{"id":3513,"date":"2012-01-04T10:37:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T16:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=3513"},"modified":"2012-01-04T10:37:25","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T16:37:25","slug":"hillbilly-highway-speckled-bird-burritos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/01\/04\/hillbilly-highway-speckled-bird-burritos\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillbilly Highway – Speckled Bird Burritos"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by Sheldon Birnie<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been turned onto a lot of great artists over the years by just flipping through the stacks of used records, waiting on something to catch my eye. Generally, it\u2019s not a complete shot in the dark, but a compelling cover can easily sway a $20 purchase one way or another.<\/p>\n

When I was out in Victoria last week, I stopped into the Turntable, a tiny little record shop tucked into Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown, by the harbour. The place is barely bigger than a closet, but it is packed with great old rock and roll records, weird garage albums, and a good little folk and country section. I\u2019ve never been able to visit most record stores without dropping a little cash \u2014 or credit \u2014 on a slab or two, but this place gets my dollar every time.<\/p>\n

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I had my eye out for some Ian Tyson<\/a> \u2014 solo stuff, or Great Speckled Bird \u2014 after chancing upon his classic Canadiana country album Cowboyology<\/em> on a visit last year. That record\u2019s definitely changed the way I look at western tunes, and particularly those dealing with aspects of rural life. Tyson is definitely a forefather of dudes like Corb Lund<\/a> and Tim Hus<\/a>, hell, even of guys like Neil Young<\/a> and Gordon Lightfoot<\/a>. When last he passed through the Peg, I had only ever heard \u201cFour Strong Winds\u201d <\/a>and paid the listing no mind. If I\u2019m lucky to get the opportunity again, I won\u2019t pass it up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But I found no Tyson on my last trip. Instead, I came across a posthumous Gram Parsons \/ Flying Burrito Brothers release featuring a slough of country classics, and a few duets with Emmylou. I snagged it up, and have been digging his take on Ol\u2019 Hag\u2019s<\/a> \u201cSing Me Back Home,\u201d which I first heard by way of Dylan years ago, and the classic boozer \u201cTonight the Bottle Let Me Down\u201d<\/a> since.<\/p>\n

Parsons is often credited with launching the alt-country genre when masterminding the Byrd\u2019s country-rock crossover Sweetheart of the Rodeo<\/em>, as well as his subsequent work with the Burrito Bros and as a solo artist. He\u2019s also partially responsible for the decidedly country bent of many of the Stones early 70s tunes, such as \u201cHonky Tonk Women\u201d<\/a> and \u201cWild Horses,\u201d<\/a> as he and Keith were partying hard together in those days. In fact, the Burrito Bros were the first to release \u201cWild Horses,\u201d<\/a> on Burrito Deluxe,<\/em> as the Stones were holding off on that gem until the rest of Sticky Fingers<\/em> was ready to drop.<\/p>\n

But Parsons and Tyson could share that crown between them. Late in Ian & Sylvia\u2019s career as a duo, they recorded a pair of albums in Nashville \u2014 Full Circle<\/em> and Nashville <\/em>\u2014 that anticipated the country-rock sound of Sweetheart of the Rodeo.<\/em> As Parsons left the Byrds and got the Burritos rocking, Ian & Sylvia made the switch to their country-rock jam band Great Speckled Bird. The two bands even toured together on the famed Festival Express <\/a>that crossed the Great White North in the late 60s, alongside the Band, the Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin. The caravan, loaded on booze, dope, pills, and pure LSD, stopped in the Peg on Dominion Day for a wild night at the Winnipeg Stadium.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Parsons is long dead, though Tyson still rides, occasionally, out onto the Highway. Luckily, the Road goes on forever, and the Party never ends. There are always new blood itching to carve up a piece of the pie, and there are always people who need hurting songs to get them through the night.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sheldon Birnie I\u2019ve been turned onto a lot of great artists over the years by just flipping through the stacks of used records, waiting on something to catch my eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[213,397,432,446,1071],"class_list":["post-3513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","tag-country","tag-gram-parsons","tag-hillbilly-highway","tag-ian-tyson","tag-vinyl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}