THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,696) Stone Country — “Time Isn’t There (Anymore)”
Exquisite ’67 folk rock A-side from Stone Country, one of outlaw country great-to-be Steve Young’s first bands — “an accomplished, jangly guitar number with a fine melody” and “excellent vocal harmonies out front”. (bayard, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/stone-country/time-isnt-there-anymore-life-stands-daring-me/)
As to the Stone Country’s only LP — Stone Country — from which the song was drawn, Jason writes:
Stone Country’s only album contains some of Steve Young’s earliest known recordings. RCA released this strange melange of psychedelia, country, soft-pop and jangly folk-rock back in 1968. This record is by no means a cohesive effort as it sounds like the work of 5 different groups. At first I wasn’t so sure about the album but multiple listens reveal a good record with very solid performances. So while the album itself might not gel together as a finished product, about 90% of the songs are strong and hold up well individually. . . . The album, while not a lost classic is very solid and thoroughly enjoyable. It was clear from the beginning that Young was the group’s most distinctive songwriter and vocalist. . . . Stone Country hits all the right bases that were common in 60’s American rock music: psychedelia, country-rock, folk, blues, airtight harmonies, adventurous arrangements, and great musicianship. This record is well worth a spin.
And Mark Deming says:
[Stone Country was] a short-lived pop group that fused country and rock in a very different way. Stone Country’s sole album, released in the spring of 1968, is a polished but intriguing mixture of sunshine pop, progressive country, blue-eyed soul, and folk-rock, all wrapped up in a slick package created with the best of L.A. studio craftsmanship . . . . Stone Country goes in too many directions at once for its own good, but it’s clear that this was a band packed with talent and full of great musical ideas . . . . The trouble with Stone Country is that while the bandmembers do everything here quite well . . . the eclecticism feels like a lack of clear focus and vision by the end of the album, and this sometimes sounds more like a bunch of talented individuals than a real group. But the best moments are a splendid example of prescient country-rock and West Coast studio polish, and Stone Country is a superb memorial for a group that had the talent and potential to do some pretty remarkable things.
As to Stone Country, Jason tells us that:
Stone Country were a Los Angeles CA sextet that only existed for a little less than 2 years. Steve Young had headed out to LA from Alabama in 1963, looking to secure a recording contract. The group was founded in 1967 when the management company of Denny Bond and Ken Mansfield were in the beginning stages of putting together a new group that would combine elements of both country and rock n roll. Steve Young was chosen as lead guitarist and vocalist while the rest of the group’s lineup looked something like this: banjo player Don Beck, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Doug Brooks, drummer Dennis Conway, vocalist and bassist Dann Barry, and guitarist Richard Lockmiller.
Bryan Thomas adds:
Stone Country was a Hollywood, CA-based psychedelic country-rock outfit led by gifted singer/songwriter and guitarist Steve Young. Young, who grew up in the south, moved to New York City in the early ’60s, where he became affiliated with the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk music scene. He later moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and began working with Van Dyke Parks and Stephen Stills while still working his day job as a mailman. He formed Stone Country in 1967 and soon thereafter the band was signed to RCA Records. After releasing several singles, RCA issued the group’s only album, Stone Country, in March 1968 . . . . The group disbanded when, in 1969, Young signed as a solo artist with A&M Records. . . . In 1971, Young signed to Reprise, and eventually recorded a series of critically acclaimed albums in the country-rock style, his most well-known song being “Seven Bridges Road,” recorded by Rita Coolidge, Joan Baez, and the Eagles.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stone-country-mn0000558381#biography
Adam Sweeting gives us some of Young’s early history:
[Young] played gigs in Texas before moving back to Alabama, but his fondness for playing politically charged folk songs, including some of Bob Dylan’s, made him unpopular in the reactionary Deep South. Having received threats from the Ku Klux Klan, he fled to California with two local folk musicians, Richard Lockmiller and Jim Connor, who had a deal with Capitol Records as Richard & Jim. . . . He played lead guitar in the Skip Battin Band . . . and joined Van Dyke Parks and Stephen Stills in the Gas Company. Then he was invited to join Stone Country, who recorded an album for RCA that brought Young to the notice of other record companies. He signed a solo deal with A&M and recorded his debut album, Rock Salt & Nails (1969); it comprised mostly cover versions, and featured two former member of the Byrds [see #1,430, 1,605] , Gene Clark [see #655] and Gram Parsons, but also contained the first recording of “Seven Bridges Road”. Young’s evocative mix of country, gospel, folk and bluegrass styles was already forming. The album failed to sell, and Young, already tired of the music business, moved to San Francisco with his new wife, the folk singer Terrye Newkirk.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/27/steve-young-obituary
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