The Flying Burrito Brothers
Encyclopedia
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin
The Gilded Palace of Sin
The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's pioneering work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul,...

(1969). Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

 and Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

, the group underwent many personnel changes.

Original line-up

The Flying Burrito Brothers was founded in 1968 on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

 by former The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

 members Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

 and Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

, as well as pianist and bassist Chris Ethridge
Chris Ethridge
Chris Ethridge is an American country rock bass guitarist. He was a member of the International Submarine Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and co-wrote several songs with Gram Parsons.-Career:...

 and pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...

ist Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow was an American country-rock musician, songwriter, and a motion picture special effects artist...

. The group recorded their debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin
The Gilded Palace of Sin
The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's pioneering work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul,...

without a regular drummer, although Eddie Hoh and Jon Corneal were both occasional full-time members during the early days of the band and both are featured on this album. The album contains originals by Parsons and Hillman, and two covers by soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 writers Dan Penn
Dan Penn
Dan Penn is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby"...

 and Chips Moman
Chips Moman
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...

. After firing Corneal the band needed a permanent drummer for touring purposes; they hired another ex-Byrd, Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (musician)
Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...

, who had recently been working with the Dillard and Clark Expedition
Dillard & Clark
Dillard & Clark was a country rock duo which featured ex-Byrds member Gene Clark and bluegrass banjo player Doug Dillard. The group was formed in 1968, shortly after Clark departed The Byrds, and Dillard left The Dillards. They were backed up by, among others, Bernie Leadon, Chris Hillman, Sneaky...

.

Although critically well received, The Gilded Palace of Sin did not sell well. Ethridge departed in mid-1969, and Hillman moved to bass as the band hired singer and guitarist Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Mathew "Bernie" Leadon, III is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers...

. The band performed at the Altamont Free Concert in December 1969, and, as documented in the film Gimme Shelter
Gimme Shelter (documentary)
Gimme Shelter is a 1970 documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, chronicling the last weeks of The Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour, which culminated in the disastrous Altamont Free Concert. The film is named after "Gimme Shelter", the lead track from The Rolling...

, the band was on stage when fights broke out in the audience.

Owing to disagreements between Parsons and Hillman, the band's next album, Burrito Deluxe
Burrito Deluxe
Burrito Deluxe is the second album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1970. In between The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe, the band underwent some personnel changes. Bassist Chris Ethridge left the band out of frustration at the band's lack of success...

, included few collaborations between the pair. Parsons left the group after its release in 1970, and was replaced by Rick Roberts
Rick Roberts (musician)
Rick Roberts is a country rock and classic rock singer-songwriter who recorded with many influential artists over several genres in the 1970s. He is best known for his work with The Flying Burrito Brothers on their 1971 self-titled album, and as a founding member and lead singer of Firefall from...

, with the new line-up releasing the self-titled album, The Flying Burrito Bros, in 1971. Kleinow then left to become a session musician, and Leadon departed to create the Eagles. Al Perkins
Al Perkins
Al Perkins is a Texas-born American guitarist. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential Dobro player", and even began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in 2001 - designed and autographed by Perkins....

 and Kenny Wertz replaced them, and Roger Bush and Byron Berline
Byron Berline
Byron Berline is an American fiddle player.-Biography:Berline started playing the fiddle at age five and quickly developed a talent for it. In 1965, he recorded the album Pickin' and Fiddlin with the Dillards...

 participated as guests in live performances, with the band releasing a live album, Last of the Red Hot Burritos, in 1972.

The original band dissolved after the last founding member, Chris Hillman, took Perkins with him to join Manassas
Manassas (band)
Manassas was an American rock band, formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. The nucleus of the band had already backed Stills on his July 1971 album, Stephen Stills 2, and in May 1972, the double album, Manassas, was released. Down The Road was released in 1973, but in October of that year the band split...

. Berline, Bush and Wertz continued with their own band, Country Gazette. Roberts assembled a makeshift Flying Burrito Bros group to fulfill contractual commitments for some 1973 European live shows, then initiated a solo career before forming Firefall
Firefall
Firefall is a rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, who had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The band's biggest hit single, "You Are the Woman", peaked at #9 on the Billboard charts...

 with Michael Clarke.

Later configurations

As Gram Parsons' influence and fame grew, so did interest in the Flying Burrito Brothers. This new-found popularity led to the release of Close Up the Honky Tonks
Close Up the Honky Tonks
Close Up the Honky Tonks is a compilation double-LP by country rock artist The Flying Burrito Brothers, which was released in 1974. By this time, the Flying Burrito Brothers no longer existed, having been dissolved by Rick Roberts in 1973....

in 1974, a double-LP compilation of album tracks, B-sides, and out-takes, followed by the re-creation of the band by Kleinow and Ethridge in 1975. Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau
Gib Guilbeau
Floyd August "Gib" Guilbeau is an American country-rock musician and songwriter. As a member of Nashville West, Swampwater, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Guilbeau helped pioneer the fusion of rock and country music in the 1960s....

