{"id":4271,"date":"2013-09-29T13:50:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T18:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4271"},"modified":"2013-09-29T13:50:48","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T18:50:48","slug":"three-ways-from-birmingham-to-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4271","title":{"rendered":"Three Ways from Birmingham to L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kin Vassy (top) and at left with the First Edition<\/strong><\/p>\n

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John Randolph Marr<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Listen\/Download Kin Vassy – Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham <\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download The First Edition – Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham (Live) <\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download John Randolph Marr – Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham <\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Greetings all<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have something very special for you today.<\/p>\n

A short time ago I met up with someone on Facebook with whom I had a mutual friend.<\/p>\n

While perusing his timeline I saw that he had posted a video by the First Edition<\/strong> doing a song I\u2019d never heard before called \u2018Hello LA Bye Bye Birmingham\u2019.<\/p>\n

If the name of that group is vaguely familiar, it was the spawning ground of none other than Kenny Rogers<\/strong>, and a band that had a couple of major hits, including their 1968 cover of Mickey Newbury\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)\u2019, which is featured prominently in \u2018The Big Lebowski\u2019.<\/p>\n

Anyway\u2026I gave the aforementioned video a spin and was blown away.<\/strong><\/p>\n

First off, while I own (and dig) a couple of First Edition singles, I had never heard them do anything like \u2018Hello LA\u2026\u2019, and the live performance \u2013 from their early 70s TV variety show (included below) \u2013 is absolutely smoking.<\/em><\/p>\n

The real revelation was the lead singer of the song, a cat named Kin Vassy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vassy (Kin was a truncated version of his middle name, Kindred<\/strong>) was the singer\/guitarist with the First Edition, replacing Mike Settle<\/strong> in 1969.<\/p>\n

He had been a member of the 60s folk group the Back Porch Majority<\/strong>, and had recorded a couple of solo singles before hooking up (and apparently during his tenure) with the First Edition.<\/p>\n

One of these is today\u2019s selection, \u2018Hello LA Bye Bye Birmingham\u2019.<\/p>\n

When I started digging around I was surprised that I hadn\u2019t encountered the song before.<\/p>\n

Co-written by Mac Davis<\/strong> and Delaney Bramlett,<\/strong> it was recorded by a wide variety of artists, including\u00a0Blue Cheer,<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0Sensational Alex Harvey Band<\/strong>, \u00a0Juicy Lucy<\/strong>, and even Nancy Sinatra<\/strong> (you can seek out many of these on YouTube).<\/p>\n

The popularity of the song doesn’t surprise me, since it has the kind of funky framework that works well at just about any speed, as well as a fantastic lyric about a cat that bags his home turf and goes on the road to seek success as a songwriter.<\/p>\n

Though Mac Davis did record it. I haven\u2019t been able to nail down who did the original version, since most of the ones I’ve found seem to pop up around the same time.<\/p>\n

One other excellent version of the song (also included here) was recorded in 1969 by John Randolph Marr<\/strong>. It is in fact his version that was recently comped by Light In the Attic<\/strong> on their excellent \u2018Country Funk\u2019<\/strong> collection,<\/a> which brings me to the point I\u2019ve been wanting to make.<\/p>\n

There was something in the air (and the recording studios) of the South in the mid-to-late 60s and onward wherein (mostly) white musicians with a taste for gospel, R&B, soul and funk began to stir up a (if you\u2019ll forgive the term<\/em>) gumbo of those sounds with country, swamp pop and rock.<\/p>\n

The most well-known and successful proponents of this sound were guys like Tony Joe White<\/strong> and Joe South<\/strong>, but you can also include folks like Bobbie Gentry<\/strong> and Davis in the mix as well.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s a temptation to affix the term \u2018blue eyed soul\u2019 to some of these sounds, I think what we\u2019re dealing with is something else entirely.<\/p>\n

There were plenty of white soul singers working during this time period, including guys like Wayne Cochran<\/strong> and Roy Head<\/strong>, but they were by and large working solely in black styles.<\/p>\n

The country funkers (for lack of a better term) were coming into their sound by creating an organic mixture of white and black styles, in the end creating something less than a movement but still a recognizable sound.<\/p>\n

Little of the music made by these artists is out and out funk, but it is undeniably funky.<\/p>\n

Kin Vassy\u2019s studio version of \u2018Hello LA Bye Bye Birmingham\u2019 works a mid-tempo funky beat, adding in twangy lead guitar (dobro, too) and Vassy\u2019s hard-edged, soulful vocals. Hearing Vassy sing, with the First Edition and solo was something of a revelation. He was a mighty singer, and in an age where every leather-lunged, longhaired shouter was trying to approximate Wilson Pickett <\/strong>(who would have done a spectacular version of this song), Vassy was able to soar as well as work the quiet passages.<\/p>\n

The First Edition manages (surprisingly enough) to toughen the song up even more. Vassy is wailing and drummer Mickey Jones<\/strong> dials up the funk a bit.<\/p>\n

I decided to include John Randolph Marr\u2019s take on the song for contrast. Though he takes things a slightly slower pace, the drums and bass are killing it, and Marr had cool, whiskey-tinged voice (I hear a bit of David Clayton Thomas<\/strong> in there). The rest of the album \u2013 co-produced by Harry Nilsson<\/strong> under the aegis of his Nilsson House Productions \u2013 is an odd mix of country soul and chamber pop.<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, after the dissolution of the First Edition, Kin Vassy spent a short time recording and touring with Frank Zappa<\/strong> and the Mothers of Invention<\/strong>. He\u2019s featured on the \u2018Overnight Sensation\u2019 LP.<\/p>\n

He went on to work as a session singer\/musician, eventually settling in Nashville and having some success as a performer and songwriter.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Kin Vassy succumbed to cancer in 1994 at the age of 50.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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___________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a>
\nAlso, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kin Vassy (top) and at left with the First Edition John Randolph Marr Listen\/Download Kin Vassy – Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham Listen\/Download The First Edition – Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham (Live) Listen\/Download John Randolph Marr – Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham Greetings all I have something very special for you today. A short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[37,136,58,11,17,83,14,52,12,18],"tags":[163,166,164],"class_list":["post-4271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blue-eyed-soul","category-country-funk","category-cover-songs","category-funk","category-funk-45","category-funk-rock","category-funky16corners","category-radio-show","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-16T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4271"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4306,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271\/revisions\/4306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}