line up 1 (1968-69)

- Chris Etheridge -- bass
- Chris Hillman -- vocals, guitar
- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar
- Graham Parsons (RIP) -- vocals, guitar

  supporting musicians:

- Joe Corneal -- drums

- David Crosby -- backing vocals

- Eddie Holt -- drums

- Sam Goldstein -- drums

- Popeye Phillips -- drums

  line up 2 (1969-70)

NEW - Michael Clarke -- drums

- Chris Hillman -- vocals, bass, mandolin
- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

NEW - Bernie Leadon -- vocals, guitar, dobro
- Graham Parsons (RIP) -- vocals, guitar

  line up 3 (1971)

NEW - Earl P. Ball -- keybaords

NEW - Mike Deasy -- guitar

NEW - Bob Gibson -- guitar

- Michael Clarke -- drums

- Chris Hillman -- vocals, bass, mandolin
- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

NEW - Rick Roberts -- vocals, rhythm guitar

  line up 4 (1972)

- Michael Clarke -- drums

- Chris Hillman -- vocals, bass, mandolin
NEW - Al Perkins -- pedal steel guitar, guitar

NEW - Rick Roberts -- vocals, rhythm guitar

NEW - Kenny Wertz -- vocals, guitar, banjo

  supporting musicians:

- Earl P. Ball -- keybaords

- Byron Berline -- fiddle

- Robert Bush -- bass, guitar

  line up 5 (1975)

- Chris Etheridge -- bass

NEW - Gib Guilbeau -- vocals, fiddle

NEW - Joel Scott Hill -- vocals, guitar

- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

NEW - Gene Parsons -- vocals, drums, guitar, harmonica

  line up 6 (1976)

NEW - Skip Battin -- vocals, bass

- Gib Guilbeau -- vocals, fiddle

- Joel Scott Hill -- vocals, guitar

- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

- Gene Parsons -- vocals, drums, guitar, harmonica

NEW - Warren Pemberton -- drums

 line up 7 (1976)

- Skip Battin -- vocals, bass

- Gib Guilbeau -- vocals, fiddle

NEW - Greg Harris -- vocals, banjo, guiatr

- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

- Gene Parsons -- vocals, drums, guitar, harmonica

NEW - Ed Ponder -- drums

 line up 8 (1981-85)

NEW - John Beland -- vocals, guitar, dobro

- Gib Guilbeau -- vocals, fiddle

- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

  supporting musicians

- Dennis Belfield -- bass

- Ron Krazinsky -- drums

- Billy Thomas -- 

 line up 9 (1985-88)

NEWv- Skip Battin -- vocals, bass

NEWv- Jim Goodall -- drums

- Greg Harris -- vocals, guitar

- Sneaky Pete Kleinow -- pedal steel guitar

- Skip Battin (solo efforts)
- The Byrds (Chris Hillman and Graham Parsons)
- Mike Clarke (solo efforts)
- Country Gazzette ( Kenny Wertz, 
- The Eagles (Bernie Leadon)

- Evergreen Blueshoes (Skip Battin)
- Firefall (Rick Roberts)

- Gary and Clyde (Skip Battin)
- Emmylou Harris (solo efforts)
- Chris Hillman (solo efforts)

- The International Submarine Band (Gram Parsons)
- The New Riders of the Purple Sage
- Gene Parsons (solo efforts)

- Gram Parsons (solo efforts)

- The Pledges (Skip Battin)

- Sierra (Joel Scott Hill, Gil Guibreau, and Sneaky Pete Klienow)

- Skip & Flip (Skip Battin)

- Skip and the Hustlers (Skip Battin)

- Skip and the Flips (Skip Battin)

- Skip and the Groop (Skip Battin)

- Southern, Hillman, Furray Band

- Steppenwolf (Bobby Cochran)

Genre: country-rock

Rating: **** (4 stars)

Title:  The Guilded Palace of Sin

Company: A&M

Catalog: SP 4175

Year: 1969

Country/State: US

Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG +

Comments: minor ring wear; gatefold sleeve

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 

Price: $20.00

Having just finished recording "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" with The Byrds, in the Fall of 1968 singer/guitarist Chris Hillman, pedal steel guitar player Sneaky Pete Kleinow and singer/guitarist Gram Parsons announced their decision to quit and start their own band. A series of loose jam sessions featuring everyone from Jesse Davis to Remains frontman Barry Tashain eventually evolved into a true band Rounding out their initial lineup with bassist Chris Etheridge, the quartet quickly attracted the attention of A&M Records, which promptly signed them to a contract.

