The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers "Blue Grass Favorites" (1963)
Who created the folk-rock genre? Most pundits (as well as Google) will credit the Byrds for this achievement, as their 1965 debut album Mr. Tambourine Man effectively bridged the gap between Dylan-esque folk music and British Invasion-style rock music. Another music history question: What was the first country rock album? Most will argue that it was either the Byrds' 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, or the Flying Burrito Brothers' 1969 debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin, and it's hard to argue against them in either case. However, there is an obscure album from 1963 -- predating the aforementioned albums -- which could be said to mark an earlier beginning for both of those genres. And one of the members of the band who recorded it was a teenage mandolin player named Chris Hillman -- who would later become a founding member of both the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Before the Byrds formed in 1964, Hillman had played in a San Diego-based bluegrass band called The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, who recorded one album for the budget label Crown Records in 1963. Although this record, titled Blue Grass Favorites, was cranked out by a distributor of shoddy product, it turned out to be historically significant -- and a good listen, as well.
Besides Hillman, two other future Flying Burrito Brothers played with the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. One of them was Bernie Leadon, who later played on the second and third Burrito Brothers albums, and was also a founding member of the Eagles; however, Leadon did not participate in the recording of Blue Grass Favorites. The other future Burrito Brother was banjo player Kenny Wertz, who played on the FBB's two live albums from 1972 -- one with Hillman, one without -- and also played with Country Gazette. Another notable member of the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers was dobro player Larry Murray, who would go on to form a short-lived band called Hearts And Flowers, and would occasionally collaborate with Johnny Cash.
So, could Blue Grass Favorites actually be the first folk-rock album, or the first country rock album? Saying either of those things may be a stretch, because it is stylistically a rootsy bluegrass album that could hardly be described as a rock and roll album at all. However, the aforementioned country rock albums by the Byrds and Burritos were also country albums through and through, having been labeled as country rock in retrospect after that genre came to be recognized. We could similarly consider Blue Grass Favorites, in hindsight, as a pioneering album in the folk-rock and country rock genres -- although the "pioneering" in that case was even more accidental than usual.
The so-called "blue grass favorites" on the album are covers of traditional folk songs, mostly dating back to the late-1800's and early-1900's. The reason for this was because Crown Records did not want to pay songwriting royalties, so the ten songs recorded for the album were all in the public domain. For example, the instrumental "Cripple Creek" is a traditional Appalachian folk tune, not to be confused with The Band's "Up On Cripple Creek".
The harmony-singing lads in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers could play their instruments well, but the speed of the playing on this recording is sometimes mind-blowing, especially on instrumental tracks such as "Swamp Root" and the particularly speedy "Three Finger Breakdown". Everyone seems to agree that this is a result of the tape being sped up during the mastering of the record, and did not reflect the actual speed with which the Barkers played. However, this furious -- though apparently spurious -- pace of the instrumentation can be seen as a predictor of the fast-paced antics of rock's later electric guitar heroes. Also, the running times are short on all of the tracks -- all of them clock in at less than 3 minutes, and 7 of them are less than two minutes -- foreshadowing the short song lengths of punk rockers who would later rebel against the longer lengths of progressive rock works.
Perhaps I'm reaching too far in an effort to draw connections between this pre-British Invasion album and later forms of rock music. Still, Blue Grass Favorites is a good 19-minute listen for fans of old-fashioned American roots music, and is certainly historically significant as the first recording made by Chris Hillman.
Notes: This album was reissued numerous times, sometimes with the band billed as the Kentucky Mountain Boys instead of the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, and with the title changed to Best of Blue Grass Favorites. In the '90's and the '00's, Blue Grass Favorites was issued on CD in Japan and in the U.K., so fans could then replace their Crown Records vinyl copies which may have fallen apart by then.
