Surely I am not the only one who spent several years listening to the Byrds entirely unaware of Gene Parsons's existence on the presumable grounds that it subconsciously registered as a typographical error conflating Gene Clark and Gram Parsons. I'm not even sure I was entirely disavailed of that slip until side 2 of this record, his solo debut. It was in the Byrds bin for two bucks, that was as much reflection as I gave it.
Parsons drummed for the post-Sweethearts Byrds, and while skepticism toward solo albums by drummers is generally well warranted (and toward late-period Byrds even more so), damned if the other GP doesn’t deliver a winner, a smartly understated, often lovely folk excursion, largely self-penned and –played. He opts for consistency over standout moments, so the absence of big songs is testament not to failure but success; that said, the side-two opening sequence of “Sonic Bummer” and “I Must Be a Tree” trumps pretty much anything other non-Clark/that-GP ex-Byrds were doing in 1973. A hidden gem of the Byrds catalog, though he may be overplaying the rustic card on that cover.
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