The Flying Burrito Brothers were an American country rock band, best known
for their influential 1969 debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin. Although the
group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons
and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes and has existed
in various incarnations to the present day.
Original line-up and members until 1972 The Flying Burrito Brothers were founded
in 1968 on the West Coast of the United States by former Byrds members Gram
Parsons and Chris Hillman, as well as pianist and bassist Chris Ethridge and
pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow. The group borrowed their name
from an East Coast-based group of the same name who had been colleagues of
Parsons' first band, the International Submarine Band, but had never recorded.
Though Hillman and Roger McGuinn had fired Parsons from The Byrds in July,
1968, Hillman and Parsons reconciled later that year after Hillman himself
left The Byrds. Parsons had refused to join his Byrds bandmates for a tour of
South Africa, citing his disapproval of that nation's Apartheid regime; Hillman
doubted the sincerity of Parsons' gesture, believing instead that the
singer merely wanted to remain in England with Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards of the Rolling Stones, whom he had recently befriended.
The Flying Burrito Brothers recorded their debut album The Gilded Palace of
Sin without a regular drummer, although "Fast" Eddie Hoh and Jon Corneal both
appear on the album. The album contains originals by Parsons and Hillman, and
two covers by soul music writers Dan Penn and Chips Moman. After firing
Corneal the band needed a permanent drummer for touring purposes; they hired
another ex-Byrd, Michael Clarke, who had recently been working with the Dillard
and Clark Expedition. Clarke remained the band's permanent drummer from 1969
to 1973. Although critically well received, The
Gilded Palace of Sin did not sell well. The band had been invited to perform at
the August 1969 Woodstock festival but declined, instead electing to embark on
a train tour of the United States which ultimately ended in disaster due to drug
and alcohol use. Bassist Ethridge soon departed the group, with Hillman moving
to bass as the band hired singer and guitarist Bernie Leadon. The band
performed at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in December 1969, and, as
documented in the film Gimme Shelter, the crowd remained largely peaceful
throughout their performance. Parsons, the band's de facto leader and
creative principal, was fired from the group in May 1970, shortly after the
release of the sophomore Burrito Deluxe album. According to Hillman, Parsons
showed up for a band performance only minutes before they were to take the
stage. Visibly intoxicated, he began singing songs which differed from what
the rest of the band were performing. A furious Hillman fired him immediately
after the show, to which Parsons responded "You can't fire me, I'm
Gram!". This incident was merely the final straw, according to Hillman.
Parsons' desire to hang out with the Rolling Stones rather than focus on his
own band's career was also a significant factor, mirroring his 1968 dismissal
from The Byrds. A third album featuring Parsons was
recorded in 1970 but never released in its entirety. Several of the tracks from
these sessions eventually saw the light of day in 1976 on the album Sleepless
Nights. These tracks were intended for a traditional country album and featured
country standards such as "Green, Green Grass of Home" and "Tonight the Bottle
Let Me Down". A version of the group without Parsons
appeared in June–July 1970 on the Festival Express tour of Canada,
documented in the film of the same name. Gram was later replaced by Rick Roberts,
with the new line-up releasing the self-titled album, The Flying Burrito
Bros, in 1971. Kleinow then left to become a session musician, and Leadon
departed to create the Eagles. Al Perkins and Kenny Wertz replaced them,
and Roger Bush and Byron Berline participated as guests in live
performances, with the band releasing a live album, Last of the Red Hot
Burritos, in 1972. The original band dissolved after the
last founding member, Chris Hillman, took Perkins with him to join Manassas.
Berline, Bush and Wertz continued with their own band, Country Gazette. Roberts
assembled a makeshift Flying Burrito Bros group to fulfill contractual
commitments for some 1973 European live shows, then initiated a solo career
before forming Firefall with Michael Clarke.
Later configurations As Gram Parsons' influence and fame
grew, so did interest in the Flying Burrito Brothers. This new-found
popularity led to the release of Close Up the Honky Tonks in 1974, a double-LP
compilation of album tracks, B-sides, and out-takes. Soon after in 1975,
Kleinow and Ethridge put together a new incarnation of the band. Parsons, for
his part, had been asked in 1972 about the band continuing without him and
remarked "The idea'll keep going on. It's not like it's dead or anything.
Whether I do it or anybody else does it, it's got to keep going." Floyd "Gib"
Gilbeau, Joel Scott Hill, and Gene Parsons also joined the group, and the
band released Flying Again that year. Ethridge was then replaced by Skip
Battin for 1976's Airborne. The lineup continued to evolve for the rest of the
1970s with the band even releasing an album under the name Sierra while
continuing to play shows as The Flying Burrito Brothers. In 1980, they had a
country hit with a version of Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever" from their
Live in Tokyo live album of the previous year.
