CHRIS DARROW
''CHRIS DARROW''
1973
39:38
1 /Albuquerque Rainbow
Chris Darrow/3:07
2 /Take Good Care of Yourself
Chris Darrow/3:08
3 /Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Traditional/3:49
4 /Devil's Dream
Traditional/1:33
5 /We Don't Talk of Lovin' Anymore
Chris Darrow/4:06
6 /We're Living on $15 a Week
Chris Darrow/1:48
7 /Whipping Boy
Chris Darrow/3:51
8 /To Which Cross Do I Cling
Chris Darrow/4:38
9 /Hong Kong Blues
Hoagy Carmichael/2:32
10 /A Good Woman's Love
Cy Coben/3:19
11 /Faded Love
Chris Darrow/3:25
12 /That's What It's Like to Be Alone
Chris Darrow/4:22
Andrew Van Der Beek /Horn
Sonny Binns /Keyboards
Steve Cahill /Autoharp, Guitar, Vocals
Theresa Caudle /Wind
Clive Chaman /Bass
Dolly Collins /Keyboards
Earl Dann /Guitar
Chris Darrow /Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
Alan Lumsden /Sac
Dave Mattacks /Drums
Dave Pegg /Bass
Roger Pope /Drums
Caleb Quaye /Guitar, Piano
Joseph Skeaping /Rebab
Rod Skeaping /Viola
Dan Smith /Drums
Alan Stivell /Flute, Harp
Trevor White /Bass
REVIEW
by William Ruhlmann
As a former member of Kaleidoscope, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the Corvettes, Chris Darrow is a veteran of the Southern California psychedelic country-rock scene, and his self-titled solo album is an eclectic grab-bag of styles. Lead-off track "Albuquerque Rainbow," with its twinned electric guitar line, sounds like one of the softer efforts of the Allman Brothers Band, while "Take Good Care of Yourself" applies a reggae rhythm to a country tune. Elsewhere, Darrow turns to less produced and more esoteric fare, including the double-mandolin instrumental "Devil's Dream" and the old-timey country number "We're Living on $15 a Week." "Hong Kong Blues" is the old Hoagy Carmichael song, but "Faded Love" is an original in which the mandolin, accompanied by a flute, approximates the sound of a koto for a Japanese effect, and it all concludes with "That's What It's Like to Be Alone," given a Renaissance chamber music arrangement complete with harpsichord and cello. Thus, Chris Darrow boasts a little bit of everything in its musical choices, although at its center is a singer and player with a stronger sense of style than substance, which may explain why he's tended to be a group member rather than a frontman until now.
BIOGRAPHY
by Tom Kealey
Chris Darrow was born on July 30, 1944, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to a military dad who soon afterward moved his family to Southern California, where Darrow still makes his home. He began learning to play anything he could get his hands on that had strings, and over the course of the next 30-plus years, became one of the most sought-after multi-instrumentalists in professional music. Shortly after high school graduation, Darrow put together a bluegrass band called the Dry City Scat Band with David Lindley, Steve Cahill, Richard Greene, and Pete Madlem. Within a couple of years, the Scat Band would become one of the hottest bluegrass ensembles in Southern California. During the summer of 1964, the Scat Band got a gig at Disneyland, which was steady work, and Darrow was able to support his new bride. During this period, signs were starting to appear indicating imminent changes in the hearts of some of the purest bluegrass musicians. Bandmate Richard Greene introduced Darrow to a friend of his who played in the Chad Mitchell Trio and who had just returned from England raving about the British music scene. Darrow had never before seen anyone with Beatle boots and long hair. The gentleman happened to be future Byrds founder Roger McGuinn. Later that summer, the Scat Band was replaced by the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers and mandolinist Chris Hillman, a hardcore bluegrass purist who quietly and sheepishly said to Darrow, "I joined a rock & roll band. I need the money. They're called the Byrds."
