Think you know your Country-Rock pioneers yet you’ve never heard of JON CORNEAL?
Think again. If you’ve got The Byrds’ ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’, The Flying Burrito Brothers’ ‘Gilded Palace of Sin’, Dillard & Clark’s ‘Through the Morning, through the Night’ or ‘Safe at Home’ by Gram Parson’s pre-Byrds outfit the International Submarine Band’ then you’re not only the proud possessor of some of the late 1960s most pioneering Roots-Rock albums ever but if you look closely you’ll see many of the tracks feature drumming by Mr. Corneal.
Having (mis)spent part of his youth playing in surf-influenced Rock’n’Roll combo The Legends with fellow Florida native Gram Parsons, Corneal would follow GP to California and join the ISB along with bassist Ian Dunlop and guitarist John Nuese. Their 1967 album ‘Safe at Home’ can legitimately stake a claim as the first major ‘Country-Rock LP, although (released slightly earlier) Gene Clark’s great ‘Gene Clark & the Gosdin Brothers’ also demonstrated a desire to explore American Roots music further.
By the time Corneal would don his nudie suit and head back to Florida, he’d also drummed on Warren Zevon’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ and spent time back in Nashville making two albums with the Glaser Brothers. Like Parsons and co, he would also discover that long hair and the hippie dream were frowned on by the conservative Grand Ole Opry crowd along the way.
By 1974, Corneal – himself a talented singer/ songwriter – believed it was time for a solo statement of intent. Hence the self-financed ‘Jon Corneal & the Orange Blossom Special’ recorded with fellow Parsons acolytes including Carl and Gerald Chambers in Corneal’s home town of Auburndale, Florida. Like the pioneering Roots-Rock releases mentioned above, it did little commercially at the time yet its’ reputation has quietly gained in ground over the years and its’ re-release – as a twofer with the INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE BAND’S ‘Back At Home’ - is enormously welcome.
‘...Orange Blossom Special’ may never have been mentioned in the same hallowed breath as ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’, but its’ heartfelt and funky sound springs from a similar well of Cosmic Americana. Corneal’s voice has a passionate, yearning quality akin to Gene Clark and whether he’s tackling charming love songs like ‘She’s Sweet, She’s Kind & She’s Mine’, God-fearing Gospel-tinged outings like ‘Lord, I Need to Know You Better’ or heartfelt, punchy Folk-Rockers like ‘We Just Couldn’t Make It’, he always convinces.
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The International Submarine Band’s ‘Back at Home’ had a rather more protracted incubation. The catalyst for the band’s overdue re-union came when Ian Dunlop and Jon Corneal met up to play at a Gram Parsons tribute in the mid-80s. While there, they were approached by Nashville guitarist and producer Fred James with a view to making a new ISB album to mark the 20th anniversary of ‘Safe at Home.’
The resulting ‘Back at Home’ features Dunlop, Corneal, Fred James and Country-Rock legend Jody Maphis. It’s not as seismic as either ‘Safe at Home’ or ‘Orange Blossom Special’, but it’s still a decent album. The overall quality dips a little due to inclusion of throwaway tracks like the Duane Eddy-ish B-movie influenced ‘Monster’s Holiday’, but there’s no denying the quality of world-weary Roots-Rockers like ‘The Way You Used to Do’ or the sprightly takes of Gram Parsons’ ‘One Day Week’ and Gene Clark’s ‘I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better.’ The album’s key track, though, is ‘Memphis Song’: a warm and heartfelt tribute to Southern Soul which name checks Otis Redding, Little Richard and Sam Cooke – all of whom influenced Gram Parsons on his quest to blend Country and Soul.
‘Back at Home’ would remain unreleased for many years. Despite attention from several smaller labels, it was 2000 before the Sundown label finally released it, although the original rough mixes did it little justice. All credit, then, to the SPV Yellow label for cleaning it up and giving it a chance to engage with a wider audience at last. Allied with ‘Jon Corneal & the Orange Blossom Special’, it checks in as surely one of the year’s most necessary Roots-Rock re-issues.
SPV Yellow Label online
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