The Flying Burrito Brothers The Gilded Palace of Sin/Burrito Deluxe
For almost any genre there are essential records. If you are into punk then you simply must own the Ramones Rocket to Russia. If you are into ska don't tell me you don't have The Specials' self-titled somewhere in your collection. The Flying Burrito Brothers' 1969 debut Gilded Palaces of Sin is alt-country's essential disc.
The band was formed by multi-instrumentalists Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman after both decided to leave the legendary rock group The Byrds. The newly formed Burrito Brothers decided to mix their rock and roll chops with the country sounds of Hank Williams and Buck Owens. Classic cuts like "My Uncle" were country to the bone, with sparse rocking drums, steel guitar solos and mournful vocals, but the topics of songs were anything but apple pies and pickup trucks. "My Uncle" tells the tale of a boy who receives a draft notice and flees his "Uncle Sam" to run away to Canada and dodge the draft. The touching "Wheels" further distances the album from traditional country lyrics with lines like "we got higher and higher every day."
The records' two classic covers "Do Right Woman" and "Dark End of the Street" cast the Burrito Brothers not as hippies playing country but rather excellent country musicians. This mix of country with rock and roll, politics and youth culture brought the south's music to a new generation. For years it was viewed by the mainstream as music played by buck-toothed hillbillies but Gram and the gang showed the world the beauty of open plains and simple country riffs. Groups like Whiskeytown, Wilco, Son Volt, The Jayhawks, Old 97's, Steve Earle and many more would not exist if not for this album.
