Current Traffic

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Post 632 - Ray Brown - Steel Guitar - Covered Wagon

Ray Brown spent most of 1971 in the USA, returning in late 1971 to unveil the 11-piece One Ton Gypsy an excellent country-influenced rock band. One Ton Gypsy regrettably made no studio recordings, and lasted only until 1973, eventually folding due to the cost of keeping such a large outfit on the road. The only extant tracks by this remarkable all-star band are the two songs they performed at the closing of the Garrison venue in Melbourne in mid-1973, which were recorded by Mushroom and later released as the LP's Garrison: The Final Blow. Whether any other songs from One Ton Gypsy were recorded at this event, and if such recordings have survived, is unknown After this band broke up, Ray recorded a solo single "Steel Guitar" b/w "Covered Wagon" (K-5272) for the newly-launched Mushroom label in November 1973. Both sides of this single was penned by Danny O’Keefe and it was produced by Ray Evans and Ray Brown and engineered by John French at T.C.S. Melbourne in September 1973. Ray continued to perform solo, and also revived the Whispers (with new line-ups, including Wilbur Wilde) for concert appearances into the 80s. An interesting fact I have notice that the times of the songs on the lable were printed on the wrong side. Thanks again to Paul for sending me this single for the Blog. Flac

3 comments:

AussieRock said...

Thanks so much for this Ozzie. I have always loved "Steel Guitar" but had never heard the B-Side - which isn't bad. Awesome share ! AR

Micko said...

Thanks from me too Aussie..like Aussie I loved the A side but had never heard the studio version of the B side. A live version was one of those 2 tracks you mentioned appeared on th Garrison LP's by Ray with One Ton Gypsy

Royboy said...

Thanks for sharing this obscure single