Co-produced by the band, Henry Lewy and Larry Marks, 1969's "Guilded Palace of Sin" was a true musical breakthrough. While their earlier Byrds efforts had reflected a clear country influence, here the band turned in what was probably the first true country-rock album. Largely written by Parsons and Hillman, material such as "Sin City", "Hot Burrito #1" and "Do You Know How It Feels" offered up a well balanced mix of the genres (anyone doubting their rock credentials need only check-out the fuzz guitar solo on "Hot Burrito #2"). The album also served as a nice showcase for Parson and Hillman's fragile voices. Elsewhere the band's two Memphis soul covers "Do Right Woman" and "Dark End of the Street" were equally impressive. Okay, a touch more rock and a little less country wouldn't have hurt our ears ... (Anyone know if the stunning woman attached to Parsons on the back cover was a young Emmylou Harris?) Supported by rave reviews, the set proved a modest seller (reportedly selling roughly 40,000 copies), peaking at # 164.

"Guilded Palace of Sin" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Christine's Tune   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 3:02
2.) Sin City   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 4:10
3.) Do Right Woman   (Chips Moman - Dan Penn) - 3:58
4.) Dark End of the Street   (Spooner Oldham - Dan Penn) - 3:55
5.) My Uncle   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 2:36

(side 2)

1.) Wheels   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 3:02
2.) Juanita   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 2:58
3.) Hot Burrito #1   (Chris Etheridge - Gram Parsons) - 3:37
4.) Hot Burrito #2 - 3:15
5.) Do You Know How It Feels   (Gram Parsons - Goldberg) - 2:06
6.) Hippie Boy   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 4:55

Genre: country-rock

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  Burrito Deluxe

Company: A&M

Catalog: SP 4258

Year: 1970

Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG+

Comments: minor ring wear; 

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 6292

Price: $20.00

On the heels of their debut, any follow-up was bound to pale in comparison. 1970's "Burrito Deluxe" didn't disappoint in that respect. Whereas the Parsons-Hillman team was responsible for most of the first album highlights, on the sophomore set Parsons sounded distant and uninterested in the majority of material. That may have been a reflection of his forthcoming plans for a solo career, or his growing drug problem. That wasn't to say the album was a complete washout. The Burritos were simply too talented to turn in a complete waste of vinyl. Parson-Hillman's "Cody Cody", "Man In the Fog" and a country-ish cover of The Stones "Wild Horses" (reflecting his ongoing friendship with the Stones) were both magnificent. Wish one could say the same for the rest of the set. The album also saw Bernie Leadon brought on as a replacement for Chris Etheridge and marked the debut of full-time drummer Michael Clarke. A commercial disappointment, the album failed to chart. Shortly after the album was released Parsons announced his departure for a solo career (see separate entry).

"Burrito Deluxe" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Lazy Days
2.) Image of Me (Kemp)
3.) High Fashion Queen
4.) If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Bob Dylan)
5.) Man in the Fog

(side )

1.) Farther Along
2.) Older Guys
3.) Cody, Cody (Chris Hillman - Bernie Leadon - Gram Parsons)
4.) God's Own Singer (Bernie Leadon)
5.) Down in the Churchyard
6.) Wild Horses (Mick Jagger - Keith Richards) - 

Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, former members of The Byrds,^[2] and pianist/bassist Chris Ethridge and pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow. They recorded The Gilded Palace of Sin without a regular drummer, although Eddie Hoh and Jon Corneal were both full-time members at times during the early days of the band. Both feature on the band's debut album. The album contains originals by Parsons/Hillman and two covers by soul music writers Dan Penn and Chips Moman. After firing Corneal, needing a permanent drummer for touring purposes, the band hired Michael Clarke, another ex-Byrd, who had recently been working with the Dillard and Clark Expedition.

