Flying Burritos Brothers
The Burritos were a great offshoot of The Byrds. The original lineup featured two former Byrds, Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons. They were never all that popular, but were one of the first country-rock bands. More ex-Byrds would pass through the ranks over the years.
Clip number one is the band live at Altamont. Unfortunaely, you don't see much of the band...and at the end of the song ("Six Days on the Road") is the infamous murder of a concert-goer by the Hells Angels. The band sounds great though. At this point their lineup, in addition to Hillman and Parsons, included ex-Byrd Michael Clarke on drums, future Eagle Bernie Leadon on guitar, and Sneaky Pete on steel guitar.
Correction/Update: the melee at the end of this clip was not the infamous murder (which happened during the Rolling Stones set), but the Angels beating the crap out of some other hapless concertgoer. Thanks to the reader who pointed that out.
Clip number two is "Christine's Tune". This clip features the original lineup of the band with Hillman, Parsons, Sneaky Pete and bassist Chris Etheridge. Michael Clarke is show on drums, though I don't believe he actually played on the first album.
Gram Parsons would die in 1973. His headstone is marked "God's Own Singer", which is ironic given that Bernie Leadon had written the song of the same name. You can see pictures of Gram's grave here. One of Bernie Leadon's finest songs with The Eagles was his Parsons tribute, "My Man". Hillman, besides being an original Byrd, would go on to country stardom with the Desert Rose Band, and continues touring to this day.
Michael Clarke would later find success with Firefall (with another former Burrito, Rick Roberts) , but would die in 1993 of alcoholism. Prior to his death, he expressed a wish that others would not follow his path. He wanted to get the message out to kids not to drink, so his friends wrote a "letter from Michael". This site includes that letter as well as a heartbreaking picture of Clarke just hours before his death. Keep in mind, he was only 47 when he died, and when the Byrds originally asked him to join, it was mainly due to his good looks.
Clip number one is the band live at Altamont. Unfortunaely, you don't see much of the band...and at the end of the song ("Six Days on the Road") is the infamous murder of a concert-goer by the Hells Angels. The band sounds great though. At this point their lineup, in addition to Hillman and Parsons, included ex-Byrd Michael Clarke on drums, future Eagle Bernie Leadon on guitar, and Sneaky Pete on steel guitar.
Correction/Update: the melee at the end of this clip was not the infamous murder (which happened during the Rolling Stones set), but the Angels beating the crap out of some other hapless concertgoer. Thanks to the reader who pointed that out.
Clip number two is "Christine's Tune". This clip features the original lineup of the band with Hillman, Parsons, Sneaky Pete and bassist Chris Etheridge. Michael Clarke is show on drums, though I don't believe he actually played on the first album.
Gram Parsons would die in 1973. His headstone is marked "God's Own Singer", which is ironic given that Bernie Leadon had written the song of the same name. You can see pictures of Gram's grave here. One of Bernie Leadon's finest songs with The Eagles was his Parsons tribute, "My Man". Hillman, besides being an original Byrd, would go on to country stardom with the Desert Rose Band, and continues touring to this day.
Michael Clarke would later find success with Firefall (with another former Burrito, Rick Roberts) , but would die in 1993 of alcoholism. Prior to his death, he expressed a wish that others would not follow his path. He wanted to get the message out to kids not to drink, so his friends wrote a "letter from Michael". This site includes that letter as well as a heartbreaking picture of Clarke just hours before his death. Keep in mind, he was only 47 when he died, and when the Byrds originally asked him to join, it was mainly due to his good looks.
posted by Side3 at 10:36 AM
2 Comments:
thanks for the great blog - i don't mean to correct you - but i believe the incident at the end of this clip is not the infamous murder of meredith hunter at altamont - that happened just a few yards in front of mick jagger and the stones while they were performing street fighting man or midnight rambler or sympathy for the devil i dont remember which - it happened at night when the stones finally came on as the last act to play. the violence at the end of your clip here is a guy who was skipping through the crowd naked wacked out of his mind on acid - and i believe he pissed off some angels by running into them - so they duly beat him unconscious - if he had been straight he probably would have been killed. i got this from some people that were there - not from the movie gimme shelter.
Thanks for the correction!
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