Linda Ronstadt - Hand Sown Home Grown

This is Linda Ronstadt's very first solo recording after the breakup of the Stone Poney's. Released in 1969, it's also the first record featured her first backup band, the legendary Swampwater with Gib Guilbeau. For more information on Swampwater take a look at the label Swampwater. The music on the record itself is a mixture of some kind of country/folk style.

Hoopla - It's Always Something

There's not much information to find about Hoopla. But George Grantham was/is the drummer of Poco.

The musicians are:
George Grantham-drums/Percussion/Vocals
Wade Bernard-Bass/Harmonica/Lead Vocals
Bil Kurz-Lead Vocals/Guitar
Kevin Woods-Lead Guitar/Acoustics/12 String/Mandolin/Vocals

With:
Bill Bitner - Horns
Steve Shepherd and Jamie Bowles - Keyboards
Jamie Bowles and Pamela Rodriguez - Additional background vocals

All songs are written by:Grantham/Woods/Bernard.
Produced by Hoopla. 1998.

Mott The Hoople - Reunion

Mott the Hoople, the British glam-rock band, are reuniting to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band’s 1969 birth. Mott has scheduled three shows in October 2009 at London’s famed HMV Apollo, formerly the Hammersmith. The concerts mark the first time the original lineup Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Verden Allen, Dale Griffin and Overend Watts has performed together in 35 years. They split in 1974, even though the band with new members would release two more albums without Ian Hunter or Mick Ralphs. Mick Ralphs went on to form Bad Company with Free singer Paul Rodgers and Ian Hunter enjoyed a decent solo career together with Mick Ronson. No word whether Mott’s reunion will be limited to the Apollo shows or if a tour is in the works.

The Doc Thomas Group(Remaster)

From the very tangled tree of about a dozen '60s bands that fed into the eventual formation of Mott the Hoople, the Doc Thomas Group were one of the most important, chiefly because they actually released an album. Future Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Pete Watts were both on board when the group recorded their sole LP (released only in Italy, where they were based for a time) in late 1966. Future Mott drummer Dale Griffin (aka Buffin) joined the band in the spring of 1967, although he doesn't appear on the album, which featured Stan Tippins as lead singer. The self-titled LP consisted entirely of R&B/soul covers, executed derivatively and just about competently, in the style of mod bands of the period such as the Small Faces. The Doc Thomas Group struggled on until 1968, changing their name to Silence with the addition of organist Terry (soon to become Verden) Allen; from that point, it was only a matter of recruiting Ian Hunter to replace Tippins to create Mott the... Read More

From the very tangled tree of about a dozen '60s bands that fed into the eventual formation of Mott the Hoople, the Doc Thomas Group were one of the most important, chiefly because they actually released an album. Future Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Pete Watts were both on board when the group recorded their sole LP (released only in Italy, where they were based for a time) in late 1966. Future Mott drummer Dale Griffin joined the band in the spring of 1967 which featured Stan Tippins as lead singer. The self-titled LP consisted entirely of R&B/soul covers, executed derivatively and just about competently, in the style of mod bands of the period. The Doc Thomas Group struggled on until 1968, changing their name to Silence with the addition of organist Verden Allen; from that point, it was only a matter of recruiting Ian Hunter to replace Tippins to create Mott the Hoople in 1969. The extremely rare Doc Thomas Group album was reissued on CD in 1998, on a disc that also included a Silence reunion session recorded in 1990.

Mott the Hoople - The Hoople(Remaster)
2006 remastered edition of Mott the Hoople's swan song. This special expanded edition includes seven bonus tracks.
Originally released in 1974, it featured a refocused band. Mick Ralphs went on in Bad Company together with Free singer Paul Rogers. His place were took by Ariel Bender (aka Luther Grosvenor) from Spooky Tooth.


Ian Hunter - You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic
This is the fourth solo album by Ian Hunter. The album were released in 1979 and features members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band as the backing band. It is considered by many to be Ian Hunter's best solo album.
If you want more Mott the Hoople please comment!

Dillards 1963-1973

The Dillards,one of the popularizers of bluegrass music in the 1960s,have become a touchstone in the Los Angeles music scene trough their influences on a variety of musicians , most notably various members of the Byrds and their folk rock successors.

The Dillard- Back Porch Bluegrass 1963/Live!!! Almost!!! 1964

These 2 records were made in LA after they headed west from Missouri to LA in 1962



The members were: Douglas Dillard-Banjo
Rodney Dillard-Guitar
Dean Webb-Mandolin
Mitch Jayne-bass


Dillards- Wheatstraw suite 1968



The group had been moving toward a more contemporary sound and this was their first opportunity to put it on a full length album.Before the band recorded Wheatstraw suite Doug Dillard left because he was unhappy with the group's direction.(He then toured live on electric banjo with the Byrds in 1968 and teamed up with ex Byrd Gene Clark to form Dillard & Clark).
Doug Dillard was replaced by Herb Pedersen,bringing along not only his " Nashville rhythm guitar(as it credited on the sleeve) but also his tenor vocals which fit in well with the group's harmonies.Pedersen ended up splitting the lead vocals with Rodney Dillard on the album.