The early 1980s were a period of commercial success for the band that
coincided with the band being known simply as "The Burrito Brothers." Headed
by songwriter and guitarist John Beland, Gib Guilbeau, and initially Sneaky Pete,
the Burrito Brothers scored well on the country charts. Skip Battin had remained
with the band up until this point but left shortly before the release of
1981's Hearts on the Line. This marked the first significant commercial chart
success the band ever had. In 1981 they received the Billboard award for "Best
New Crossover Group" from pop to country. The Burrito Brothers continued
to work with the top session players in Nashville and Los Angeles, logging up an
impressive list of hit singles for Curb Records. In the 80's they toured Europe
and were featured at the Albi Nashville Festival in Albi, France, and performed
with Emmylou Harris, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Tammy Wynette at London's Wembley
Stadium. Also in the early 1980s, the Burrito Brothers were responsible for a
campaign that finally saw their idol, Lefty Frizzell, inducted into the
Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1982, Sneaky Pete, the sole original member,
departed prior to the release of Sunset Sundown. In 1984, Beland and Guilbeau
retired the Burritos and afforded Sneaky Pete the chance to reform essentially
the late 70's lineup with Skip Battin and Greg Harris that continued to tour
and release live albums for the rest of the '80s.
In 1991 a lineup consisting of Beland, Guilbeau, Ethridge, Sneaky Pete, and
Australian singer Brian Cadd began work on a new album, Eye of a Hurricane. The
band went without a regular drummer and used session drummer Ron Tutt who had
previously played with Elvis Presley. The band soon parted ways with Ethridge
for a third time and Cadd as well. Ethridge was replaced by Larry Patton
and Gary Kubal was added as a full-time drummer. This lineup released California
Jukebox in 1997. At this time Gib Guilbeau and Sneaky Pete stopped working
with the group due to health concerns. Sneaky Pete was replaced by Wayne Bridge
and the band released 1999's Sons of the Golden West which, while receiving solid
critical reviews, would prove to be the final album by the Flying Burrito
Brothers as John Beland decided to end the band shortly after the turn of the
millennium. Sneaky Pete then created a new Burrito
project in 2002. This band was called Burrito Deluxe due to John Beland still
having rights to the original name. This band featured Carlton Moody on lead
vocals and Garth Hudson from The Band on keyboards. The first album of this
incarnation, Georgia Peach was conceived as a tribute to Gram Parsons. Sneaky
Pete left the band due to illness in 2005, leaving no direct lineage to any
of the original 1969–1972 lineup. His final recordings do appear, however, on
their 2007 album Disciples of Truth. In 2010, an English record label owner
named Del Taylor attempted to reactivate the band using any and all previous
members he could find. Bernie Leadon, Chris Ethridge, Al Perkins, and Gene
Parsons all agreed if Chris Hillman would join. Hillman was not interested
in the project and instead took steps to acquire the rights to the "The Flying
Burrito Brothers" so that he could retire the band once and for all. His
efforts were in vain, however. As recently as 2011, a still-further
evolution of the band, led by Walter Egan from Burrito Deluxe, released an
album under the name "The Burritos" called Sound as Ever. Beginning in 2012,
that band began playing shows under the name "The Burrito Brothers".
Legacy Parsons died on September 19, 1973.
Clarke died in 1993, Battin died in 2003, Kleinow died in 2007, and Ethridge
died in 2012. Hillman remained a successful
singer-songwriter, having been part of the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band and
McGuinn-Clark-Hillman, then going on to form the Desert Rose Band with Herb
Pedersen. He continued to sing with Pedersen as Chris and Herb, releasing
The Other Side in 2005. Guilbeau retired following heart surgery
and moved to Palmdale, California, from where he continued to appear
occasionally at local functions in and around the Los Angeles area. Beland
continued to produce acts in the US and abroad, achieving hit records in both
Australia and Norway, where he also performed as a solo act. Beland moved to
Brenham, Texas and has written hits for performers such as The Whites with
"Forever You", Mark Farner with "Isn't It Amazing?", and The Bellamy Brothers
with "Cowboy Beat", "Hard Way To Make An Easy Living", and "Bound To Explode".
His songs have been covered by many acts from Ricky Nelson to Garth Brooks.
A Mexican restaurant in Gainesville, Florida, was named after the band.
A chain of Mexican restaurants in New Zealand was named after the band.
The role-playing game Kingdom of Loathing has a character named after the
band. Timeline
Discography = Studio albums =
The Flying Burrito Brothers Sierra
The Burrito Brothers Burrito Deluxe
The Burritos = Live albums =
Last of the Red Hot Burritos Live in Amsterdam
Blue-Grass Special Sin City
Flying Burrito Brothers '76 From Another Time
Close Encounters on the West Coast Live from Tokyo
Hollywood Nights 1979-82 Cabin Fever
Live from Europe Gram Parsons Archives Vol.1: Live at the
Avalon Ballroom 1969 Authorized Bootleg: Fillmore East, NY,
NY Late Show 1170 = Compilation albums =
Close Up the Honky Tonks Sleepless Nights
Farther Along: The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers
Back to the Sweethearts of the Rodeo Double Barrel
Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers Out of the Blue
The Gilded Palace of Sin & Burrito Deluxe
Hot Burritos! The Flying Burrito Brothers Anthology 1969–1972
Best of Burrito Brothers Sin City: The Very Best of the Flying
Burrito Brothers = Singles =
References