, Joel Scott Hill, and Gene Parsons
Gene Parsons
Gene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...

 (no relation to Gram) also joined the group, and the band released Flying Again
Flying Again
Flying Again is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1975.After Gram Parsons' death in 1973, posthumous interest in his music grew. This interest caused the band's original label, A&M Records, to release the compilation album Close Up the Honky Tonks...

that year. Ethridge was then replaced by Skip Battin
Skip Battin
Clyde "Skip" Battin was an American singer–songwriter, performer and recording artist. He is best remembered as a member of The Byrds, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Flying Burrito Brothers...

 for 1976's Airborne, followed by an album of previously unreleased early material, Sleepless Nights. For the next few decades, the group continued to release albums and tour. It had a country hit with a cover-version of Merle Haggard's
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 "White Line Fever" in 1980, and at that time became the Burrito Brothers.

Headed by songwriter and guitarist John Beland and Gib Guilbeau, and normally featuring Sneaky Pete, the Burrito Brothers scored well on the country charts in the early 1980s, marking the first significant commercial chart success the band ever had. In 1981 they received the Billboard Magazine award for "Best New Crossover Group" from pop to country. The Burrito Brothers continued to work with the top session players in Nashville and Los Angeles, logging up an impressive list of hit singles for Curb Records. In the 80's they toured Europe and were featured at the Albi Nashville Festival in Albi, France, and performed with Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

, and Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....

 at London's Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

. Also in the early 1980s, the Burrito Brothers were responsible for a campaign that finally saw their idol, Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...

, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Through numerous incarnations, nearly all with Beland at the helm, the band released albums and toured throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The latter day Flying Burrito Brothers CDs, produced by Beland, featured an impressive line-up of guests, including the likes of Merle Haggard, Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...

, Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

, Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...

, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...

, and Charlie Louvin
Charlie Louvin
Charles Elzer Loudermilk , known professionally as Charlie Louvin, was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known as one of the Louvin Brothers, and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1955.-Biography:Born in Henagar, Alabama, Louvin was one of 7 children...

. The band's final two CDs, California Jukebox in 1997 and Sons Of The Golden West in 1999, received solid critical reviews. However, Beland decided to finish with the band in 2000, and embarked upon a successful career as a record producer. Sneaky created a Burritos spin-off with his new band Burrito Deluxe, which featured Carlton Moody on lead vocals and Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...

 from The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...

 on keyboards. Burrito Deluxe gained no chart success, relying solely on live appearances in Europe. Pete left the band due to illness in 2005, leaving no direct lineage to any of the actual Flying Burrito Brothers members, past or present.

Legacy of band

Parsons died on September 19, 1973, Clarke died in 1993, and Kleinow died on January 6, 2007. Hillman remained a successful singer-songwriter, having been part of the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
The Souther Hillman Furay Band was a country rock supergroup led by singer-songwriters Richie Furay , Chris Hillman , and J.D. Souther...

 and McGuinn-Clark-Hillman, then going on to form the Desert Rose Band
Desert Rose Band
The Desert Rose Band is a US country music band from California founded by Chris Hillman along with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson in 1985. Rounding out the original lineup were Bill Bryson on bass guitar, Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums...

 (1986–93) with Herb Pedersen
Herb Pedersen
Herb Pedersen is an American musician, guitarist, banjo player, and singer-songwriter who has played a variety of musical styles over the past forty years including country, bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, folk, folk rock, country rock, and has worked with numerous musicians in many different...

. He continued to sing with Pedersen as Chris and Herb, releasing The Other Side in 2005.

Guilbeau retired following heart surgery and moved to Palmdale, California
Palmdale, California
Palmdale is a city located in the center of northern Los Angeles County, California, United States.Palmdale was the first community within the Antelope Valley to incorporate as a city on August 24, 1962; 47 years later, voters approved creating a charter city in November, 2009. Palmdale is...

, from where he continued to appear occasionally at local functions in and around the Los Angeles area. Beland continued to produce acts in the USA and abroad, achieving hit records in both Australia and Norway, where he also performed as a solo act. Beland moved to Brenham, Texas
Brenham, Texas
Brenham is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, Texas, United States, with a population of 16,147 according to the 2009 census. It is the county seat of Washington County...

 and has written hits for performers such as The Whites
The Whites
The Whites is an American country music vocal group consisting of lead singer Sharon White, her sister Cheryl , and their father Buck...

 with "Forever You", Mark Farner
Mark Farner
Mark Fredrick Farner is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist for Grand Funk Railroad, and later as a Contemporary Christian Musician.-Early life and career:...

 with "Isn't It Amazing?", and the Bellamy Brothers
Bellamy Brothers
The Bellamy Brothers are an American pop and country music duo brothers David Milton Bellamy and Homer Howard Bellamy , from Darby, Florida, United States...

 with "Cowboy Beat", "Hard Way To Make An Easy Living", and "Bound To Explode". His songs have been covered by many acts from Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...

 to Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

.

