soul" which was a version of Lee Dorsey's "Get Out My Life Woman" credited to the four remaining Byrds, though Gene Clark is very audible on it playing harmonica -- and one more was a jam whose only lyrics were "gonna ride a Lear jet, baby", repeated over and over. There was also "Eight Miles High" and the group's inept and slightly-too-late take on "Hey Joe". It also included a third single, a country track titled "Mr. Spaceman": [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Mr. Spaceman"] McGuinn and, particularly, Hillman, had some country music background, and both were starting to think about incorporating country sounds into the group's style, as after Clark's departure from the group they were moving away from the style that had characterised their first two albums. But the interest in "Mr. Spaceman" was less about the musical style than about the lyrics. McGuinn had written the song in the hopes of contacting extraterrestrial life -- sending them a message in his lyrics so that any aliens listening to Earth radio would come and visit, though he was later disappointed to realise that the inverse-square law means that the signals would be too faint to make out after a relatively short distance: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Mr. Spaceman"] "Mr. Spaceman" did better on the charts than its predecessor, scraping the lower reaches of the top forty, but it hardly set the world alight, and neither did the album -- a typical review was the one by Jon Landau, which said in part "This album then cannot be considered up to the standards set by the Byrds' first two and basically demonstrates that they should be thinking in terms of replacing Gene Clark, instead of just carrying on without him." Fifth Dimension would be the only album that Allen Stanton would produce for the Byrds, and his replacement had actually just produced an album that was a Byrds record by any other name: [Excerpt: Gene Clark, "So You Say You've Lost Your Baby"] We've looked at Gary Usher before, but not for some time, and not in much detail. Usher was one of several people who were involved in the scene loosely centred on the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, though he never had much time for Jan Berry and he had got his own start in the music business slightly before the Beach Boys. As a songwriter, his first big successes had come with his collaborations with Brian Wilson -- he had co-written "409" for the Beach Boys, and had also collaborated with Wilson on some of his earliest more introspective songs, like "The Lonely Sea" and "In My Room", for which Usher had written the lyrics: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "In My Room"] Usher had built a career as a producer and writer for hire, often in collaboration with Roger Christian, who also wrote with Brian Wilson and Jan Berry. Usher, usually with Christian, and very occasionally Wilson wrote the songs for several of American International Pictures' Beach Party films: [Excerpt: Donna Loren, "Muscle Bustle"] And Usher and Christian had also had bit parts in some of the films, like Bikini Beach, and Usher had produced records for Annette Funicello, the star of the films, often with the Honeys (a group consisting of Brian Wilson's future wife Marilyn plus her sister and cousin) on backing vocals. He had also produced records for the Surfaris, as well as a whole host of studio-only groups like the Four Speeds, the Super Stocks, and Mr. Gasser and the Weirdoes, most of whom were Usher and the same small group of vocalist friends along with various selections of Wrecking Crew musicians making quick themed albums. One of these studio groups, the Hondells, went on to be a real group of sorts, after Usher and the Beach Boys worked together on a film, The Girls on the Beach. Usher liked a song that Wilson and Mike Love had written for the Beach Boys to perform in the film, "Little Honda", and after discovering that the Beach Boys weren't going to release their version as a single, he put together a group to record a soundalike version: [Excerpt: The Hondells, "Little Honda"] "Little Honda" made the top ten, and Usher produced two albums for the Hondells, who had one other minor hit with a cover version of the Lovin' Spoonful's "Younger Girl". Oddly, Usher's friend Terry Melcher, who would shortly produce the Byrds' first few hits, had also latched on to "Little Honda", and produced his own version of the track, sung by Pat Boone of all people, with future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Pat Boone, "Little Honda"] But when Usher had got his version out first, Boone's was relegated to a B-side. When the Byrds had hit, and folk-rock had started to take over from surf rock, Usher had gone with the flow and produced records like the Surfaris' album It Ain't Me Babe, with Usher and his usual gang of backing vocalists augmenting the Surfaris as they covered hits by Dylan, the Turtles, the Beach Boys and the Byrds: [Excerpt: The Surfaris, "All I Really Want to Do"] Usher was also responsible for the Surfaris being the first group to release a version of "Hey Joe" on a major label, as we heard in the episode on that song: [Excerpt: The Surfaris, "Hey Joe"] After moving between Capitol, Mercury, and Decca Records, Usher had left Decca after a round of corporate restructuring and been recommended for a job at Columbia by his friend Melcher, who at that point was producing Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Rip Chords and had just finished his time as the Byrds' producer. Usher's first work at Columbia was actually to prepare new stereo mixes of some Byrds tracks that had up to that point only been issued in mono, but his first interaction with the Byrds themselves came via Gene Clark: [Excerpt: Gene Clark, "So You Say