THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,017) Great Speckled Bird — “Long Long Time to Get Old”
Classic Canadian “country stomp” (Richard Parkinson, https://americana-uk.com/classic-americana-albums-great-speckled-bird-great-speckled-bird) by Ian & Sylvia’s great country band (see #306). What an irresistible groove — often covered by country singer Tyler Childers. “[I]t’s a wonder that crate-digging hip-hop producers haven’t sampled [drummer N.D.] Smart and [bassist Ken] Kalmusky’s funky rumble (see the cowbell-clanging intro to ‘Long Long Time To Get Old’)”.(https://nodepression.org/great-speckled-bird-self-titled/)
“Remember this children if the good lord’s willin’, it’s a long long time to get old”
No Depression tells us:
Ian & Sylvia, blessed with otherworldly vocal prowess and an ability to give voice to the particular sadness wrought by separation (see “Four Strong Winds”, “You Were On My Mind”, “Someday Soon”, etc.), were already folk-circuit royalty when they joined forces with steel player Buddy Cage (later of New Riders Of The Purple Sage), string-bender nonpareil Amos Garrett (he of the slinky solo on Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight At The Oasis”), and the pummeling rhythm section of drummer N.D. Smart (who went on to play with Gram Parsons) and bassist Ken Kalmusky. The resulting clash of sensibilities yielded astonishing results. The interplay between Ian and Sylvia’s vocals is shadowed by the quicksilver sparring of Cage and Garrett. . . . Then there are the songs. Listen to [them] and you’ll be bewildered this record slipped into oblivion. The . . . album stiffed commercially, the band lineup changed, and the Tysons released one more album under the Great Speckled Bird banner (1972’s You Were On My Mind on Columbia). The group did serve as the house band on Ian’s Canadian TV variety show, and a tantalizing glimpse at their live prowess can be glimpsed in the documentary film Festival Express, where they hold their own alongside the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Band [see #823, 1,133, 1,162, 1,495]
Richie Unterberger adds:
Great Speckled Bird, led by the famous 1960s folk and folk-rock duo Ian & Sylvia, made a self-titled country-rock album at the end of the 1960s that has maintained a cult following over the years, though it didn’t sell well. . . . Ian & Sylvia had included country material in their eclectic repertoire from the time they began performing and recording in the early ’60s. By the late ’60s, they were leaning decidedly more toward a country-rock direction, recording the 1968 album Nashville in Nashville itself. Great Speckled Bird, however, differed from that effort in that it was the work of a real band . . . . The pair founded the band in 1969, though there were some lineup changes before the album, including the replacement of ex-Bill Monroe sideman Bill Keith with pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage. Also in the band was drummer N.D. Smart, who had played with the Remains [see #125, 341] and Mountain, and would later work with Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Great Speckled Bird, recorded in late 1969 and issued at the beginning of 1970, had a fuller band sound than any Ian & Sylvia release. It was also more immersed in country music than their previous albums, although it was a definite country-rock fusion (with a touch of gospel), featuring the pedal steel-lead guitar lines of Cage and guitarist Amos Garrett, who devised the technique of bending two or three strings at a time. Produced by a young Todd Rundgren in Nashville, the album . . . suffered from poor distribution and consequent low sales. Great Speckled Bird toured as well, but got a mixed reception, in part because those expecting straight folk from Ian & Sylvia weren’t prepared for a full band with electric instruments. They were part of the Festival Express tour in 1970, which had them cross Canada with a traveling rock festival of sorts . . . . The band continued for a while . . . . dissolv[ing] in the early ’70s, with Ian & Sylvia parting ways themselves by the middle of the decade.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/great-speckled-bird-mn0000800236#biography
Here is Tyler Childers:
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