The Flying Burrito Brothers
The 'band with a thousand line-ups' was formed by two ex-Byrds (Chris
Hillman and Gram Parsons) along with pedal-steel guitarist
"Sneaky" Pete Kleinow, bassist Chris Ethridge and various
drummers.
In 1969 they released the album The Gilded Palace Of Sin
which took country rock even further than The Byrds with Sin City
and The Dark End Of The Street, as well as rocking excellently
on Christine's Tune, complete with Everly
Brothers-style
harmonies. The production was superb and The Burritos looked set to be
really big.
Despite a glowing review from Rolling Stone, the album
stiffed, peaking at number 164 and shifting less than 40,000 copies. It
wasn't slick enough for the country fans and the rock crowd just weren't
ready for it.
Mysteriously, their second album (Burrito Deluxe) lost their
original sound and, sadly, the band blew their chance. Parsons and
Ethridge left the group and were replaced by Bernie Leadon and Rick
Roberts, with Chris Hillman switching to bass. Around this time, Michael
Clarke (also ex-The Byrds) became the group's permanent drummer.
In 1971 Leadon left to join The Eagles while Kleinow opted to pursue
a career as a session musician rather than continue with the band.
Hillman, Clarke and Roberts were joined by Al Perkins, Kenny Wertz,
Roger Bush and Byron Berline. The line-up changes were not yet over
though, and Hillman and Perkins departed in October to join Stephen
Stills in Manassas. Just for good measure, Clarke left as well.
Gram Parsons died on 19 September 1973. It was a squalid death (at
the Joshua Tree Motel in the Mojave Desert) after feasting on marijuana,
Jack Daniels, Tequila and heroin, with possible side orders of morphine,
cocaine and barbiturates . . .
With no original Burrito's left, the core line-up of Roberts, Wertz,
Berline and Bush were joined by Alan Munde, Erik Dalton and Don Beck on
a tour of Europe before calling it a day. Much to Chris Hillman's
frustration, former band manager Ed Tickner "commandeered"
the band name for a new line-up of Pete Kleinow, Chris Ethridge, Gene
Parsons (no relation to Gram), Joel Scott Hill and "Gib"
Guilbeau.
This 'new' Flying Burrito Brothers signed a deal with
Columbia Records and released the lacklustre Flying Again in
October 1975.
The band were soon up to their old tricks and Ethridge was replaced
by Skip Battin (ex-Byrds) for the following year's Airborne.
Once again, it all fell apart. Various other 'reunited' line-ups came
and went - primarily for European and Japanese tours - and the band (or
a version thereof) scored a surprise US Country hit with a live version
of White Line Fever.
By the 80s the band was recording as simply The Burrito Brothers (no
longer flying) and relying heavily on songs written by latest
newcomer, country veteran John Beland. When the band finally split up
(again) in 1985, Pete Kleinow "reclaimed" the Flying Burrito
Brothers moniker and toured with Battin, Harris and Goodall.
Various line-ups of the band have re-formed for tours and recording
since then, but by 1997's California Jukebox nobody really
cared anymore. Pete Kleinow died on 6 January 2007.
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