You've Lost Your Baby"] On leaving the Byrds, Clark had briefly tried to make a success of himself as a songwriter-for-hire in much the same mould as Usher, attempting to write and produce a single for two Byrds fans using the group name The Cookie Fairies, while spending much of his time romancing Michelle Phillips, as we talked about in the episode on "San Francisco". When the Cookie Fairies single didn't get picked up by a label, Clark had put together a group with Bill Rinehart from the Leaves, Chip Douglas of the Modern Folk Quartet, and Joel Larson of the Grass Roots. Just called Gene Clark & The Group, they'd played around the clubs in LA and cut about half an album's worth of demos produced by Jim Dickson and Ed Tickner, the Byrds' management team, before Clark had fired first Douglas and then the rest of the group. Clark's association with Douglas did go on to benefit him though -- Douglas went on, as we've seen in other episodes, to produce hits for the Turtles and the Monkees, and he later remembered an old song by Clark and McGuinn that the Byrds had demoed but never released, "You Showed Me", and produced a top ten hit version of it for the Turtles: [Excerpt: The Turtles, "You Showed Me"] Clark had instead started working with two country singers, Vern and Rex Gosdin, who had previously been with Chris Hillman in the country band The Hillmen. When that band had split up, the Gosdin Brothers had started to perform together as a duo, and in 1967 they would have a major country hit with "Hangin' On": [Excerpt: The Gosdin Brothers, "Hangin' On"] At this point though, they were just Gene Clark's backing vocalists, on an album that had been started with producer Larry Marks, who left Columbia half way through the sessions, at which point Usher took over. The album, titled Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, featured a mix of musicians from different backgrounds. There were Larson and Rinehart from Gene Clark and the Group, there were country musicians -- a guitarist named Clarence White and the banjo player Doug Dillard. Hillman and Michael Clarke, the Byrds' rhythm section, played on much of the album as a way of keeping a united front, Glen Campbell, Jerry Cole, Leon Russell and Jim Gordon of the Wrecking Crew contributed, and Van Dyke Parks played most of the keyboards. The lead-off single for Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, "Echoes", is one of the tracks produced by Marks, but in truth the real producer of that track is Leon Russell, who wrote the orchestral arrangement that turned Clark's rough demo into a baroque pop masterpiece: [Excerpt: Gene Clark, "Echoes"] Despite Clark having quit the band, relations between him and the rest were still good enough that in September 1966 he temporarily rejoined the band after Crosby lost his voice, though he was gone again as soon as Crosby was well. But that didn't stop the next Byrds album, which Usher went on to produce straight after finishing work on Clark's record, coming out almost simultaneously with Clark's and, according to Clark, killing its commercial potential. Upon starting to work with the group, Usher quickly came to the conclusion that Chris Hillman was in many ways the most important member of the band. According to Usher "There was also quite a divisive element within the band at that stage which often prevented them working well together. Sometimes everything would go smoothly, but other times it was a hard road. McGuinn and Hillman were often more together on musical ideas. This left Crosby to fend for himself, which I might add he did very well." Usher also said "I quickly came to understand that Hillman was a good stabilising force within the Byrds (when he wanted to be). It was around the time that I began working with them that Chris also became more involved in the songwriting. I think part of that was the fact that he realised how much more money was involved if you actually wrote the songs yourself. And he was a good songwriter." The first single to be released from the new sessions was one that was largely Hillman's work. Hillman and Crosby had been invited by the great South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela to play on some demos for another South African jazzer, singer Letta Mbulu. Details are sparse, but one presumes this was for what became her 1967 album Letta Mbulu Sings, produced by David Axelrod: [Excerpt: Letta Mbulu, "Zola (MRA)"] According to Hillman, that session was an epiphany for him, and he went home and started writing his own songs for the first time. He took one of the riffs he came up with to McGuinn, who came up with a bridge inspired by a song by yet another South African musician, Miriam Makeba, who at the time was married to Masekela, and the two wrote a lyric inspired by what they saw as the cynical manipulation of the music industry in creating manufactured bands like the Monkees -- though they have both been very eager to say that they were criticising the industry, not the Monkees themselves, with whom they were friendly. As Hillman says in his autobiography, "Some people interpreted it as a jab at The Monkees. In reality, we had immense respect for all of them as singers and musicians. We weren't skewering the members of the Monkees, but we were taking a shot at the cynical nature of the entertainment business that will try to manufacture a group like The Monkees as a marketing strategy. For us, it was all about the music, and we were commenting on the pitfalls of the industry rather than on any of our fellow musicians." [Excerpt: The Byrds, "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?"] The track continued the experimentation with sound effects that they had started with the Lear jet song on the previous album. That had featured recordings of