The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers "Blue Grass Favorites" (Crown CLP-5346) 1963
Track Listing:
1. Shady Grove (1:13)
2. Home Sweet Home (1:46)
3. Katy Klyne (1:53)
4. Swamp Root (1:29)
5. The Willow Tree (2:37)
6. Walking Cane (2:33)
7. Three Finger Breakdown (1:47)
8. Cripple Creek (1:28)
9. Crown Junction Breakdown (1:28)
10. Reuben (2:13)
See also Rarebird's Flying Burrito Brothers Reviews
Before the Byrds formed in 1964, Hillman had played in a San Diego-based bluegrass band called The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, who recorded one album for the budget label Crown Records in 1963. Although this record, titled Blue Grass Favorites, was cranked out by a distributor of shoddy product, it turned out to be historically significant -- and a good listen, as well.
Besides Hillman, two other future Flying Burrito Brothers played with the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. One of them was Bernie Leadon, who later played on the second and third Burrito Brothers albums, and was also a founding member of the Eagles; however, Leadon did not participate in the recording of Blue Grass Favorites. The other future Burrito Brother was banjo player Kenny Wertz, who played on the FBB's two live albums from 1972 -- one with Hillman, one without -- and also played with Country Gazette. Another notable member of the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers was dobro player Larry Murray, who would go on to form a short-lived band called Hearts And Flowers, and would occasionally collaborate with Johnny Cash.
So, could Blue Grass Favorites actually be the first folk-rock album, or the first country rock album? Saying either of those things may be a stretch, because it is stylistically a rootsy bluegrass album that could hardly be described as a rock and roll album at all. However, the aforementioned country rock albums by the Byrds and Burritos were also country albums through and through, having been labeled as country rock in retrospect after that genre came to be recognized. We could similarly consider Blue Grass Favorites, in hindsight, as a pioneering album in the folk-rock and country rock genres -- although the "pioneering" in that case was even more accidental than usual.
The so-called "blue grass favorites" on the album are covers of traditional folk songs, mostly dating back to the late-1800's and early-1900's. The reason for this was because Crown Records did not want to pay songwriting royalties, so the ten songs recorded for the album were all in the public domain. For example, the instrumental "Cripple Creek" is a traditional Appalachian folk tune, not to be confused with The Band's "Up On Cripple Creek".
The harmony-singing lads in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers could play their instruments well, but the speed of the playing on this recording is sometimes mind-blowing, especially on instrumental tracks such as "Swamp Root" and the particularly speedy "Three Finger Breakdown". Everyone seems to agree that this is a result of the tape being sped up during the mastering of the record, and did not reflect the actual speed with which the Barkers played. However, this furious -- though apparently spurious -- pace of the instrumentation can be seen as a predictor of the fast-paced antics of rock's later electric guitar heroes. Also, the running times are short on all of the tracks -- all of them clock in at less than 3 minutes, and 7 of them are less than two minutes -- foreshadowing the short song lengths of punk rockers who would later rebel against the longer lengths of progressive rock works.
Perhaps I'm reaching too far in an effort to draw connections between this pre-British Invasion album and later forms of rock music. Still, Blue Grass Favorites is a good 19-minute listen for fans of old-fashioned American roots music, and is certainly historically significant as the first recording made by Chris Hillman.
Notes: This album was reissued numerous times, sometimes with the band billed as the Kentucky Mountain Boys instead of the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, and with the title changed to Best of Blue Grass Favorites. In the '90's and the '00's, Blue Grass Favorites was issued on CD in Japan and in the U.K., so fans could then replace their Crown Records vinyl copies which may have fallen apart by then.
The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers "Blue Grass Favorites" (Crown CLP-5346) 1963
Track Listing:
1. Shady Grove (1:13)
2. Home Sweet Home (1:46)
3. Katy Klyne (1:53)
4. Swamp Root (1:29)
5. The Willow Tree (2:37)
6. Walking Cane (2:33)
7. Three Finger Breakdown (1:47)
8. Cripple Creek (1:28)
9. Crown Junction Breakdown (1:28)
10. Reuben (2:13)
See also Rarebird's Flying Burrito Brothers Reviews
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