The second volume of Bear Family's seven-disc country-rock history Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels focuses on 1969, a crucial year in the music's development. It was the year Gram Parsons broke free from the Byrds to form the Flying Burrito Brothers, it was the year Bob Dylan released "Lay, Lady Lay," the year where the Band consolidated their success with their second album and its single "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," the year when the San Francisco-exiled Doug Sahm started to pine for "Texas Me," and, just as ...
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The second volume of Bear Family's seven-disc country-rock history Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels focuses on 1969, a crucial year in the music's development. It was the year Gram Parsons broke free from the Byrds to form the Flying Burrito Brothers, it was the year Bob Dylan released "Lay, Lady Lay," the year where the Band consolidated their success with their second album and its single "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," the year when the San Francisco-exiled Doug Sahm started to pine for "Texas Me," and, just as crucially, Glen Campbell adopted cinematic Hollywood production for "Galveston" as Buck Owens drenched "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass' with fuzz guitars. Every one of these developments illustrated how country-rock was breaking into the mainstream and not from any one direction, either: there are bunches of Bakersfield twang but also Southern-fried soul, sultry Nashville production, a bit of proto-outlaw storytelling, and plenty of stuff that lies somewhere in between. What impresses most about this second volume of Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels -- because this, like its predecessor, doesn't dig deep as much as it establishes history -- is how vibrant and exciting all these cultural cross-currents feel. The two years covered on Vol. 1 were the preamble: this is year zero of country-rock and in this excellent history, it still sounds invigorating and surprising. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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