Radio Exile | Outloud – Hot Burrito #3

Outloud – Hot Burrito #3

By Dan Berkman February 22, 2008 Post a comment | Email the author

Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of Outloud. This week we are going to be taking a look at one of the most seminal bands in the alt-country movement – The Flying Burrito Brothers. If you are a fan of either Wilco, Whiskeytown, Old 97’s, Steve Earle, Uncle Tupelo or hell anything on Blood Shot Records, and you are not aware of them then this is an error that simply must be corrected.

The Flying Burrito Brothers were the purest form of what the band’s leader Gram Parsons called “Cosmic American Music”. This new “genre” mixed country, rock and roll, folk, psychedelia, gospel and soul into one form, that was meant to border on a religious experience. Gram had attempted to capture this sound in his previous bands, The International Submarine Band and The Byrds (He briefly joined, wrote and recorded the classic Sweetheart of The Rodeo and then left) but never really got what he wanted. The International Submarine Band folded too fast and with the Byrds, he had to clash with the legendary attitude of Roger McGuinn.

This new band, which featured fellow ex-Byrd Chris Hillman, was determined to explore country rock aka alt-country, to the fullest extent. The duo moved into a house in California dubbed, “Burrito Manor:, where they wrote, recorded and most infamously partied. The pressure was seemingly off. After the commercial failure of the future classic, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, record labels were not so keen on country rock or the songwriting duo of Parsons and Hillman. The group eventually added ex-International Submarine Band bassist Chris Ethridge and special effects wizard turned steel guitarist “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow.

Not only was their music radical but so was their fashion sense. The band often wore matching country-western suits decked out in rhinestones, along with interesting variations such as Parsons embroidered pot leaf design. You can check out the look and track one side one of their fantastic debut, Gilded Palaces of Sin, “Christine’s Tune” in this rarely seen music video. Enjoy!

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=BITiY8M_oDo[/youtube]
Flying Burrito Brothers playing “Christine’s Tune” from their debut “Gilded Palaces of Sin

The album was as expected a commercial failure but it won favor with musicians and established The Flying Burrito Brothers as a band’s band. Among their most adamant fans were Bob Dylan, The Band and The Rolling Stones. In fact, Rolling Stone Keith Richards, visited “Burrito Mansion” where him and Parsons shot heroin and collaborated on songs. Legend has it, that it was during this trip that Richards wrote most of the Stones classic “Wild Horses”, based around lessons Parsons was giving him.

After touring for a couple of months bassist Chris Ethridge left the band due to their lack of success. It was at this point that The Flying Burrito Brothers finally nailed a steady drummer in another ex-Byrd, Michael Clarke. Also joining the group was Bernie Leadon. Leadon would later be a founding member of a group that would polish up country rock and take it up the charts – The Eagles. This era of the group recorded their second album, Burrito Deluxe.. Check out this ultra rare video for the song “Older Guys” from that album.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=XV41SF8esXk[/youtube]
The ultra rare video for “Older Guys”

After some touring Parsons left The Flying Burrito Brothers to go solo. The band recruited Rick Roberts, later of another successful country rock act Firefall, to take this place. This era of the band recorded a self titled album in 1971 to complete a three album deal before splitting. The band would reunite in 75. The only remaining original member was Sneaky Pete.

Parsons would later form a backing band called The Fallen Angels, which featured a young Emmylou Harris, Jock Bartley, who too would eventually join Firefall, and original Mountain drummer N.D. Smart, among others. His backing band performed infrequently due to Parsons legendary drug and alcohol problems. This is why visual proof of these gigs has been so hard to come by, but have no fear, I have dug one out for you. Here is Gram Parsons and the band playing “The Streets of Baltimore” at some unnamed venue.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=T9EkEm4ykmQ[/youtube]
Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels playing “The Streets of Baltimore”

Gram Parsons would pass away on September 23, 1973. In his short decade of making music Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers brought a new sound into the musical landscape. Like many innovators they would be forgotten, while those they inspired would go on to riches and fame. The only solace at the end of the day comes when all is said and done, the music is what that matters. Sure they didn’t make a lot of money but I would take The Flying Burrito Brothers over The Eagles any day of the week. Well anyways, till next time kids.