Gilded Palace did not sell well, though was critically well received.^[3] Ethridge departed in mid-1969, and Hillman moved to bass as the band hired singer and guitarist Bernie Leadon. The band performed at the Altamont Free Concert in December 1969. As documented in the film Gimme Shelter, the band was on stage when fights broke out in the audience.

Owing to disagreements with Hillman, the next album Burrito Deluxe included few Parsons/Hillman compositions. Parsons left the group after its release in 1970,^[4] replaced by Rick Roberts, the new line-up releasing a self-titled album in 1971. Kleinow then left to become a session musician. Then Leadon departed to create the Eagles.^[5] Al Perkins and Kenny Wertz replaced them, and Roger Bush and Byron Berline participated as in live performances as guests, 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 while Roberts assembled a 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.

[edit] Later configurations

As Gram Parsons' influence and fame grew, so did interest in the Flying Burrito Brothers, leading to the release of Close Up the Honky Tonks (1974), a double-LP compilation of album tracks, b-sides, and outtakes; and the recreation of the band by Kleinow and Ethridge in 1975. Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau, Joel Scott Hill and Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) also joined, and the band released Flying Again that year. Ethridge was then replaced by Skip Battin for Airborne (1976), followed by an album of unreleased early material, Sleepless Nights. For the next few decades, the group released albums and toured and had a country hit with "White Line Fever" (1980, a cover by Merle Haggard) and then became the Burrito Brothers.

Headed by songwriter and guitarist John Beland and Gib Guilbeau, and normally featuring Sneaky Pete, this incarnation scored well on the Country charts in the early 1980s, marking the first significant commercial chart success the band ever had. In 1981 they received the Billboard Magazine Award for "Best New Crossover Group" from pop to country. The Burrito Brothers continued to work with the top session players in Nashville and LA, 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 ,Albi France, and Emmylou Harris, Jerry Lee Lewis and Tammy Wynette at London's Wembley Stadium. Also in the early 80's, the Burrito Brothers were responsible for spearheading a world wide campaign that finally saw their idol, the legendary Lefty Frizzell inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

Through numerous incarnations (nearly all with Beland at the helm), the band released albums and toured throughout the 1980s and '90s. The latter day Flying Burrito Brothers CDs, produced by Beland, did feature an impressive line-up of guests, including Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Louvin, and others. The band's final two CDs, California Jukebox and Sons Of The Golden West, received solid critical reviews. However, Beland finally called it quits for the band in 2000, and embarked upon a successful career as a record producer. Sneaky created a Burritos spin-off in his new band Burrito Deluxe, which featured Carlton Moody on lead vocals and Garth Hudson from The Band on keyboards. The band scored no chart success, relying solely on live appearances in Europe. Pete left the band due to illness in 2005, leaving no direct lineage to any of the actual Flying Burrito Brothers members, past or present.

Gram Parsons died on September 19, 1973. Michael Clarke died in 1993. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow died on January 6, 2007. Chris Hillman is still 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 (1986–1993) with Herb Pedersen. He still sings with Pedersen today as Chris and Herb, having released The Other Side (2005). A chain of Mexican restaurants in New Zealand is named after the band.

Gib Guilbeau retired following heart surgery and currently lives in Palmdale, California. He still appears occasionally at local functions in and around the Los Angeles area. John Beland continues to produce acts here in America and abroad, scoring hit records in both Australia and Norway, where he still performs solo as a solo act throughout the year. Beland has written hits for acts such as the Whites "Forever You", Mark Farner "Isn't It Amazing?" and the Bellamy Brothers "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. John currently lives in Brenham, Texas.

