a steel player you DON'T hear about much,, [Byrds content]

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

The multi talented Gene Parsons, inventor of the Parsons/White string bender

Great musician, and from what I gather, a mechanical wizard..

I don't know all of the songs he played steel on, but this gem from the Farther Along album is credited to him..
He also played a lot of steel with the Burritos when he was with them when Sneaky had other committments... from what I've read.

This tune makes me cry,, Every time I hear it, no matter how many times in a row I play it, year after year, decade after decade.. I can't even play acoustic at home alone and sing this, as I start choking up so badly, I have to stop.
Sweet and sad.
The great Clarance White on lead vocals.. Enjoy this gem.. You don't hear this one much anymore..
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Byrds/_/Bugler
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Bob,Gene had a solo album called Kindling where he plays all of the instruments and I wore it out years ago.I think he's got a website? Winking

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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Olli Haavisto · From: Jarvenpaa,Finland

Kindling is an album that should be in the collection of every country rock fan.
I had it in the 70s, lost it and finally 2 years ago found a mint vinyl copy.Yes, it still sounded as good as it did in the day...if not better...
I think it`s not currently available on CD. There was a CD called the Kindling Collection which featured other tracks as well. I don`t know if it`s available at the moment.
Definitely worth tracking down !!
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Olli Haavisto
Finland

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Better hurry! There's only a few left.
http://tinyurl.com/yc2mco5

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

I bet Jim Sliff knows how to find Gene's music site?I'll tell you a funny story In about 1977 I was living in Texas and touring with the late B.W. Stevenson,Warner Bros. sent us to L.A. to promote our new album,we had a suite in a motel on Sunset,we were getting loud one night and there was a knock on the door,The guy asked us if we could tone it down because him and his wife had a new baby next door...It was Gene,the nicest guy. Winking

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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

Bob, thanks for the posting. I always loved Clarence and Gene on "Bugler". If I remember correctly that was written by a fellow named Larry Murray. I've got a vinyl LP of his with some other fine songs.
Gene's playing is solid and tasteful. Goes to show it doesn't have to be smokin' hot to sound good.
Kindling was always one of my favorites as well. Stu, a bit of a correction, Gene did play all of the instruments on several cuts, but he has Clarence on electric and acoustic guitar as well as mandolin on a few tracks and Bill Payne from little Feat plays keys on at least one, plus I believe Vassar played fiddle on at least one cut if I remember right. He had Ralph Stanley singing tenor harmony and Clarence on the baritone vocal on the old Bluegrass ballad, Drunkard's Dream.
I was lucky enough to meet Gene several times back when he was out with FBB, and he's a super nice guy as well as a fine musician.

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Dave thanks for the info,reading comprehension has a never been one of my strong points NYC board of education and all that.I actually have a CD of Kindling somewhere but I'm gonna have to dig thru some crap in my humble commode,I'll post if I find it and then I can burn some. Laughing

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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Stephen Calhoun · From: Ohio, USA

Kindling is just a blessed musical moment.

To me, Gene Parsons may have been the best singer to ever have his dance card stamped BYRD. Soulful. But it wasn't until he flew the coop that he got properly highlighted--on his mellow, beautiful few recordings under his own name. imo

Later, after Kindling, he partnered with Meridian Green, and made more masterful folk-country records.

Via wikipedia, a streaming interview from december 2009. http://www.kdrt.org/node/2457
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two 1970-ish Fender 400, Fouke Industrial Rail, Allen Melbert 6, Rondo SX -- everything one way or the other through Guitar Rig/Logic/Apple/synthesizers/iPAD. ...sometimes out to a Tech 21 Trademark 60 1x12
recording as Kamelmauz.bandcamp.com

Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Y'all are stirring up some serious memories of my days as a bluegrasser in Los Angeles. Before all this country rock sh!t, I knew Gene as a banjo player, Bernie Leadon was a banjo player, Bob Warford was a banjo player, Larry Rice was a mando player who wanted to be a steel player but his dad wouldn't let him, etc. Then this band "Nashville West" started playing at this bowling alley somewhere in the SF Valley, because Clarence couldn't get any work as a bluegrass picker, Gene was the drummer, and then... well, the rest is history! Laughing

Jason Odd can tell the whole story in very great detail.

Larry Murray was a dobro player that had a band in
San Diego called the "Scottsville Squirrel Barkers." Banjo player was Kenny Wertz, who later joined the Burritos and Country Gazette. Chris Hillman was the mando player in the Squirrel Barkers.

(Parenthetically, Byron B. had just gotten out of the army and the Dillards got him a job with Bill Monroe.)

Larry Murray formed a band with Bernie and Rick Cunha called "Hearts and Flowers," but they went nowhere after one album, so Larry became a songwriter and a producer.

My first record session on pedal steel was on a Larry Murray session for my friend Mary McCaslin. Larry and Dick Rosmini decided to throw a bone to me even though I couldn't find my ass on the steel with both hands tied behind my back. So I'm there in the studio with headphones on doing an overdub, and I look through the glass into the control room. Buddy and Peggy Emmons had just walked in! I freaked out and totally went into vapor lock! Whoa!