In the latter part of the '60s, Darrow had his first major breakthrough by putting a band together, called Kaleidoscope, with David Lindley, Solomon Feldthouse, and Max Buda. American folk, Middle Eastern, country & western, and blues, which would have seemed an unlikely combination of musical flavors, proved to mix very well and ultimately became successful. Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page was quoted as saying that, "Kaleidoscope was his favorite band of all time." Kaleidoscope went on to release several albums in the late '60s with no hit singles, but with a large cult following that is still growing.
In late 1967, Darrow was asked to join the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as a fiddle player/singer replacing predecessors Jackson Browne, who left to embark upon a solo career, and Bruce Kunkel, who left the band because of philosophical differences. As it turned out, the Dirt Band abruptly adopted a more electric sound anyway, which is what Kunkel had been campaigning for, but was resigned to defeat. In the meantime, Darrow's presence gave the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band some glory by virtue of their performance in the smash musical comedy flick Paint Your Wagon. The Dirt Band's short-lived and waning success would soon cause a breakup, but it would later reorganize with different personnel. Darrow, on the other hand, who has more sides to him than a mirror ball, hung out his shingle attracting a great number of new opportunities.
One of these opportunities was in the form of an intermittent working relationship with Linda Ronstadt that came as the result of an introduction by a primate. Former Monkee Michael Nesmith produced a couple of singles for a band called the Corvettes, founded by Darrow and former Dirt Band mate Jeff Hanna. The Corvettes would soon become Ronstadt's backup band. She had heard about them through Nesmith, who was the writer of her hit song "Different Drum." Darrow stayed with Ronstadt's band off and on for a number of years, witnessing a personnel change whereby Bernie Leadon came in to replace Hanna, who had decided to make his exit and re-form the Dirt Band.
Darrow was offered a recording contract by United Artists Records in 1972. He recorded the albums Chris Darrow, followed up by Under My Own Disguise the following year. "Whipping Boy," from the former, received critical acclaim and is still viewed as an attractive "cover" prospect. Over the years, he has continued to be called upon by other artists who wanted his multifaceted musical influence on their albums. Artists such as James Taylor, Sonny & Cher, Gene Vincent, Helen Reddy, and John Fahey are only a few examples.
In the mid-'90s, Darrow started recording for the Taxim label of Germany. In 2000, the label released a two-CD set, called Coyote: Straight from the Heart. It includes a 40-minute instrumental suite and 20 original songs. Taxim also released Fretless, Southern California Drive, Los Chumps with Max Buda, and Mojave, a Darrow-produced album featuring members of Emmylou Harris's band, Lone Justice, and the Byrds. In early 2001, BGO Records in England released Darrow's second and third albums, Chris Darrow and Under My Own Disguise, as a two-for-one package.
All of Kaleidoscope's early records have been re-released on Demon Records in England and Sony/Legacy in the U.S. Darrow's fabulous slide guitar work is featured on a compilation album called Everybody Slides, Vol. 2. The album features cuts by such slide greats as Lowell George, John Hammond, David Lindley, and Rory Block. It is on Sky Ranch Records in France with Virgin distribution, as well as Rykodisc in the United States. Darrow also appears on two Takoma Records compilations, Takoma Slide and Takoma Eclectic Sampler, Vol. 2.
Other sides of this mirror ball (metaphorically speaking) lay in business and photography. Darrow planned to publish a book containing photographs he has taken over the last few decades, many of which appear on album covers. By his own admission, he said he decided to take his photojournalism to a professional level after he learned that the man with whom his wife ran off was a photographer.
In retrospect, during the late '60s and through the '70s, there seemed to be a delicate balance of relationships that would influence the evolution of country rock music (as it would come to be known) for the remainder of the 20th century and beyond. Chris Darrow was right in the middle of all of this and played an integral part of the formation and ultimate success of more than just a handful of his contemporaries. In 2013, his 1972 self-titled debut was re-released by Drag City with great fanfare; the original album was appended with a handful of bonus tracks.
