Content tagged 'Country'

Fifty years ago today, Buffalo Springfield released their self-titled debut for Atco Records. The quintet was a supergroup in hindsight, with Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay among the line-up, and this landmark album brims with outstanding songs, stirring vocals and fiery guitar work. The set presents the sometimes-fractious band at its most cohesive on such soon-to-be classics as “For What It's Worth” (a Top Ten hit inspired by the Sunset Strip riots), “Sit Down I Think I Love You” and “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong.” Created as folk-rock was about to branch off into country-rock, BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD inspired scores of followers, but few others ever captured the excitement heard on this 1966 collection.

A music legend like no other, Ray Charles earned the nickname "Genius" for recording countless jazz, country, R&B and pop masterpieces during a career that spanned seven decades. The iconic performer hit his stride in the 1950s after signing with Atlantic Records, and Brother Ray's output for the label has just been reissued in a new 7-LP vinyl boxed set, THE ATLANTIC YEARS IN MONO. From his eponymous 1957 debut to 1961's THE GENIUS SINGS THE BLUES, each album has been fully remastered from the original mono analog tapes (reflecting an era driven by monaural record players, jukeboxes and radios) and packaged in sleeves that replicate the original releases in exacting detail. With a perfect-bound booklet including period photos by Lee Friedlander and liner notes by Ray Charles biographer David Ritz, THE ATLANTIC YEARS IN MONO is the ideal way to rediscover this historic music.

Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt had each established distinguished singing careers by the mid-1970s when they resolved to record together, but the demands of separate careers delayed an album release for more than a decade. TRIO was well worth the wait; the 1987 collection won two Grammy Awards and topped the country album chart for five consecutive weeks, spinning off such hits as "To Know Him Is To Love Him." TRIO II arrived in 1999, earning another Grammy and selling more than one million copies worldwide. Produced by Harris, the new three-CD THE COMPLETE TRIO COLLECTION includes both of these pop-country landmarks along with a bonus disc including alternate takes of album tracks and 11 completely unreleased recordings spanning both album sessions.

Singer-songwriter Gram Parsons passed briefly through such groups as The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, leaving just a handful of albums - but planting the seeds of country rock wherever he went. At the end of his all-too-brief life, Parsons cut a couple of solo collections for Reprise that are shining examples of the form: 1973's GP and 1974's GRIEVOUS ANGEL. Rhino's 2006 boxed set THE COMPLETE REPRISE SESSIONS adds a disc's worth of alternate takes and interviews to these two fine releases. Gram always kept good musical company, and performers heard here in support include singer Emmylou Harris, guitarists James Burton and Barry Tashian (of The Remains), fiddler Byron Berline and Eagles co-founder Bernie Leadon. Gram Parsons died on this day in 1973, and we'll remember the “cosmic American music” pioneer with the 3-CD set THE COMPLETE REPRISE SESSIONS.

Born in Pikeville, Kentucky, Dwight Yoakam channels the honky tonk sound of Bakersfield, California on his major label debut GUITARS, CADILLACS, ETC., ETC. Produced by Pete Anderson, the Reprise collection reveals Yoakam to be both a brilliant writer and interpreter; given heartfelt performances, the originals (“I'll Be Gone,” "It Won't Hurt") and covers (“Honky Tonk Man,” “Ring Of Fire”) mesh seamlessly. At a time when Nashville's slickest and safest ruled the Billboard Country chart, this superb album went to No.1, leading the way for a host of “new traditionalists” (the presence on one track of rocker Maria McKee of Lone Justice offers further proof of Yoakam's maverick spirit). GUITARS, CADILLACS, ETC., ETC. was released 30 years ago today, but its no-nonsense brand of country remains ageless.