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Topic: Rio Grande |
David Rothon
From:
London, England
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Posted 6 Dec 2004 6:54 am |
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As a fan of Mouse & The Traps (and sixties garage/psych bands in general) as well as early country-rock, I was pleased this weekend to find a copy of the 1971 LP by Rio Grande, which was formed from the nucleus of M&TT, with Ronny 'Mouse' Weiss on vocals and some great pedal steel by Bobby Tuttle. It's a really nice country-rock album, typical of the era I guess. Seems this was the only record they ever put out, which is a shame.
Was there any kind of sequel to the Mouse/Rio Grande story? |
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Mark Metdker
From:
North Central Texas, USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2004 9:03 am
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Not sure about that David, but I am also a big fan of M&TT, and the great Bugs Henderson. Bugs is still playing clubs in and around Dallas.
One of the greatest guitar players that most folks have never heard of.
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Zum U-12 w/True Tone pickup
Peavey Session 500
Band Pics
http://community.webshots.com/album/176544894AuXSmi
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Bob Tuttle
From:
Republic, MO 65738
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Posted 6 Dec 2004 3:02 pm
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David, there were no follow-up recordings by the Rio Grande group. Not too long after that album was recorded, Ronnie Weiss (Mouse) went to work for Joe Stampley for awhile. I moved to the Houston area and went to work in the staff band at Gilley's. I'm not sure where the other guys went.
The Rio Grande album was recorded at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler, Texas and was produced by Dale Hawkins. |
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Jody Sanders
From:
Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 6 Dec 2004 6:25 pm
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| The last time I saw Ronnie perform was at a club in Longview a bunch of years ago. he had a pedal steel and was playing some pretty good licks. Bobby, did you teach him. I was over at his house one day and showed him a lick or two, but the stuff he was playing was above what I showed him. The stuff he played fit right in with their music. Jody. |
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Bob Tuttle
From:
Republic, MO 65738
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Posted 7 Dec 2004 6:59 am
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Yeah, Jody, I showed him some things and helped him get started. He bought a Fender 400 back in the '70s and I helped him put a couple of knee levers on it. He was really fascinated with the pedal steel.
He and I used to go fishing a lot when I was living in Tyler. He is an avid bass fisherman. We caught some good ones too.
By the way, I talked to Ronnie on the phone a couple of months ago. He's living in Troup, TX, just outside of Tyler. He's mostly playing in church now. He's having some kind of lung problems. He wasn't very specific on exactly what was wrong.[This message was edited by Bob Tuttle on 07 December 2004 at 07:04 AM.] |
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David Rothon
From:
London, England
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Posted 7 Dec 2004 7:14 am
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Thanks so much for the update, Bob - I never expected to get a reply from the inner circle! I've really been enjoying the Rio Grande album - and I'll be studying those steel licks hard... 
Sorry to hear Ronnie isn't too well. If you speak to him again, do mention that there are a lot of people in this part of the world who hold his old recordings in VERY high regard. |
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Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 7 Dec 2004 7:37 am
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The lsst contact I had with Mouse was several years ago at the Wednesday Matinee at the Rio Palm Isle club in Longview. He was somewhat laid back and I believed he told me he was thinking of going to a small town called Tatum, and that follows BT;s post. Troup is just down the road apiece from Tatum.
Later I engineered the long distance equipment to Southwestern Bell Telephone in Tatum but I never saw him there. Bobby if you talk to him again, tell him I said Howdy.
fred
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"From Truth, Justice is Born"--Quanah Parker-1904
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Gene Jones
From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
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Posted 7 Dec 2004 9:15 am
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Fred, that may have been the same person who was so offended because my Goldwing kickstand pulled up a chunck of asphalt in his parking lot. I can't blame him, and I am so thankful that he didn't "clean my plow" because of it!
www.genejones.com |
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Tom Olson
From:
Spokane, WA
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Gene Jones
From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
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Posted 7 Dec 2004 9:54 am
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Tom...that only thing I find is "not available".
www.genejones.com |
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Tom Olson
From:
Spokane, WA
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Posted 7 Dec 2004 4:36 pm
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Hi Gene. I'm not sure what would be wrong with my link above -- when I click on it, it seems to work fine. Maybe it was overloaded when you tried it.
Here's the web address that is the same as the link. Maybe it'll work better to cut and paste it. There are some cool little snippets of about 25 M&TT songs and some historical info. Hope it works for you.
here's the web address: http://www.mp3.com/Mouse-&-the-Traps/artists/118001/summary.html [This message was edited by Tom Olson on 08 December 2004 at 11:17 AM.] |
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Jason Odd
From:
Stawell, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 8 Dec 2004 11:40 pm
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Mouse & The Traps were brilliant, I saw Bugs Henderson mentioned, but I believe he was a ring-in for a session rather than a member.
Classic garage punk band, they also backed Dale Hawkins one most of his comeback album in 1969, a real good record.
The Rio Grande set is very cool, most of the Cosmic Cowboy groups were yet to get a record deal in 1971, RCA issued the LP and in those days they didn't really promote much.
Swampwater, Micheal Nesmith (with the First National Band, The Second National Band and solo), and the Pure Prairie League were all on RCA in the early 1970s, but I think the label was in a slump and just pushing out Elvis albums rather than pushing new acts.
The most successful were PPL and Nesmith, but all of those early country-rock albums are great.
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David Rothon
From:
London, England
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Posted 9 Dec 2004 11:37 am
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Jason - getting off the original topic a bit, but do you have any other tasty country rock recommendations from that era... perhaps a little off the beaten track?