Nowadays, 42 years later, Buddy and I laugh about it, but at the moment, it was no laughing matter!
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

Great story Herb. Gotta love it.
Did you ever know a guy named Joel Tepp from LA? Plays slide guitar a la Ry Cooder, clarinet, and harmonica. He was friends with former band mates of mine in the 70's and has lived up here in Seattle for quite a spell now.
He did a fair amount of session work in LA mostly in the 70's and played on the road with Danny O'Keefe and Kate and Ann McGarrigal. Just wondering.
Dave
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Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Dave
Did I know Joel Tepp? We went to Jr. High School AND High School together! Smile

He was one semester behind me.
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

Wow! small world. I'll say hello next time I see him.
He played harmonica, clarinet on several of the cuts on my solo CD and he put a slide part on one tune. He's got a great knack for knowing the right part to play.
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Mark Eaton · Posted 18 Jan 2010 6:56 pm

I've been a big Gene Parsons fan myself going way back, and have met him a few times. He has lived for years not too far from me on the Mendocino coast in a tiny town called Caspar.

A guy in my church has a metal plating business, and for a number of years he did the plating work for Gene on the Stringbender, and even though this fella isn't all that knowledgeable about his music, he has always spoken very highly of Gene.
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Mark

Robert Fleming · From: Camden, NY

Bugler has always been my most favorite Byrds song! I din't realize who the steel player was though.What a most beautiful piece ogf music.
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Karlis Abolins · From: (near) Seattle, WA, USA

This song reminds me that I lost my copy of Farther Along. I was looking for it the other day and couldn't find it. It was one of my favorite Byrd albums. I looked for a copy online but no luck. Thanks for posting the song.

Karlis

Nathan Golub · From: Durham, NC

Right on. My country band covers this song, and I pretty much stick to the same licks Gene plays. They're simple but very important to the song. He's a very talented guy.

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

He's got a book out called "Sweet Desert CHildhood." I just sold him a neck and all the parts from from a Fender 2000. He's putting together a parts guitar. He said he finally needs another steel after playing the same Fender 800 for the last 40 + years! Very Happy

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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps

Bob Knetzger · From: Kirkland, WA USA

Great thread-- That Larry Murray album is a good 'un, in the "folk" country vein. If I remember correctly there's some cool Buddy Emmons steel on it, too. I think I'll go dig that out of the big vinyl pile.

To get some Gene Parsons CD, and just about anything else from theByrds/Burrittos/both Parsons, go to Sierra Briar:

http://sierrarecordsbookshomevideo.goestores.com/search.aspx?SearchValue=gene&storename=sierrarecordsbookshomevideo

For Xmas I got their really great compilation CD "Clarence White-White Lightnin'"--lots of terrific Clarence on acoustic and electric string bender--and Gene Parsons is with him (on drums and banjo) on some tracks from that 1969 Everly Bros single "Cuckoo Bird/I'm On My Way Home Again" Totally cool!!

Glenn Suchan · From: Austin, Texas

Lotta great stories being flung around this thread! Thank-you to all the 'tellers'! Very Happy

I don't have any stories, but I'll agree with those who've spoken highly of the Gene Parsons album, Kindling. I also have the vinyl of the album and dreamed of the possibility that it would be digitized and re-released. And as said, it's been reissued as The Kindling Collection. Aside from the copies on Amazon.com, the iTunes store carries it. I purchased a copy about a year ago. If you like bluegrass, folk, a touch of cajun, and country rock, you'll love The Kindling Collection.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn
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Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

well... what would I do without you guys?
Where else can I mention a name like Gene Parsons, and have guys actually know what I was talking about??

In my circles even the old timers my age have NO clue.
The only thing they may[or may not] know about the Byrds is that McGuinn played a Ric ... maybe... on a good day.

Thanks for the great discourse. It means a lot to a guy on the down side of his mid 50's regressing deeper into the past every day.

bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Bob - thanks for the link and reminder. I guess I'm just used to a lot of people around me being clueless about anything I care about. Hey, just think - as we get older it'll get even more that way - if we're lucky. I think George Burns had a line about that. Oh Well

I still have my vinyl copy of "Kindling" - I remember being astonished at Gene's range of abilities when I first heard it.

PS - I love the disclaimer [Byrds content] - gotta keep peace on the forum, right? Wink

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps

Russ Tkac · Posted 19 Jan 2010 8:34 pm

bob,

You might like this.

http://www.youtube.com/user/d1e2s3c4h5#p/u/11/w4cRAKPWY6c

Russ Very Happy

Olli Haavisto · From: Jarvenpaa,Finland

Ah, the old Kleinow school of sitting-on-a -huge-flightcase-while-playing-an-old-Fender. Smile

Is that John McFee on the fiddle,BTW ?
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Olli Haavisto
Finland

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