A chain of Mexican restaurants in New Zealand was named after the band.

Studio albums

  • The Gilded Palace of Sin
    The Gilded Palace of Sin
    The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's pioneering work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul,...

    (1969)
  • Burrito Deluxe
    Burrito Deluxe
    Burrito Deluxe is the second album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1970. In between The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe, the band underwent some personnel changes. Bassist Chris Ethridge left the band out of frustration at the band's lack of success...

    (1970)
  • The Flying Burrito Bros (1971)
  • Flying Again
    Flying Again
    Flying Again is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1975.After Gram Parsons' death in 1973, posthumous interest in his music grew. This interest caused the band's original label, A&M Records, to release the compilation album Close Up the Honky Tonks...

    (1975)
  • Airborne (1976)
  • Hearts on the Line
    Hearts on the Line
    Hearts on the Line is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1981.After the Flying Burrito Brothers scored a minor country hit in 1979 with a live cover of Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever", the band was dropped from their record contract and hit yet again with...

    (1981)
  • Sunset Sundown
    Sunset Sundown
    Sunset Sundown is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1982.After Skip Battin left the band prior to Hearts on the Line, the remaining three members of the Burrito Brothers carried on hoping to keep their commercial success going...

    (1982)
  • Eye of a Hurricane
    Eye of a Hurricane (The Flying Burrito Brothers)
    Eye Of A Hurricane is a 1994 album released by The Flying Burrito Brothers. In the early 1990s, longtime Flying Burrito Brothers members John Beland, Gib Guilbeau, Sneaky Pete Kleinow and Chris Ethridge teamed up with Australian rock legend, Brian Cadd and former Elvis Presley drummer, Ronnie Tutt,...

    (1994)
  • California Jukebox (1997)
  • Honky Tonkin' aka Sons of the Golden West (1999)

Live albums

  • Last of the Red Hot Burritos (1972)
  • Sin City (1976)
  • Flying Burrito Brothers '76 (1976)
  • From Another Time (1976)
  • Close Encounters to the West Coast
    Live from Tokyo (album)
    Live from Tokyo is the second live album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1979. It was originally released in Japan in 1978 under the title Close Encounters on the West Coast.-History:...

    (1978)
  • Live from Tokyo
    Live from Tokyo (album)
    Live from Tokyo is the second live album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1979. It was originally released in Japan in 1978 under the title Close Encounters on the West Coast.-History:...

    (1979)
  • Hollywood Nights 1979-82 (1983)
  • Cabin Fever
    Cabin Fever (Flying Burrito Brothers album)
    Cabin Fever is a live album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1985.After John Beland and Gib Guilbeau brought the Burritos to a close in 1984, original member "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow took the opportunity to use the band's name in an effort to secure overseas club work...

    (1985)
  • Live from Europe
    Live from Europe
    Live from Europe is a live album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1986. It contains songs recorded live for a Dutch radio broadcast and features the same lineup as Cabin Fever...

    (1986)
  • Gram Parsons Archives Vol.1: Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969
    Gram Parsons Archives Vol.1: Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969
    Gram Parsons Archives Vol.1: Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969 is a twenty-seven song, two-disc set released November 6, 2007, by Amoeba Records, taken from two shows at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco when the Flying Burrito Brothers opened for the Grateful Dead.Amoeba Records co-founder Dave...

    (2007)
  • Authorized Bootleg: Fillmore East, NY, NY Late Show 11/07/70 (2011)

Compilation albums

  • Close Up the Honky Tonks
    Close Up the Honky Tonks
    Close Up the Honky Tonks is a compilation double-LP by country rock artist The Flying Burrito Brothers, which was released in 1974. By this time, the Flying Burrito Brothers no longer existed, having been dissolved by Rick Roberts in 1973....

    (1974)
  • Sleepless Nights (1976)
  • Farther Along: The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers (A&M) (1988)
  • Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers (Relix Records) (1995)
  • Out of the Blue (1996)
  • The Gilded Palace of Sin & Burrito Deluxe (A&M) (1997)
  • Hot Burritos! The Flying Burrito Brothers Anthology 1969–1972 (2000)
  • Sin City: The Very Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers (2002)


Singles

Year Single US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

Album
1980 "White Line Fever" 95 single only
1981 "She's a Friend of a Friend" 67 Hearts on the Line
"Does She Wish She Was Single Again" 20
"She Belongs to Everyone but Me" 16
1982 "If Something Should Come Between Us (Let It Be Love)" 27 Sunset Sundown
"Closer to You" 40
"I'm Drinkin' Canada Dry" 39
"Blue and Broken Hearted Me" 48 singles only
1984 "Almost Saturday Night" 49
"My Kind of Lady" 53
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK