"There’s just a little bit of magic in the country music we’re singing…"—Richie Furay, Poco, "Picking Up The Pieces," 1968.
"Too country for rock, too rock for country." –radio programmers’ reasoning for keeping country rockers off their late Sixties’ playlists.
In the mid to late Sixties, a stunning hybrid of rock and roll and country music germinated in the music clubs and rehearsal halls of Southern California. The new music, dubbed "country rock," created quite a stir before bowing out in the disco infested days of the mid Seventies.While it’s all but impossible to pinpoint exactly where country rock started, its roots stretch back as far as the early Elvis Presley recordings for Sun in Memphis, to Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers, Rick Nelson and the "Bakersfield Sound" of Buck Owens.
And now, thanks to the researching, interviewing and writing skills of well known Canadian music writer John Einarson, the histories, myths and influences of the music are explored in "Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock," published this spring by Cooper Square Press."I got into country rock back in the late Sixties, as an extension of my affection for the Buffalo Springfield." Einarson said in a recent interview about his newest book."I confess to not having any great love for country music per se back then, but I liked the country flavorings the Springfield brought to some of their music. When Richie Furay and Jim Messina formed Poco, being a Furay fan I bought their debut album, and wore out the grooves. From that, I delved into Dillard & Clark, the Byrds’ country forays, and onward."
The genesis of a book chronicling the history of the genre came about very naturally, Einarson said, after he completed his last book on the Buffalo Springfield.
"The idea for the book came after completing the Springfield book," he said."It seemed like a natural progression to follow the story, particularly Richie’s story, as he had been the collaborator on the Springfield book. No one had attempted to pull it all together.
"Country rock evolved from a real incestuous fraternity of like minded young musicians playing with each other, forming and reforming bands, and forging musical alliances and connections," he said. "I found that aspect of the story fascinating, the paths that crossed one another. When you distill it down to its roots, country rock is really the product of a handful of visionaries who all hung out together and influenced not only others, but themselves."
"I’m very proud of ‘Desperados,’" he added."I think it’s the best writing I’ve ever done."
Unlike his prior books on the Springfield, Neil Young and Randy Bachman, Einarson’s newest is about a genre, rather than specific people, in the music business, although interesting, seminal characters populate its pages. He admits that tackling a project from that point of view really took a different approach.
"I had to cast a wider net and do a lot more research and interviews, about 60 in all, the most I’ve ever done for any book," he said."But, it’s also the story of a bunch of artists/bands, so I was able to break it down and research it that way, artist by artist. When it came time to knit it together into the story, that was the fun part because there were so many connections. If you were to somehow map out the paths of these artists and musicians, the lines would be so many and so interwoven that it would be just a blur."
"When I undertake a book project, I inundate myself with the music of that artist," he continued."Because there were so many of them in ‘Desperados,’ I had a lot to listen to. I lived country rock for a couple of years. Needless to say, my wife and children were ready to divorce me!"
And, as result of the research and interviews, Einarson changed some of the opinions he had about the music.
"I went into the project with more than a passing knowledge of the genre, but, yes, there were a few revelations and re-evaluations," he said."Certainly, the influence that Rick Nelson had on other country rockers came out strong and was fairly unknown to me. I had perceived him as a follower, taking his lead from Poco, but I was quite surprised to hear other country rockers cite his recordings as influential on them.
"But, I guess if I had to point to anyone who came to the fore in researching and writing this book, it would have to be Gene Clark," he added." My admiration for him increased immeasurably, and it was already high to begin with. What a talent; what a loss."
One of the central tenets of the book was that Gram Parsons, a native Floridian who started the International Submarine Band, brought country music to the Byrds and later co-founded the Flying Burrito Brothers, did not "invent" country rock, as many fans and critics believe.
"One of the things the book does is de-mystify or de-bunk the myth that Gram Parsons invented country rock," Einarson said."Die-hard Parsons fanatics will likely burn a cross on my lawn for that statement, but he did not act within a vacuum and was not the sole visionary leading everyone out of the wilderness. Others were already dabbling in, if not recording, country rock music before him.
"Gram Parsons was one of several visionaries to see the redeeming qualities and positive aspects of country music at a time when that music was deemed unhip by most of his contemporaries," he added."He is, however, assigned a disproportionate share of pioneering the genre of country rock by critics and historians who fail to delve further and instead subscribe to the myth more than the reality.
"And, I’m not even sure Gram was ever interested in country rock," he added."As those who worked with him will testify, he was into country music, plain and simple, not rock. He certainly had a strong disdain for country rock artists like Poco and the Eagles, even the post-Parsons Byrds.
"A lot of the country rock pioneers expressed some indignation that Gram has been given the mantle of country rock guru, when in fact he was simply one of many," Einarson said."It wasn’t a lack of respect for him as an artist or as a friend, but the way the media, as a whole, and his fans in particular, have deified Parsons as country rock God.
"His early death and the myth that has grown up around him has fed this notion," Einarson observed."But the fact remains, he wasn’t alone, nor the first, or even the best at it. He did some great work, don’t kid me, but let’s not forget the other pioneers who were toiling away with the same goal in mind, and also had an impact and left a legacy of great music."
Richie Furay, one of the co-founders of both the Buffalo Springfield and Poco, agrees, commenting in an interview with Sound Waves that "Gram impressed me early on, because of some of the songs he wrote. It’s a tragic and terrible shame that his weakness came in the form of substance abuse. It destroys all creativity. I admired him on many levels, and certainly never understood him on others."
In conducting research for the book, Einarson interviewed a number of other pioneers of the music, and found their insights and contributions to be crucial to the book’s success. Some, like Ian Tyson and Clarence White, may not be familiar to casual music fans, while others, like former Monkee Mike Nesmith, may surprise listeners, he said.
"Mike Nesmith was one of the most articulate, insightful, eloquent interviews I’ve ever done, and I’ve done hundreds," Einarson said."His intellect kept me on my toes throughout the entire two hours or so that we talked (rather, he articulated, and I listened, raptly). He was there at the founding of country rock, but is all but neglected, obscured by his own Monkees past. I think his insights are among the highlights of the book. Forget the goofy guy in the wool hat; the man is so intelligent, it’s scary!"
All in all, Einarson points to former Byrds, Burritos and Desert Rose Band founder Chris Hillman as perhaps exerting the most influence over this area of music.
"Chris Hillman is, in many respects, the true Godfather of country rock, though that epithet would annoy him no end," he said."But, when you go right back to the roots for what would become country rock in the Sixties, it was Hillman who was pushing that envelope with the Byrds and then the Burritos. Never one to step forward into the limelight or assert himself to the detriment of a group, he has more often been the quiet instigator, the mover and shaker, behind the scenes.
"When I first decided I wanted to write a book about country rock, I knew I had to have Chris on my side. His input and endorsement would give the story credibility."
"I came into the Byrds as a mandolin player from a strictly bluegrass band," Hillman said in an interview from his office in Southern California."I had never played rock and roll. I would say the Byrds did the first real journeys into country things, on the ‘Younger Than Yesterday’ album."
From there, and with those roots, Hillman was part of the growth of the genre, for which many fans and critics point to the Byrds’s "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" album, in 1968, as a high water mark in country rock, involving, as it did, Gram Parsons’ first involvement with the group. Hillman, however, has a slightly different take on that record.
"We were experimenting with that, that’s the best way to put it," Hillman said. ’Sweetheart’ was okay, it’s isn’t my favorite record, to be honest with you. Look, songs like ‘Life in Prison’ is a little ludicrous for Gram Parsons, who was a trust fund kid. It just didn’t ring out. I think Roger (McGuinn) approached the project as an actor, heck, he was from Chicago, although his singing was pretty good on there. I thought the things on ‘Younger Than Yesterday’ were more interesting. We weren’t trying to emulate something on that record."
Hillman, like Einarson, also has a unique perception of Parsons, with whom he played in the Byrds, later co-founded the Flying Burrito Brothers, and co-wrote classics like "Sin City."
"A writer like Mike Nesmith, who wrote and sang some very good songs, grew up in a disciplined, professional environment," Hillman said, "Gram didn’t have any of that. He had the talent, but he wasted it. Initially, when we worked on the first Burritos’ album, Gram was not living that kind of lifestyle. He was coherent and working pretty hard. He had an insight into real country music; he understood it, he reopened my eyes to things that I had forgotten about. He also opened my eyes to rhythm and blues, which I thought was brilliant, where we took those two things. We were more interested in mixing the rhythm and blues and country than we were country and rock. Country rock was just a handy little term they put to it."
Another crucial point to the story of country rock in Einarson’s book is that the Eagles, clearly the most commercially popular of all of the country rock acts, had the benefit of coming along near the end of the interest in country rock, and, moreover, had the timing to learn from the mistakes of the originators from the Sixties. Einarson, typically, has a fresh take on just who made the "mistakes," and he clearly points out that it was not the musicians.
"I’m not sure that the musicians or the bands made mistakes," he said."I think they went into this genre with sincerity and dedication, with no desire to sell it short or kowtow to music industry dictates of commercial necessities. I think, on the other hand, that the music industry failed to understand this unique and fresh music. They didn’t know how to manage these artists properly. The Burritos played high school proms, prisons and ‘soul’ clubs. They (the industry) didn’t know how to market it effectively. The musicians did their part, but the industry let them down.
"There is no doubting the fact that, early on, playing country flavored rock or country music with a rock edge was risky," he added,"but it had appeal and could have happened much sooner and in a purer form than it ultimately succeeded with. Sure, steel guitars and banjos were instantly identifiable with country & western music, but the way the country rock pioneers used those country-based instruments was new, unique and exciting. How could anyone not like Rusty Young’s marvelous pedal steel guitar work in early Poco-he was the Jimi Hendrix of that instrument, taking it to new heights."
Furay, in an interview from his home in Colorado, echoes Einarson’s observations, commenting "any mistakes Poco made were not in the musical representation, but in the representation we had between the group and the record company. We certainly did not have the upper echelon of the ‘in’ people frontrunning our future.
Furay points out that Poco’s failure to play the massive Woodstock festival in August 1969 was " a big mistake and made a huge difference in the overall success of Poco. It had nothing to do with steel guitar (in the music). It was just a stupid business decision (made for us).
"Poco not breaking through with the commercial radio exposure needed for the next level of success was the troubling matter for me, and the one that eventually got the best of me," Furay added. "I admit, I became very consumed with it."
Hillman, though, says that technical issues, in the recording studio, also played a part in the lack of commercial success, although he is adamant that the approach was right.
"I really wouldn’t have done anything differently, although I would have mixed and recorded the music better," he said. "The steel guitar was an intregal part of the music. The minute you start catering to what you think radio wants, you are in trouble. You might as well get ‘paint by numbers’ kits. It’s not gonna work.
"We were caught in that place," he recalled." We weren’t getting on FM rock radio, which was really in just an infantile stage at that point, and we weren’t getting on country radio, either. We were caught in the middle, there. Our label, A&M, was not geared to service anything in the Nashville system. You really had to know how to work that system, to get your single played on the country format.
The Eagles, coming a few years later, managed to avoid some of those issues, Einarson and Furay agree.
"Glenn Frey (co-founder of the Eagles) said they decided not to use steel guitar in their early incarnation to avoid being stuck in a country rock rut," Einarson observed."I guess he was right, for the Eagles, anyway. They avoided being pigeonholed as strictly country rock. They had versatility and crossed genres, rather than being stuck in one. They also had strong management and a strong label behind them."
"The Eagles were a very talented group of musicians," Furay said."They were creative writers and had visionary guidance in the early stages of their career. They were able to keep in touch with the pulse of their audience after attaining their initial success, and their history bears witness to the rest. Whatever part Poco played in their success is to our credit."
"The Eagles were a lot more professional in their approach," Hillman said. "They took a lot more time with material, and with presenting that material. They left out the steel guitar; that’s their choice. I thought, initially, the stuff they were doing was good. I liked the original four-piece band, up until they decided to add Joe Walsh and became a rock band. They just put a little more work into it, stage-wise and recording-wise. They were good singers and good writers. We, in the Burritos, stayed in a very traditional mold, and didn’t want to change that. They took a little bit of everything else that was going on, and developed their own sound.
Despite the success of the Eagles, by the middle of the Seventies decade, country rock’s time had passed, but Einarson notes that it’s never really been forgotten.
"I don’t think it died out, " he said."It just changed. You can still hear it in today’s ‘new country’ and ‘alternative country’ scene. The spirit of adventure, risk and experimentation lives on in the music of many new, young artists who share many traits with the original pioneering spirit of Sixties country rockers. The spirit lives on."