Pick the band that was responsible for Country Rock AKA Alt-Country

Tenacious D!

n/t

how can you NOT have gram parsons?!!

edit.. which covers byrds and flying burritos, of course :)

Gram amazes, but don't forget Chris Hillman's contribution.

Cool thread. :D

...the irony is that I have all of his music, and I just forgot him. My first mistake of 2004!

:evilgrin:

Flying Burrito Bros? Byrds? The Band? To name what one would think would be some of the most obvious.

:D

how about some International Submarine Band?

...they've always been evenly split between Nelson and Nesmith, because they did for a much smaller "cult" audience when the media wasn;t paying attention.

Without Gram Parsons, you can wipe away a large, significant portion of the Rolling Stones' post-"Beggars Banquet" catalog. They really, really stole from the man.

The Byrds owe the distinction to Parsons, and the Burritos came after the Byrds, SO...

Who nailed it FIRST?

The Band did "Music From Big Pink" in 1968, the same for Parsons with The Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo." Nesmith and Nelson were well into their thing before then. Buffalo Springfield's first album was in 1967, so they also beat The Byrds and The Band.

That's why the list is "incomplete." The list of the people who did it first is a short list.

:toast:

Cool, I figured, from past experience, that you knew your history well enough to rise to the heat. Of course, Gram and the Intl Sub Band (1965) predates all and is more obscure than Nelson or Mikey N. I thought, and I can't find anything on Nesmith until Magnetic South in 1970?

Of course the Band predates Big Pink - they backed Dylan first in 1965 - before that they were the Hawks, doing that Country rock thing.

Nelson? uh, sorry, no comment.

...think they got there first. Believe it or not, many people think that The Eagles "created" the form (and the Eagles owe a debt they can never repay to Linda Ronstadt, who used them as her backing band, who is another "pioneer" who ALSO probably belongs on my list)...

You're 100% right...the works of Parsons and The Band that were out of the media spotlight were happening at the earliest stages of the birth of country rock.

The reason I respect Nesmith (in addition to, not apart from the others on the list) is that while he was "doing his job" for Columbia / Screen Gems and filming the Monkees episodes, he was also slipping off to Nashville with guys like the late, great Red Rhodes...many of which would end up in "The First National Band" when the Monkees finally called it a day. He would go into sessions that Columbia paid for as "Monkees" sessions, bring in all of his own guys, record the tracks and take the tapes home. One or two would make it back to Columbia, but he was pretty much on his own agenda.

Rhino Records released a couple of Monkees box sets, and if you look at the track details, many "Monkees" tunes featuring Nesmith are nothing more than Nesmith and these "Nashville Cats." That's why, even though the "official" Nesmith albums came later, he was planting these seeds as early as 1966.

I heard Gram Parsons and the International Submarine Band AFTER a friend introduced me to "Return of the Grievous Angel"...so whether Parsons did it first, last or anywhere in between is irrelevant. Parsons did it in a way that no one has done it before or since...INCLUDING the Rolling Stones and "Wild Horses," as great a track as that may be. In the chronology, I don't know.

And finally, regarding The Hawks...remember it was "Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks," which is where the name came from...they were doing blues and R&B and certainly not pure country or straight-ahead rock & roll. So the Band morphed into country-rock pioneers later in their career, but not when they were going from bar to bar in Canada...

:toast:

but I certainly call what Dylan and the Hawks did in '65 country rock - yes, there was a bluesy sound with Ronnie, but he was gone by '65.
As for Nesmith, his Stone Country stuff was bureid in a vault? Ok.

I haven't listned to any Stone Pony since the late 70's but I wonder if maybe Linda wasn't more of a pioneer than the Eagles?

...The self-titled "Linda Ronstadt" album (1971) has Henley, Frey, Leadon & Mesiner from The Eagles as well as genre legends Herb Pedersen, Gib Gilbeau, John Boylan, and Sneaky Pete. It really IS "The Eagles Template" with Ronstadt on lead vocals.

Before that she had "Hand Sown...Home Grown" and "Silk Purse," as well as the Stone Ponys releases before that (including their hit, Nesmith's "Different Drum")...so she really does deserve a greater degree of credit than she's ever gotten for creating her style.

:toast:

So, I credit Uncle Tupelo for Alt-Country.

Country Rock? Eh, Buffalo Springfield works for me.

and yes, Uncle Tupelo works for alt-country.

...I mean the "Alt-Country Magazine" is only called 'No Depression', so I am stealing the idea. But only because I agree.

