Wheatstraw Suite
Encyclopedia
Wheatstraw Suite is the fourth album by progressive bluegrass
Progressive bluegrass
Progressive bluegrass is one of two major subgenres of bluegrass music. It is also known as newgrass, a term attributed to New Grass Revival member Ebo Walker. Musicians and bands John Hartford, New Grass Revival, J.D. Crowe and the New South, The Dillards, Boone Creek, Country Gazette, and the...

 band The Dillards
The Dillards
The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...

, released in 1968 (see 1968 in music
1968 in music
-Events:*January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.*January 6 – Gibson Guitar Corporation patents its Gibson Flying V electric guitar design....

). It is the Dillards' fourth album, and their first to move away from their traditional bluegrass sound by using a full orchestra and occasional drums.

The band had been moving toward a more contemporary sound for a few years (they toured with 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...

, featuring future Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...

 drummer Dewey Martin
Dewey Martin
Dewey Martin is the name of:*Dewey Martin , drummer/vocalist best known for his association with the band Buffalo Springfield*Dewey Martin , American film and television actor...

), but Wheatstraw Suite was the first time they explored the new sound on a full length album. The seeds of the album began when the Dillards were on a vacation from Elektra records, which had released their first three records but was "surprisingly resistant" to the band's new sound. The group recorded a few folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 singles for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

, including different versions of a few of Wheatstraw Suite's songs. Capitol, however, soon grew unsympathetic toward the Dillards' style, and they re-signed with Elektra, which was now willing to try the new, more commercial sound. However, Douglas Dillard, the group's banjoist, was unhappy with the new direction and quit. Ironically he would soon be making a similar type of country rock with Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....

 of The Byrds as Dillard & Clark
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...

. The Dillards recruited multi-instrumentalist 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...

 to replace Doug on banjo. The loss of Doug turned into a plus as Pedersen also contributed guitar and shared lead vocal duties with Rodney Dillard.

The group had already stockpiled plenty of material during their stint with Capitol and brief hiatus from recording. The album features seven original songs and six covers—the covers being drawn mostly from contemporary rock and pop musicians rather than traditionals. The Dillards' blend between pop and bluegrass on this album paved the way for a generation of country- and folk-rockers, making it potentially their most influential album.

Release history

Wheatstraw Suite was re-released on CD by Collector's Choice Music in 2002, along with Copperfields, its 1970 followup album.

Track listing

  1. "I'll Fly Away
    I'll Fly Away
    "I'll Fly Away", is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled Wonderful Message...

    " (Albert E. Brumley
    Albert E. Brumley
    Albert Edward Brumley was a shape note gospel music composer and publisher.Brumley was born near Spiro, Oklahoma on October 29, 1905. Pre-Dustbowl Oklahoma was primarily made up of sparse agricultural communities; Brumley's family was no different. He spent much of his early life chopping and...

    ) - :39
  2. "Nobody Knows" (Mitch Jayne, Rodney Dillard) - 2:15
  3. "Hey Boys" (The Dillards) - 2:27
  4. "The Biggest Whatever" (Mitch Jayne, Rodney Dillard) - 2:15
  5. "Listen to the Sound" (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...

    , Mitch Jayne) - 2:36
  6. "Little Pete" (Herb Pedersen) - 1:58
  7. "Reason to Believe
    Reason to Believe
    "Reason to Believe" is a song written and first recorded by American folk singer Tim Hardin in 1965, which has since been recorded by a number of other artists, the most known of which is by Rod Stewart in 1971 and 1993...

    " (Tim Hardin
    Tim Hardin
    James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well...

    ) - 2:25
  8. "Single Saddle" (Arthur Altman
    Arthur Altman
    Arthur Altman was an American songwriter whose credits "All or Nothing at All," and the lyrics for "All Alone Am I" and "I Will Follow Him."...

    , Hal David
    Hal David
    Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...

    ) - 1:22
  9. "I've Just Seen a Face
    I've Just Seen a Face
    "I've Just Seen a Face" is a song by The Beatles. It appears on their 1965 United Kingdom album Help!, although in the United States it and "It's Only Love" first appeared on the Capitol version of the Rubber Soul album.-Composition:...

    " (John Lennon
    John Lennon
    John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

    , Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney
    Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

    ) - 1:55
  10. "Lemon Chimes" (Bill Martin, Rodney Dillard) - 3:12
  11. "Don't You Cry" (The Dillards) - 1:50
  12. "Bending the Strings" (Allen Shelton
    Allen Shelton
    Allen Shelton was an American five-string banjo player known for being a member of Jim & Jesse's Virginia Boys since the 1960s. His picking style is described as "bouncy".-Biography:...

    ) - 1:26
  13. "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune" (Jesse Lee Kincaid) - 3:20

Personnel

The Dillards:
  • Rodney Dillard - lead vocal, rhythm and lead guitars, dobro
    Dobro
    Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

    , pedal steel
  • 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...

     - lead vocal, Nashville rhythm guitar, banjo
  • Dean Webb - mandolin
  • Mitch Jayne - acoustic bass


Additional Personnel:
  • Buddy Emmons
    Buddy Emmons
    Buddy Emmons , is an American guitarist.Emmons has been called "The World's Foremost Steel Guitarist" and his talent is greatly admired by fellow steel guitarists...

     - pedal steel
  • Joe Osborn
    Joe Osborn
    Joe Osborn is an American bass guitar virtuoso, notable for his work as a session musician in Los Angeles and Nashville during the period from the 1960s through the 1980s. Osborn's work is widely admired by fellow musicians.Osborn began his career working in local clubs, then played on a hit...

     - electric bass
  • Toxey French - drums
  • Jimmy Gordon
    Jim Gordon (musician)
    James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...

     - drums

Sources

  • Liner notes of the Collector's Choice reissue of Wheatstraw Suite, written by Richie Unterberger
    Richie Unterberger
    Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...

    .
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK