Dillard & Clark

While critics and historians tend to think that Gram Parsons was the new visionary of the new country rock, Dillard And Clark are just as important to the legacy of the new and exciting world of Country Rock or Americana.  Of course 1968 was a new year.  A year earlier, Parsons and the International Submarine Band recorded Safe At Home on Lee Hazelwood's LHI label before joining The Byrds for the more well known Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.  Gene Clark, was once a part of that band, giving them a classic with I Feel A Whole Lot Better and a few others, Doug Dillard played in a band called The Dillards but he joined forces with Clark on Gene's first solo album with The Gosdin Brothers, which has remained in print off and on, most notably on Echoes, an album that Columbia put out in 1991 that had selected Clark tracks and the complete Gosdin Brothers output.  Anyway, Dillard and Clark decided to record together and A&M picked them up.

Although The Flying Burrito Brothers got better treatment from their label, Dillard And Clark put out two albums. The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard And Clark and Through The Morning, Through The Night, the latter album I managed to find used at a Goodwill store. The Fantastic Expedition, if you compare it to the Burritos or The Byrds is much more bluegrass than either band and features Bernie Leadon as a very important player in the band, helping out to write the songs and give it a more country bluegrass flavor. Clark wrote most of the songs except for a cover of Lester Flatt's  Git On It Brother (Git In Line Brother), a nice gospel bluegrass number.  Leadon helps co write 6 of the songs and Dillard 3.  The Eagles would cover Train Leaves Here In The Morning.  If nothing else, Leadon's presence on the first three Eagles album could be considered an extension of what he was trying to accomplished with Dillard and Clark, with him joining Eagles, they were more country rock before Don Henley and Glenn Frey decided to go more of a harder rocking direction.  The Fantastic Expedition is very hard to find album but one should pick it up since it's heart is in the right place, just like Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Safe At Home.

While Doug Dillard was an outstanding banjoist in his own right, he didn't write very many songs, but rather be comfortable covering a Reno And Smiley song (No Longer A Sweetheart Of Mine), Everly Brothers (So Sad) or the famous Rocky Top (Donna Washburn, later a cookbook expert on the internet sang that song and backup on Through The Morning, Through The Night).  Which left Gene Clark being the main songwriter and he came through with a few great songs, the title track, Polly, and Kansas City Southern.  But the second album showed more of a slant toward electric music rather than the goodtimey Fantastic Expedition.  A trade of drummers, Mike Clarke went to the Burrito Brothers, Jon Corneal replaced him.  Dillard moved on after the recording, A&M tossed out Don't Let Me Down as a promo 45, it didn't sell.  Despite a bizarre number (Corner Street Bar) Through The Morning, Night still holds up.  Like the first album, that too was a failure and Dillard And Clark were no more, Clark moving on to a cult solo career and briefly rejoining Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn for the short lived Hillman, McGuinn Clark band in the late 70s. Doug Dillard continued on a solo artist till he passed away in May 2012 at the age of 75.  Second only to Earl Scruggs as one of best banjo players ever.

BGO managed to put together both albums and three songs that only made it to 45 for a two on 1 CD that is basically the Complete Dillard And Clark Output.  Why Not Your Baby was later covered by Velvet Crush, and yes it was another failed single.  Strange to hear the Strings come out of nowhere and drown out the band on the instrumental middle and fade out of the song.  It would have been a better fit on the second album rather than the first.  Rather than adding the songs between albums, they tacked them on at the end.  Still it's nice to have that song in any context.

In the end, while Dillard And Clark's albums never did much for chart showing, it's clear that they do hold their own against the Gram Parsons and The Byrds output.  Perhaps it may have been too bluegrass for the country rock fandom but they no less essential than Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Gilded Palace Of Sin.  Even the clerk at the bookstore had no idea who they were and when I showed them the CD to buy, he asked me if these guys were from England and who were they?  I answered it's Gene Clark of The Byrds and Douglas Dillard of The Dillards joining up.

Somebody needs to brush up on their music history.

Grades:
The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard And Clark (A&M 1968) (Reissued via Water 2008) A
Through The Morning, Through The Night (A&M 1969) B+
The Complete Dillard And Clark A&M Years (BGO 2011) A-

Later revision.

Sundazed Records issued Fantastic Expedition on vinyl in 2011, but the second album has not (judging from what I have seen from Amazon).  BTW, I bought the Through The Morning, Through The Night album at Half Priced Bookstore......for a dollar.

45's
Train Leaves Here In The Morning/Out On The Side (A&M 995)
Why Not Your Baby/Lyin' Down The Middle (A&M 1087) (reissued as a Sundazed 45)
Don't Let Me Down/Rocky Top (A&M 1165)