''CHRIS DARROW''
1973
39:38
1 /Albuquerque Rainbow
Chris Darrow/3:07
2 /Take Good Care of Yourself
Chris Darrow/3:08
3 /Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Traditional/3:49
4 /Devil's Dream
Traditional/1:33
5 /We Don't Talk of Lovin' Anymore
Chris Darrow/4:06
6 /We're Living on $15 a Week
Chris Darrow/1:48
7 /Whipping Boy
Chris Darrow/3:51
8 /To Which Cross Do I Cling
Chris Darrow/4:38
9 /Hong Kong Blues
Hoagy Carmichael/2:32
10 /A Good Woman's Love
Cy Coben/3:19
11 /Faded Love
Chris Darrow/3:25
12 /That's What It's Like to Be Alone
Chris Darrow/4:22
Andrew Van Der Beek /Horn
Sonny Binns /Keyboards
Steve Cahill /Autoharp, Guitar, Vocals
Theresa Caudle /Wind
Clive Chaman /Bass
Dolly Collins /Keyboards
Earl Dann /Guitar
Chris Darrow /Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
Alan Lumsden /Sac
Dave Mattacks /Drums
Dave Pegg /Bass
Roger Pope /Drums
Caleb Quaye /Guitar, Piano
Joseph Skeaping /Rebab
Rod Skeaping /Viola
Dan Smith /Drums
Alan Stivell /Flute, Harp
Trevor White /Bass
REVIEW
by William Ruhlmann
As a former member of Kaleidoscope, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the Corvettes, Chris Darrow is a veteran of the Southern California psychedelic country-rock scene, and his self-titled solo album is an eclectic grab-bag of styles. Lead-off track "Albuquerque Rainbow," with its twinned electric guitar line, sounds like one of the softer efforts of the Allman Brothers Band, while "Take Good Care of Yourself" applies a reggae rhythm to a country tune. Elsewhere, Darrow turns to less produced and more esoteric fare, including the double-mandolin instrumental "Devil's Dream" and the old-timey country number "We're Living on $15 a Week." "Hong Kong Blues" is the old Hoagy Carmichael song, but "Faded Love" is an original in which the mandolin, accompanied by a flute, approximates the sound of a koto for a Japanese effect, and it all concludes with "That's What It's Like to Be Alone," given a Renaissance chamber music arrangement complete with harpsichord and cello. Thus, Chris Darrow boasts a little bit of everything in its musical choices, although at its center is a singer and player with a stronger sense of style than substance, which may explain why he's tended to be a group member rather than a frontman until now.
BIOGRAPHY
by Tom Kealey
Chris Darrow was born on July 30, 1944, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to a military dad who soon afterward moved his family to Southern California, where Darrow still makes his home. He began learning to play anything he could get his hands on that had strings, and over the course of the next 30-plus years, became one of the most sought-after multi-instrumentalists in professional music. Shortly after high school graduation, Darrow put together a bluegrass band called the Dry City Scat Band with David Lindley, Steve Cahill, Richard Greene, and Pete Madlem. Within a couple of years, the Scat Band would become one of the hottest bluegrass ensembles in Southern California. During the summer of 1964, the Scat Band got a gig at Disneyland, which was steady work, and Darrow was able to support his new bride. During this period, signs were starting to appear indicating imminent changes in the hearts of some of the purest bluegrass musicians. Bandmate Richard Greene introduced Darrow to a friend of his who played in the Chad Mitchell Trio and who had just returned from England raving about the British music scene. Darrow had never before seen anyone with Beatle boots and long hair. The gentleman happened to be future Byrds founder Roger McGuinn. Later that summer, the Scat Band was replaced by the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers and mandolinist Chris Hillman, a hardcore bluegrass purist who quietly and sheepishly said to Darrow, "I joined a rock & roll band. I need the money. They're called the Byrds."