a Lear jet, and "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?" featured recordings of audience screams. Those screams were, according to most sources, recorded by Derek Taylor at a Byrds gig in Bournemouth in 1965, but given reports of the tepid response the group got on that tour, that doesn't seem to make sense. Other sources say they're recordings of a *Beatles* audience in Bournemouth in *1963*, the shows that had been shown in the first US broadcast of Beatles footage, and the author of a book on links between the Beatles and Bournemouth says on his blog "In the course of researching Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth I spoke to two people who saw The Byrds at the Gaumont that August and neither recalled any screaming at all, let alone the wall of noise that can be heard on So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star." So it seems likely that screaming isn't for the Byrds, but of course Taylor had also worked for the Beatles. According to Usher "The crowd sound effects were from a live concert that Derek Taylor had taped with a little tape recorder in London. It was some outrageous crowd, something like 20,000 to 30,000 people. He brought the tape in, ran it off onto a big tape, re- EQ'd it, echoed it, cleaned it up and looped it." So my guess is that the audience screams in the Byrds song about the Monkees are for the Beatles, but we'll probably never know for sure: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?"] The track also featured an appearance by Hugh Masekela, the jazz trumpeter whose invitation to take part in a session had inspired the song: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?"] While Hillman was starting to lean more towards folk and country music -- he had always been the member of the band least interested in rock music -- and McGuinn was most interested in exploring electronic sounds, Crosby was still pushing the band more in the direction of the jazz experimentation they'd tried on "Eight Miles High", and one of the tracks they started working on soon after "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?" was inspired by another jazz trumpet great. Miles Davis had been partly responsible for getting the Byrds signed to Columbia, as we talked about in the episode on "Mr. Tambourine Man", and so the group wanted to pay him tribute, and they started working on a version of his classic instrumental "Milestones": [Excerpt: Miles Davis, "Milestones"] Sadly, while the group worked on their version for several days -- spurred on primarily by Crosby -- they eventually chose to drop the track, and it has never seen release or even been bootlegged, though there is a tiny clip of it that was used in a contemporaneous documentary, with a commentator talking over it: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Milestones (TV)"] It was apparently Crosby who decided to stop work on the track, just as working on it was also apparently his idea. Indeed, while the biggest change on the album that would become Younger Than Yesterday was that for the first time Chris Hillman was writing songs and taking lead vocals, Crosby was also writing more than before. Hillman wrote four of the songs on the album, plus his co-write with McGuinn on "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?", but Crosby also supplied two new solo compositions, plus a cowrite with McGuinn, and Crosby and McGuinn's "Why?", the B-side to "Eight Miles High", was also dug up and rerecorded for the album. Indeed, Gary Usher would later say "The album was probably 60% Crosby. McGuinn was not that involved, nor was Chris; at least as far as performing was concerned." McGuinn's only composition on the album other than the co-writes with Crosby and Hillman was another song about contacting aliens, "CTA-102", a song about a quasar which at the time some people were speculating might have been evidence of alien life. That song sounds to my ears like it's had some influence from Joe Meek's similar records, though I've never seen McGuinn mention Meek as an influence: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "CTA-102"] Crosby's growing dominance in the studio was starting to rankle with the other members. In particular two tracks were the cause of conflict. One was Crosby's song "Mind Gardens", an example of his increasing experimentation, a freeform song that ignores conventional song structure, and which he insisted on including on the album despite the rest of the group's objections: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Mind Gardens"] The other was the track that directly followed "Mind Gardens" on the album. "My Back Pages" was a song from Dylan's album Another Side of Bob Dylan, a song many have seen as Dylan announcing his break with the folk-song and protest movements he'd been associated with up to that point, and his intention to move on in a new direction: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages"] Jim Dickson, the Byrds' co-manager, was no longer on speaking terms with the band and wasn't involved in their day-to-day recording as he had been, but he'd encountered McGuinn on the street and rolled down his car window and suggested that the group do the song. Crosby was aghast. They'd already recorded several songs from Another Side of Bob Dylan, and Fifth Dimension had been their first album not to include any Dylan covers. Doing a jangly cover of a Dylan song with a McGuinn lead vocal was something they'd moved on from, and he didn't want to go back to 1964 at the end of 1966. He was overruled, and the group recorded their version, a track that signified something very different for the Byrds than the original had for Dylan: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "My Back Pages"] It was released as the