'Will The Circle Be Unbroken'

At this point in my life and the evolution of my musical taste, this is the most ideal album for me.

It’s “gritty” and unadulterated old-time country Americana, country and bluegrass. From a relative group of nobodies outside of the special guests like Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff, Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson. 

However, the band itself is not a group of players you’d know. The group itself has been around since the late 1960s and has evolved thusly including stints from Jackson Browne and The Eagles’ Bernie Leadon. 

Worth mentioning, the Will the Circle Be Unbroken was released in 1972 just as modern country and western music began to get more and more of a commodity and would eventually deviate from its bluegrass and Americana roots. Also, the emphasis would be taken away from harmony and the group dynamic and gravitate toward a singular lead singer, a star. 

Will the Circle Be Unbroken is a total anomaly for the time. Akin to what happened when O Brother, Where Art Thou? released its soundtrack of similar blues and Americana and it catching a mainstream audience as if it were a new genre altogether. The guests on this album were members of a bygone era (Acuff, Scruggs, Carter, Watson) as the matriarch herself, Carter, would die six years later. From my perspective, this album wasn't a salute to the roots of American music or a means of pushing the voices of latter-day artists to a new audience. It's more of a swan song of a dying age, a dying breed of people.

Most notably, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band performed on Saturday Night Live as The Toot Uncommons and the backing band for Steve Martin performing his quintessential song, “King Tut.” So there’s that.

A really perfectly good album.

'No Other' & 'White Light'

Gene Clark was one of the founding member of The Byrds. He left the band in 1966 and struck out on a solo career that lasted about one year when he rejoined the Byrds after David Crosby left to go on and do his thing with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.

It wasn't until the early-1970s that Clark found success as a solo artist with White Light and No Other. Both are beautiful country-rock records not unlike what his brethren in The Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, CSN&Y, Gram Parsons and the Eagles were doing.

Two very understated and often overlooked albums and certainly and artist that doesn't get the same attention as those other names.

Clark recorded throughout the 1970s and 1980s and went into a lull of activity eventually addressing his substance abuse in the latter decade. As it turns out, it might be pretty hard to get high when you don't have any money.

Tom Petty covered "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better," a Byrds song written by Clark, on his 1989 album Full Moon Fever. The added income from the royalties set Clark back into a downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse.

In 1991, his body gave out. He had a heart attack and died at the tender age of 46. A pretty big waste for sure.

'Sweetheart Of The Rodeo'

One of my all time, top 10 favorite records. Of all time. Ever.

And it was important. Firstly, it featured the debut of Gram Parsons, who would go on to rewrite country music, and Sweetheart of the Rodeo was his first attack.

Secondly, it's mostly considered the first country-rock record in the history of the genre.

The band itself, it was a seachange in their careers and style. For the most part, they're known for their psychedelic, hippy rock and Roger McGuinn and his 12-string Rickenbacker and his half-moon glasses.

Suddenly, they go country. Parsons is brought in and they bend the rules of rock music along with breaking the rules of jumping genres and showing that bands can redefine themselves. Now, despite being a departure for their career, Sweetheart... is their highest-regarded record.

The history of the album suggests a pinch of divine intervention. Parsons was hired as a piano player after The Byrds were stripped down to a two-piece. After joining, Parsons switched to guitar and forever altered the direction of the band. McGuinn's vision of doing an overview of 20th century music was scrapped for a bunch of honky-tonk love songs and mountain ballads.

Later in the year, Bob Dylan would release his seminal country album Nashville Skyline and The Band would release Music from Big Pink. And country and rock music would have different trajectories from then on.

Also includes a top 10 album cover.

'Gilded Palace of Sin'

An all-time, top 10 record for me. It has everything. The musicianship. The perfect balance between the swaying heartbreak of country and the driving energy of rock and roll.

It's basically a greatest hits for the Burritoes and Gram Parsons' shining moment. Yeah, he had other tunes, other albums. But "Gilded Palace" was the great bridge between The Byrds and Parsons' solo work.

I can listen to this over and over.