The Brothers Everly

Ok, so everybody knows the Everly Brothers from their ubiquitous oldies hits like Cathy's Clown, etc, but for my money they were the original country-rockers. Don and Phil's parents were country stars from Kentucky so when these boys started their thing they were naturally tapping into some country roots. I've read here and there that the early hippy rockers like The Byrds, CS&N and Gram Parsons and the Burrito Bros. all worshipped the Everly Brothers' early rock n' roll hits, so its only natural that the Everly Brothers would fit right in when the country-rock scene blossomed in the late 60s. Well, they did and they didn't. I don't have it yet, but their 1968 "Roots" album is supposed to be a great example of their adapting to the new/old country-rock sound that they helped invent, but this album from 1972 definitely finds the brothers stretching out in a country-rock style not unlike some of their followers.

Left to right: Paul Rothschild (producer), Phil & Don Everly
Some of their admirers even joined in on this all-star cast, including John Sebastien of The Lovin' Spoonful, David Crosby, Delany & Bonnie, and Chris Hillman among many others. The album was recorded in Sebastian's Laural Canyon home. The brothers cover Sebastian on the title tune, which is nice, and cover Delaney & Bonnie on the opening cut, but the three tracks here (and my three favorites) are all Everly originals. The heavenly Green River is possibly one of my favorite country-rock tunes of all time and will certainly make the cut for the forthcoming Weed, Whites & Wine compilation.

The Everly Brothers - Green River
The Everly Brothers - I'm Tired of Singing My Song in Las Vegas
The Everly Brothers - Up In Mabel's Room

The Other Graham

Around the time I first started WW&W I was just getting into Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was a late start, but like the "dead", CSN always seemed a bit too hippy -dippy and those radio hits were sounding pretty worn-out. First, my friend Josh turned me on to the solo David Crosby record, which proceeded to blow my mind. Next, I started picking up the first and second and subsequent CSN(Y) albums. More recently it was pointed out that actually ALL of the solo albums from C, S & N were quite good and that I needed to fill out the collection. This is where we come to Graham Nash's "Songs for Beginners". It might take a listen or two to adapt to Graham's extremely personal and fragile universe, but it's a rewarding listen and the record that has taken the most spins on my turntable and ipod in the past three months. On a related note, I just downloaded Stephen Stills' first solo album and despite what everyone else seems to say, I found it kinda boring, barring the "Love the One You're With" single, which I could do without for hearing it so many times. My money is with Crosby & Nash's solo records!

Graham Nash - I Used To Be a King
I'm not sure the timing of this album in relation to Graham's personal life, but around this time he and Joni Mitchell were living together in "Our House" in Laurel Canyon, but that was not to last and the poetic two parted ways. I like to think that this is one of Graham's break-up songs to Joni. Assuming the timing is right there are other break-up songs to Joni on this album.

Graham Nash - Sleep Song
Just a beautiful tune.

Rita Coolidge - Better Days
After discovering Graham, I remembered I had heard this song before and it took me awhile to place where . . . that Rita Coolidge album I had where she also covers Bob Dylan & Neil Young. Listening to it again, it's not a better version that Graham's but it does flesh out the tune with a full band and more structure. It's just a great song and another Joni break-up song.

I'm slowly picking up some later Graham Nash albums as well as some Crosby-Nash albums. The possibilities do seem endless with these prolific hippies . . .

Soundtrack to Laurel Canyon

I'm still kinda trying to figure out where this blog is heading, but for now I'm just letting it take me where it will posting about tunes that I've been listening to that fit the basic format here. I found this article the other day online about Laurel Canyon and a couple of books published in the past few years that cover that scene. I went and picked up Michael Walker's book "Laurel Canyon." I'm digging it so far and I can see some future Laurel Canyon related posts touching on such canyon luminaries as The Turtles, John Phillips and Chris Hillman.

Today we have three bonus tracks from the remastered version of Crosby, Stills & Nash's first album. This might as well be THE Laurel Canyon album. The story goes that Mama Cass matched the disgruntled Hollies' singer, Graham Nash, with the recently formed duo of David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the rest was hippy-dippy three-party harmony. Their first album is classic and needs to be in everyone's collection, but these bonus tracks are also pretty great and worth your attention.

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Song Without Words (demo)
This one is an early demo of a song that ended up on Crosby's first solo album.

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Everybody's Talkin' (previously unreleased)
Cool version of a classic and the only other cover, aside from Joni's "Woodstock", on the album.

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Teach Your Children (demo)
This is a demo for the song that would come out on the super-group's next album "Deja Vu"