second single from the album, and made number thirty. It was the last Byrds single to make the top forty. While he was working with the Byrds, Usher continued his work in the pop field, though as chart pop moved on so did Usher, who was now making records in a psychedelic sunshine pop style with acts like the Peanut Butter Conspiracy: [Excerpt: The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, "It's a Happening Thing"] and he produced Chad and Jeremy's massive concept album Of Cabbages and Kings, which included a five-song "Progress Suite" illustrating history from the start of creation until the end of the world: [Excerpt: Chad and Jeremy, "Editorial"] But one of the oddest projects he was involved in was indirectly inspired by Roger McGuinn. According to Usher "McGuinn and I had a lot in common. Roger would always say that he was "out of his head," which he thought was good, because he felt you had to go out of your head before you could really find your head! That sums up McGuinn perfectly! He was also one of the first people to introduce me to metaphysics, and from that point on I started reading everything I could get my hands on. His viewpoints on metaphysics were interesting, and, at the time, useful. He was also into Marshall McLuhan; very much into the effects of electronics and the electronic transformation. He was into certain metaphysical concepts before I was, but I was able to turn him onto some abstract concepts as well" These metaphysical discussions led to Usher producing an album titled The Astrology Album, with discussions of the meaning of different star signs over musical backing: [Excerpt: Gary Usher, "Leo"] And with interviews with various of the artists he was working with talking about astrology. He apparently interviewed Art Garfunkel -- Usher was doing some uncredited production work on Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends album at the time -- but Garfunkel declined permission for the interview to be used. But he did get both Chad and Jeremy to talk, along with John Merrill of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy -- and David Crosby: [Excerpt: Gary Usher, "Leo"] One of the tracks from that album, "Libra", became the B-side of a single by a group of studio musicians Usher put together, with Glen Campbell on lead vocals and featuring Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys prominently on backing vocals. "My World Fell Down" was credited to Sagittarius, again a sign of Usher's current interest in astrology, and featured some experimental sound effects that are very similar to the things that McGuinn had been doing on recent Byrds albums: [Excerpt: Sagittarius, "My World Fell Down"] While Usher was continuing with his studio experimentation, the Byrds were back playing live -- and they were not going down well at all. They did a UK tour where they refused to play most of their old hits and went down as poorly as on their previous tour, and they were no longer the kings of LA. In large part this was down to David Crosby, whose ego was by this point known to *everybody*, and who was becoming hugely unpopular on the LA scene even as he was starting to dominate the band. Crosby was now the de facto lead vocalist on stage, with McGuinn being relegated to one or two songs per set, and he was the one who would insist that they not play their older hit singles live. He was dominating the stage, leading to sarcastic comments from the normally placid Hillman like "Ladies and gentlemen, the David Crosby show!", and he was known to do things like start playing a song then stop part way through a verse to spend five minutes tuning up before restarting. After a residency at the Whisky A-Go-Go where the group were blown off the stage by their support act, the Doors, their publicist Derek Taylor quit, and he was soon followed by the group's co-managers Jim Dickson and Eddie Tickner, who were replaced by Crosby's friend Larry Spector, who had no experience in rock management but did represent Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, two young film stars Crosby was hanging round with. The group were particularly annoyed by Crosby when they played the Monterey Pop Festival. Crosby took most lead vocals in that set, and the group didn't go down well, though instrumentally the worst performer was Michael Clarke, who unlike the rest of the band had never become particularly proficient on his instrument: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star (live at Monterey)"] But Crosby also insisted on making announcements from the stage advocating LSD use and describing conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination: [Excerpt: David Crosby on the Warren Commission, from the end of "Hey Joe" Monterey] But even though Crosby was trying to be the Byrds' leader on stage, he was also starting to think that they maybe didn't deserve to have him as their leader. He'd recently been spending a lot of time hanging out with Stephen Stills of the Buffalo Springfield, and McGuinn talks about one occasion where Crosby and Stills were jamming together, Stills played a blues lick and said to McGuinn "Can you play that?" and when McGuinn, who was not a blues musician, said he couldn't, Stills looked at him with contempt. McGuinn was sure that Stills was trying to poach Crosby, and Crosby apparently wanted to be poached. The group had rehearsed intensely for Monterey, aware that they'd been performing poorly and not wanting to show themselves up in front of the new San Francisco bands, but Crosby had told them during rehearsals that they weren't good enough to play with him. McGuinn's suspicions about Stills wanting to poach Crosby seemed to be confirmed during Monterey when Crosby joined Buffalo Springfield on stage, filling in for Neil Young