I agree with your post as well. :thumbsup:

get it straight! (some us might take this a little seriously, but it is probably the culmination of a life spent looking for music that doesn't suck) :)

I'd go with UT, maybe Whiskeytown as a close second as the leaders of the true alt-country genre. I call it the 'twang and mope'

Sometimes though, when trying to explain what alt-country is to those that dont know, I'll say its like a modern version of The Band.

Therefore I think you should add a few more to the list:

Lone Justice
Rank and File
k.d. lang and the reclines

And then I will have a hard time making a decision.

:)

Alt-country: Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks.

:hi: Mac!

Here I am!

Had to work the Jayhawks in there someplace.

:thumbsup:

His cuts on the first Monkees album (1966) were pretty much Country Rock. He had a few singles out even before that. I know he didn't single handedly bring it on, but he was one of the early ones.

Elephant Parts where he changes the words to "Her Name was Joann" to "Her Name was Rodan" - it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

His "commentary" is hilarious. It has nothing to do with Elephant Parts, it's just him rambling on about strange things. He has redone it, but I don't have the new version. He also has another one called "The Elephant Parts Home companion".

is too funny. I will have to look for the new DVD

...the "official" Michael Nesmith Web Site.

http://www.videoranch.com/

:toast:

Proviso: Country Rock is NOT aka alt.country.

alt.country is just as much a reaction against what was known as country rock as alternative was a reaction against AOR.

If there is one grandfather album to alt.country, it's the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street. The formula is all right there, heavily influenced by Parsons but with Jagger/Richards unique spin.

That album's direct descendents are the nuggets the Replacements spread across several albums in the 1980s. I give the 'mats credit because it was they who turned on so many of the modern groups onto that sound when they was younguns' in the '80s. A whole genre was given a nickname: Country & Westerberg.

contained country rock tunes, specifically "The Time Between" and "The Girl With No Name." It was different, something I'd never heard before, and it began my love for country rock,now known as alt country,roots rock ,Americana,y'allternative,etc.These tunes were the first I heard in this genre.Both were written by Chris Hillman.

Their next album, "The Notorious Byrd Brothers," also had two tunes of note, "Wasn't Born To Folow" and "Old John Robertson." "Wasn'tBorn To Follow" was an Oscar nominee for best song. It was used in "Easy Rider" but it lost out to "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

"Sweetheart of the Rodeo" with Gram Parsons joining the group was released after these two great albums. This one was entirely country,could be considered pure country rather than country rock. I recall that at the time Nashville was outraged that this hippy band would dare to attempt to do a country album and the Byrds were excoriated by mainstream country.

The song "Drug Store Truck Driving Man" on Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde was written for Ralph Emory, a Country DJ who was particularly vehement in denouncing the album(SOTR).It's ironic and a sad commentary on the state of country that if this album were released now it would never get any country radio airplay because it would be much too traditional.

Please excuse my verbosity; I guess I'll just say that the Byrds ,even before Gram joined them,were the first rock group to play country rock.

One additional note: these three great albums were all put out in a span of eightteen months, form Feb. of 1967 to Aug. of 1968.

...I hate to throw THIS name into the mix of all the legendary a great performers bantied abnout here, but...

I think the Kentucky Headhunters started the modern flavor of country. The first time I heard "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" through a Les Paul and a stack of Marshalls did it for me. I think that's where the bridge got crossed (not through that particular song, but their hits). It was true country (not just a little pedal steel or slide) with the loud pedal held down.

Mind you, I would never compare their talent to anyone previously listed and they don't do that much for me, but I think they are pioneers that led the newer country into what it is today.

Eagles, Pure Prairie League, Poco, etc....not really country. It takes more than a pedal steel and slide to make a song country. They were no more country than Lynyrd Skynyrd were blues artists just because they did a a couple blues tunes.

Just my $.0000000002 worth.

Chet Atkins did session work for them (I believe it was on the "Two Lane Highway" album), and this was Vince Gill's band before he became "Vince Gill"...and while he may not seem that "pure" to some, he recently went back to his roots in a band called "The Notorious Cherry Bombs," featuring Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, pianist Tony Brown, guitarist Richard Bennett, and steel guitarist Hank DeVito.

These guys were Crowell's backing band in the 70s. This project is heavy on rockabilly, "roots rock," and honky-tonk.

They do "Sweet Little Lisa," but Dave Edmunds' version...with Albert Lee on lead guitar...really left nothing to be said.