I love those early PPL albums - especially the first one with John Call on steel. |
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Jason Odd
From:
Stawell, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 13 Dec 2004 6:14 am
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Well, you probably know about the first couple of Poco albums.
Bascially everything Michael Nesmith cut from 1970 to 1973 is awesome, with Red Rhodes on all of it.
The Nitty Gritty Band's 'Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy' from 1970 is fantastic, not much in the way of steel though.
Suffice it to say the usual stuff, the first three Flying Burrito Brothers albums, Dillard & Clark's 'Through The Morning Through The Night (FBBs Sneaky Pete and Chris Hillman guest) is a strange mix of Burritos, folk rock and a couple of uptempo bluegrass numbers.
The Everly Brothers 'Roots' album is another classic, and with a 1968 release date it's one of the early examples of the genre.
Buddy Emmons adds some atmospheric work, not much in the way of straight country licks.
Don Everly's sleepy 1970 debut solo effort 'Don Everly' is another gem, Sneaky Pete on steel again. It's been coupled with the less effective Sunset Towers LP from the mid 1970s for a budget reissue on the Raven label. (based in Australia, but Stateside check the Music Stop racks at petrol stations, or so I've been told)
Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band, the 1969 debut 'Live At The Troubador' is once again out of print, worth looking for on vinyl or CD. Tom Brumley and future Eagle Randy Meisner add sterling support.
His next four albums have been doubled up on two different sets for the BGO label in the UK.
One is the 1970 and 1971 Nelson / Stone Canyon albums 'Rick Sings Nelson'/'Rudy The Fifth' and the coupling of 'Garden Party'/'Windfall' his 1972 and '74 albums.
Nice, Tom Brumley appears on them as well.
The group Great Speckled Bird cut a 1969 album of the same name, the group was led by folkies Ian & Sylvia, and for this set included Buddy Cage on steel, Amos Garrett on guitar (lovely country phrasing for this blues-folk picker), N.D, Smart on drums and yes he played with hard rockers Mountain at the Woodstock festival just prior to joining the group. The bassist Ken Kalmusky had come up through the tough Canadian rockabilly scene before hooking up with Ian & Sylvia as they started cutting albums in Nashville just prior to the GSB album.
A hot band, the only problem is Sylvia's folkie warbling, a little weird in the context of the group, Ian's vocals are simply top notch. A flawed gem.
More well known, the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. their 71 debut 'NRPS' and 1972's 'Powerglide' (with Buddy Cage replacing original steel player Garcia) are all good.
More flawed is the bluegrass meets country-rock efforts by the Dillards in the early 1970s. The BGO records set gathers their obscure 'Roots And Branches' from '72 and 1973's 'Tribute To The American Duck.'
Some very good moments, and some clunkers.
Linda Ronstadt’s debut album was released on Capitol Records as 'Hand Sown Home Grown in 1969, a little too Hollywood psyche-rock in places, but good. A powerful voice too.
John Hartford's two Hollywood country-rock efforts, 'John Hartford' 1969, and 'Iron Mountain Depot' from 1970.
While Californian groups like Longbranch Pennywhistle, Southwind, The Country Coalition, Levitt and McClure, The Beau Brummels (1968 Bradley's Barn LP and guitarist Ron Elliott's 1969 solo set Candlestick Maker), Mason Profitt, Compton & Batteau Compton & Batteau in California (1970), John Stewart (California Bloodlines 1969, Willard 1970), Shiloh, Gene Clark, Dewey Martin and Medecine Ball, and others had albums that ranged from okay to great.
Southerners, well there's the 1969 and 1970 albums by Area Code 615, the 1970s spin-off Barefoot Jerry, Charlie Daniels excellent 1970s debut set (albeit more bluesy with southern rock leanings like the very early Allman Bros.), and the Wildweeds.
For Brit country-rock there's Brinsley Schwarz, notably the two 1970 albums 'Brinsley Schwarz'/'Despite It All' on one CD by BGO. They mix R&B and country rock, a little hit and miss on both albums, and yet overall a great effort. No steel.
Matthews Southern Comfort Matthews Southern Comfort/Second Spring 1970
Also of note are early 1970s albums by Brit country rockers like Cochise (B.J. Cole on steel), Southern Comfort (Mathews group after he split), and the comp Albert Lee: That's All Right Mama covers the first 1969 country rock outings by this talented performer. A very gutsy album that had to wait until 2003 to see a release.
It's also well worth checking out the 1970s albums by Lee's band Heads, Hands & Feet.
I haven't even gone into solo albums, I've tried to leave out the big names, while I haven't even really touched on Texas.
One might say the Flatlanders invented Alt.-Country in the early 1970s (as opposed to country-rock) with their modern take on stripped down country music, but the album they cut had a limited release on 8-track and that's it. It's now out on CD as 'More Of A Legend Than A Band.' Plus there's a live album from 1972 on the New West label in Texas.
Phew.
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Jason Odd
From:
Stawell, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 13 Dec 2004 6:28 am
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David, if you like sixties garage/psych bands and country-rock, there's a strange outfit called Euphoria who mixed the two on their 1969 Capitol album.
One of my faves, they go from a Dillard & Clark-FFBs style hoedown straight into some Texan gaarge punker, sometimes all in one song.
Their only album is on CD, out on Rev-Ola in the UK, import bucks but well worth checking out.
Also, have you heard of Nashville West? |
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