during the period when Young had temporarily quit the group, and performing a song he'd helped Stills write about Grace Slick: [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "Rock 'n' Roll Woman (live at Monterey)"] Crosby was getting tired not only of the Byrds but of the LA scene in general. He saw the new San Francisco bands as being infinitely cooler than the Hollywood plastic scene that was LA -- even though Crosby was possibly the single most Hollywood person on that scene, being the son of an Oscar-winning cinematographer and someone who hung out with film stars. At Monterey, the group had debuted their next single, the first one with an A-side written by Crosby, "Lady Friend": [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Lady Friend"] Crosby had thought of that as a masterpiece, but when it was released as a single, it flopped badly, and the rest of the group weren't even keen on the track being included on the next album. To add insult to injury as far as Crosby was concerned, at the same time as the single was released, a new album came out -- the Byrds' Greatest Hits, full of all those singles he was refusing to play live, and it made the top ten, becoming far and away the group's most successful album. But despite all this, the biggest conflict between band members when they came to start sessions for their next album wasn't over Crosby, but over Michael Clarke. Clarke had never been a particularly good drummer, and while that had been OK at the start of the Byrds' career, when none of them had been very proficient on their instruments, he was barely any better at a time when both McGuinn and Hillman were being regarded as unique stylists, while Crosby was writing metrically and harmonically interesting material. Many Byrds fans appreciate Clarke's drumming nonetheless, saying he was an inventive and distinctive player in much the same way as the similarly unskilled Micky Dolenz, but on any measure of technical ability he was far behind his bandmates. Clarke didn't like the new material and wasn't capable of playing it the way his bandmates wanted. He was popular with the rest of the band as a person, but simply wasn't playing well, and it led to a massive row in the first session: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Universal Mind Decoder (alternate backing track)"] At one point they joke that they'll bring in Hal Blaine instead -- a reference to the recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man", when Clarke and Hillman had been replaced by Blaine and Larry Knechtel -- and Clarke says "Do it. I don't mind, I really don't." And so that ended up happening. Clarke was still a member of the band -- and he would end up playing on half the album's tracks -- but for the next few sessions the group brought in session drummers Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon to play the parts they actually wanted. But that wasn't going to stop the bigger problem in the group, and that problem was David Crosby's relationship with the rest of the band. Crosby was still at this point thinking of himself as having a future in the group, even as he was increasingly convinced that the group themselves were bad, and embarrassed by their live sound. He even, in a show of unity, decided to ask McGuinn and Hillman to collaborate on a couple of songs with him so they would share the royalties equally. But there were two flash-points in the studio. The first was Crosby's song "Triad", a song about what we would now call polyamory, partly inspired by Robert Heinlein's counterculture science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The song was meant to portray a progressive, utopian, view of free love, but has dated very badly -- the idea that the *only* reason a woman might be unhappy with her partner sleeping with another woman is because of her mother's disapproval possibly reveals more about the mindset of hippie idealists than was intended. The group recorded Crosby's song, but refused to allow it to be released, and Crosby instead gave it to his friends Jefferson Airplane, whose version, by having Grace Slick sing it, at least reverses the dynamics of the relationship: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Triad"] The other was a song that Gary Usher had brought to the group and suggested they record, a Goffin and King song released the previous year by Dusty Springfield: [Excerpt: Dusty Springfield, "Goin' Back"] Crosby was incandescent. The group wanted to do this Brill Building pap?! Hell, Gary Usher had originally thought that *Chad and Jeremy* should do it, before deciding to get the Byrds to do it instead. Did they really want to be doing Chad and Jeremy cast-offs when they could be doing his brilliant science-fiction inspired songs about alternative relationship structures? *Really*? They did, and after a first session, where Crosby reluctantly joined in, when they came to recut the track Crosby flat-out refused to take part, leading to a furious row with McGuinn. Since they were already replacing Michael Clarke with session drummers, that meant the only Byrds on "Goin' Back", the group's next single, were McGuinn and Hillman: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Goin' Back"] That came out in late October 1967, and shortly before it came out, McGuinn and Hillman had driven to Crosby's home. They told him they'd had enough. He was out of the band. They were buying him out of his contract. Despite everything, Crosby was astonished. They were a *group*. They fought, but only the way brothers fight. But McGuinn and Hillman were adamant. Crosby ended up begging them, saying "We could make great music together." Their response was just "And we can make great music without you." We'll find out whether they could or not in two weeks' time.