Fact #113293
When:
Short story:
Full article:
Pete Frame (journalist) : The Byrds played to a full house at London’s underground club, Middle Earth, which was housed in a cellar in King Street, Covent Garden, and the line-up was McGuinn, Hillman, Kelley and Parsons.
Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull came in to witness the gig and were assisted to the front by a minder.
Gram was wearing a translucent silky, black shirt and he sat at an electric piano for most of the gig.
He played acoustic guitar now and then.
He sang lead on several songs, but sang harmony on most, and he left all the talking to McGuinn and Hillman.
Also in the line-up - though only on the numbers which suited the banjo - was Doug Dillard.
They played past favourites plus a whole tranche of country numbers, which neither I nor most of the audience were expecting.
In 1968, country & western was a backwater style as far as most British rock fans were concerned.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers, which I consider to be one of the greatest albums ever released, had only just come out and they appeared to have changed their style completely since then.”
When Sweetheart Of The Rodeo was released, it only made No 77 on the US album charts and did even less business here.
However, You Ain’t Going Nowhere did make the UK Top 50, the only record with Gram Parsons to do so. A few months later, country-rock would be in full swing with Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline which had a guest appearance from Johnny Cash.
Colin Jury (lighting technician, Middle Earth) : The Byrds in the middle of their show, after an amazing half-set with Easy Chair and Eight Miles High etc., stopped and asked us to kill the lights and bring up the Houselights. We did this and they said "This is our last gig as the Byrds, we are now going to play Bluegrass." You should have seen the looks on the faces of these British Hippies - spongling on Sandoz - like WTF! It came off as just weird...
Tweet this Fact
Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull came in to witness the gig and were assisted to the front by a minder.
Gram was wearing a translucent silky, black shirt and he sat at an electric piano for most of the gig.
He played acoustic guitar now and then.
He sang lead on several songs, but sang harmony on most, and he left all the talking to McGuinn and Hillman.
Also in the line-up - though only on the numbers which suited the banjo - was Doug Dillard.
They played past favourites plus a whole tranche of country numbers, which neither I nor most of the audience were expecting.
In 1968, country & western was a backwater style as far as most British rock fans were concerned.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers, which I consider to be one of the greatest albums ever released, had only just come out and they appeared to have changed their style completely since then.”
When Sweetheart Of The Rodeo was released, it only made No 77 on the US album charts and did even less business here.
However, You Ain’t Going Nowhere did make the UK Top 50, the only record with Gram Parsons to do so. A few months later, country-rock would be in full swing with Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline which had a guest appearance from Johnny Cash.
Colin Jury (lighting technician, Middle Earth) : The Byrds in the middle of their show, after an amazing half-set with Easy Chair and Eight Miles High etc., stopped and asked us to kill the lights and bring up the Houselights. We did this and they said "This is our last gig as the Byrds, we are now going to play Bluegrass." You should have seen the looks on the faces of these British Hippies - spongling on Sandoz - like WTF! It came off as just weird...