In the latter part of the '60s, Darrow had his first major breakthrough by putting a band together, called Kaleidoscope, with David Lindley, Solomon Feldthouse, and Max Buda. American folk, Middle Eastern, country & western, and blues, which would have seemed an unlikely combination of musical flavors, proved to mix very well and ultimately became successful. Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page was quoted as saying that, "Kaleidoscope was his favorite band of all time." Kaleidoscope went on to release several albums in the late '60s with no hit singles, but with a large cult following that is still growing.
In late 1967, Darrow was asked to join the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as a fiddle player/singer replacing predecessors Jackson Browne, who left to embark upon a solo career, and Bruce Kunkel, who left the band because of philosophical differences. As it turned out, the Dirt Band abruptly adopted a more electric sound anyway, which is what Kunkel had been campaigning for, but was resigned to defeat. In the meantime, Darrow's presence gave the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band some glory by virtue of their performance in the smash musical comedy flick Paint Your Wagon. The Dirt Band's short-lived and waning success would soon cause a breakup, but it would later reorganize with different personnel. Darrow, on the other hand, who has more sides to him than a mirror ball, hung out his shingle attracting a great number of new opportunities.
One of these opportunities was in the form of an intermittent working relationship with Linda Ronstadt that came as the result of an introduction by a primate. Former Monkee Michael Nesmith produced a couple of singles for a band called the Corvettes, founded by Darrow and former Dirt Band mate Jeff Hanna. The Corvettes would soon become Ronstadt's backup band. She had heard about them through Nesmith, who was the writer of her hit song "Different Drum." Darrow stayed with Ronstadt's band off and on for a number of years, witnessing a personnel change whereby Bernie Leadon came in to replace Hanna, who had decided to make his exit and re-form the Dirt Band.
Darrow was offered a recording contract by United Artists Records in 1972. He recorded the albums Chris Darrow, followed up by Under My Own Disguise the following year. "Whipping Boy," from the former, received critical acclaim and is still viewed as an attractive "cover" prospect. Over the years, he has continued to be called upon by other artists who wanted his multifaceted musical influence on their albums. Artists such as James Taylor, Sonny & Cher, Gene Vincent, Helen Reddy, and John Fahey are only a few examples.
In the mid-'90s, Darrow started recording for the Taxim label of Germany. In 2000, the label released a two-CD set, called Coyote: Straight from the Heart. It includes a 40-minute instrumental suite and 20 original songs. Taxim also released Fretless, Southern California Drive, Los Chumps with Max Buda, and Mojave, a Darrow-produced album featuring members of Emmylou Harris's band, Lone Justice, and the Byrds. In early 2001, BGO Records in England released Darrow's second and third albums, Chris Darrow and Under My Own Disguise, as a two-for-one package.
All of Kaleidoscope's early records have been re-released on Demon Records in England and Sony/Legacy in the U.S. Darrow's fabulous slide guitar work is featured on a compilation album called Everybody Slides, Vol. 2. The album features cuts by such slide greats as Lowell George, John Hammond, David Lindley, and Rory Block. It is on Sky Ranch Records in France with Virgin distribution, as well as Rykodisc in the United States. Darrow also appears on two Takoma Records compilations, Takoma Slide and Takoma Eclectic Sampler, Vol. 2.
Other sides of this mirror ball (metaphorically speaking) lay in business and photography. Darrow planned to publish a book containing photographs he has taken over the last few decades, many of which appear on album covers. By his own admission, he said he decided to take his photojournalism to a professional level after he learned that the man with whom his wife ran off was a photographer.
In retrospect, during the late '60s and through the '70s, there seemed to be a delicate balance of relationships that would influence the evolution of country rock music (as it would come to be known) for the remainder of the 20th century and beyond. Chris Darrow was right in the middle of all of this and played an integral part of the formation and ultimate success of more than just a handful of his contemporaries. In 2013, his 1972 self-titled debut was re-released by Drag City with great fanfare; the original album was appended with a handful of bonus tracks.
1 comment :
another one that could do with a reup .. thanks
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