[edit] Discography

Burrito Deluxe is the second album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1970. In between The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe, the band underwent some personnel changes. Bassist Chris Ethridge left the band out of frustration at the band's lack of success. In his place, Chris Hillman moved over to bass, and Bernie Leadon was hired to play guitar. Also, ex-Byrd Michael Clarke was hired as the band's full-time drummer.

gger - Keith Richards) - 

Genre: country-rock

Rating: *** ( 3 stars)

Title:  Flying Burrito Brothers

Company: A&M

Catalog: SP 4295

Country/State: US

Year: 1971

Grade (cover/record): VG / VG

Comments: --

Available: 2

Catalog ID: 

Price: $10.00

Having brought Rick Roberts in to fill Parson's place, 1971's "The Flying Burrito Brothers" teamed the band with producers Jim Dickinson and Bob Hughes. Musically the set underscored the reconstituted band's earnest country-rock roots. Exemplified by material such as a cover of Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever", "All Alone" and Gene Clark's "Tried So Hard" the album aptly displayed the group's dedication and enthusiastic for the genre. Interestingly, while critics were quick to write the band off in the wake of Parsons' departure, singer/songwriter Roberts made his presence immediately felt. In addition to writing or co-writing 7 of the 10 tracks, his sweet vocals added a pleasant pop-touch to material such as "Hand To Mouth" and "Four Days of Rain." (Billy James should be banned from writing future liner notes.) Peaking at #176 the album also returned the band to the pop charts.

"The Flying Burrito Brothers" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) White Line Fever (Merle Haggard) - 3:15
2.) Colorado (Rick Roberts) - 4:50
3.) Hand To Mouth (Rick Roberts - Chris Hillman) - 3:43
4.) Tried So Hard (Gene Clark) - 3:08
5.) Just Can't Be (Rick Roberts - Chris Hillman) - 4:57

(side 2)

1.) To Ramona (BOb Dylan) -3:37
2.) Four Days of Rain (Rick Roberts) - 3:38
3.) Can't You Hear Me Calling (Rick Roberts - Chris Hillman) - 2:21
4.) All Alone (Rick Roberts - Chris Hillman) - 3:32
5.) Why Are You Crying (Rick Roberts) - 3:04

Genre: country-rock

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  Last of the Red Hot Burritos

Company: A&M

Catalog: SP 4343

Year: 1972

Grade (cover/record): VG / VG

Comments: --

Available: SOLD

Catalog ID: SOLD

Price: SOLD

Spotlighting the group's final lineup (fiddler Byron Berline, Clarke, Hillman, pedal steel guitarist Al Perkins, and Roberts), "Last of the Red Hot Burritos" was an enjoyable, if unspectacular live set. Actually released in the wake of the band's official breakup, the collection found Hillman (the only remaining original member) and company returning to their country roots; the focal point being Parsons' early-'70s catalog. Interestingly, at least to our ears, the band's Stax covers (Homer Banks' 'Ain't That A Lot of Love' and Wilson Pickett's 'Don't Fight It') were far more entertaining. A minor seller the collection peaked at # 171. (The album was originally released with a gatefold sleeve.)

"Last of the Red Hot Burritos" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Devil In Disguise   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 3:37
2.) Six Days On the Road   (Earl Green - Carl Montgomery) - 2:58
3.) My Uncle   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 2:15
4.) Dixie Breakdown   (Don Reno - Johnny Lunceford) - 1:46
5.) Orange Blossom Special (instrumental)   (Ervin T. Rouse) - 3:26

(side 2)

1.) Ain't That A Lot of Love   (Homer Banks - Dean Parker) - 3:14
2.) High Fashion Queen   (Gram Parsons - Chris Hillman) - 3:06
3.) Don't Fight It   (Wilson Pickett - Steve Cropper) - 2:42
4.) Hot Burrito #2   (Chris Etheridge - Gram Parsons) - 4:24
5.) Losing Game   (James Carr Weaver) - 2:40