Rodney Dillard-guitars,steel guitar
Herb Pedersen-guitars,banjo
Dean Webb-mandolins
Mitch Jayne-acc.bass
They were backed up by session players:
Buddy Emmons-pedal steel
Joe Osborne-electric bass
Jim Gordon-drums
Toxey french-drums

Wheatstraw suite was fated to be more of a cult album among listeners, and an influential recording among musicians, than it was a big seller.Nevertheless the Dillards had another change to continue moving into progressive directions on:

The Dillards- Copperfields 1970



Copperfields was a continuation of Wheatstraw suite's spirit but less of a groundbreaking landmark, it was still just as accomplished ,electic and enjoyable as its predecessor. Although the sound was pretty much in the same mold as that of Wheatstraw suite there were a few changes.
Paul York was now with the band on drums and the only session player was fiddler Byron Berline.
Copperfields was the last album that the Dillards made on Elektra and like Wheatstraw suite its commercial impact was modest, even if in hindsight the music actuallly sounds more accessible than some other country rock to come from Southern California in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The Dillards would experience their greatest commercial success with their first post Elektra album.

The Dillards- Roots and branches 1972

When they signed with Anthem Records in 1972 and released Roots and Branches Pedersen had departed to work as a vocal arranger ( on Trio for example) and was replaced by Billy Ray Latham. He was much more a bluegrass man( played in the Kentucky Colonels and founder member of Country Gazette).
Latham made the Dillards somewhat return to their rural roots,however Paul York was still there and the album sounds like an attempt to move further into the rock main stream,which worked because its the only Dillards album to reach the USA chart,almost reaching the Top 75.



The Dillards- Tribute to an American Duck 1973

Although is was not that dissimilar to its immediate predecessor it completely missed the chart.
Mitch Jayne was not much involved as a participant although he co-wrote six of the songs.Around 15 performers are listed including John Hartford.

Nothing much was then heard of the Dillards until the late 1970s when they made a few albums. In the 1990s the Dillards were still recording.

So here are the albums by the Dillards before the group retreated cult status.

And for the one's who just want to have a quick listen to the Dillards there is:

The Dillards- There is a time ( 1963-1970)




Extra: Doug Dillard- The Banjo Album



Jim Dickson tried to get A&M Records to finance and release a banjo instrumental album of Doug Dillard with some new ideas.
After A&M passes they independently recorded what was to be " The Banjo Album".

Musicians: Bernie Leadon-guitar
John Hartford-fiddle
Don Beck-dobro
Red Mitchell-bass
Milt Holland-percussion
Gene Clark-harmonica
tracks-1,6,9 Byron Berline-fiddle,guitar,mandolin
Roger Bush-bass
Billy Ray Latham-rhythm guitar
track 12 Vassar Clements-fiddle
track 15 Byron Berline-fiddle
David Jackson- bass
Rick Cunha-guitar

Douglas Dillard- Banjo.

Update Stone Poneys

1967 Stone Poneys - Evergreen Vol.2 has been updated. It now is @VBR.

Linda Ronstadt - Canciones de mi padre

Linda Ronstadt's Canciones de mi padre (1987) consists of old Mexican classics, played by arguably the world's best mariachi group and sung by one of North America's greatest vocal talents. Everything clicks wonderfully here, but numbers that set a new standard include Tu Solo Tu an incredibly harmonic love ode; Por un Amor on the price of real love; and Los Laureles a song of declaration on which Ronstadt soars unbelievably high. Extras include performances by another world figure, requinto player Gilbert Puente, who made history when he led Mexico's Los Tres Reyes in the '50s/'60s.

The Hannover Connection - Part 2

In the late 60's / beginning 70's there were three major forces coming out of a single town, Hannover-Germany, which in parts defined a genre known as krautrock these days. The bands came all three to great success throughout Europe. The bands itselfs named

The Scorpions - Eloy - Jane.

Here are some more releases from those bands and relatives:

Michael Schenker is a german guitarist first known from the Scorpions. With the Scorpions he released only 2 albums, 1973's Lonesome Crow and 1979's Lovedrive. In 1974 he left the Scorpions to join the british band UFO. After and between UFO he released a string of albums as Michael Schenker Group, McAuley Schenker Group or simply Michael Schenker as this one. Thank You is an acoustic album only played by guitar. No other musicians are involved here. Michael is the brother of Scorpions leader Rudolf Schenker.

The JP's (Jaypee's) were a band from Germany in the late 60's. They have released only this single in 1969 under this name. The JP's were Klaus Hess - guitar, Peter Panka - vocals, Wolfgang Krantz - bass, Klaus Zaake - drums. In the beginning 70's the members regrouped as Jane.


Guitarist Klaus Hess was a founding member of the JP's and Jane. In 1982 he left Jane to record his own material. Technodrome is his second solo release from 1992 and features electronic music.
This one were contributed by an anonymous user.


German drummer Fritz Randow was a longtime member with Eloy from 1971 to 1976, recording 5 albums with them. In 1976 he left Eloy and joined the german band Epitaph. With Epitaph he released this 1979 album Return to Reality. In the beginning 80's he rejoined Eloy (1981–1984), recording another 4 albums. In 1985 he left Eloy again to join heavy metal bands Victory, Sinner and Saxon. As of Summer 2007 Fritz is Peter Panka replacement in Jane.

Various: Bakersfield Rebels

File under: Bakersfield Country Rock according to the label on the cd.
This cd contains late 1960's gems featuring Clarence White, Guilbeau & Parsons, Gosdin Brothers, Dennis Payne and many more.

Bakersfield Rebels is volume 4 in a serie of 4 cd's documenting Gary S. Paxton's Bakersfield Productions, recorded between 1965 and 1970.
The other 3 volumes are devoted to Guilbeau & Parsons, Clarence White and the Gosdin Brothers.Not all of what is presented on this compilation could be considered country music.