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
-- 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