First National Band
Encyclopedia
The First National Band was a short-lived American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 collaborative band, led by former Monkee
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

 Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...

, which issued three album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s in the country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 genre in 1970–1971.

Pre-First National Band

During his time in The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

, Nesmith was unhappy with the bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...

 records that musical director Don Kirshner
Don Kirshner
Don Kirshner , known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas and The Archies.-Early life:Don Kirshner was born to Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor,...

 was providing for the group, and fought to get his own compositions to be recorded under the Monkees name. Before The Monkees, Nesmith had released a handful of singles under the name "Michael Blessing" which were country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 in genre, and the few Monkees songs he was allowed to contribute to the albums followed in the same vein.

In 1968, Nesmith released "The Wichita Train Whistle Sings
The Wichita Train Whistle Sings
The Wichita Train Whistle Sings was the first solo album by Michael Nesmith and was recorded while he was still a member of the Monkees. It peaked at No. 144 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts....

" as a side-project from the Monkees and, due to continued frustration, in 1970 he bought himself out of his Monkees contract altogether.

Forming The First National Band

In 1969, before Nesmith had left the Monkees, it was clear to both him and his friend John Ware
John Ware
John Ware was an African-American and later African-Canadian cowboy, best remembered for his ability to ride and train horses and for bringing the first cattle to southern Alberta in 1882, helping to create that province's important ranching industry.Ware was born into slavery in South Carolina...

 that The Monkees were soon to come to an end. Ware suggested to Nesmith that he form another band with Ware and their mutual friend and Nesmith's long-time songwriting partner John London
John London
John Carl Kuehne , better known as John London, was an American musician and songwriter, and was involved in several Hollywood television and movie productions...

 and put his connections to good use while he still had the chance. When he was free from his contract, Nesmith took Ware up on his offer, so long as Orville "Red" Rhodes
Red Rhodes
Rhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...

 would join as well, as Nesmith did not want to "just do that power trio thing". The First National Band was the start of a long collaboration between Nesmith and Rhodes, which lasted until Rhodes's death in 1995.

Career

The First National Band came across a lot of problems in their short career. The fact that Nesmith had been a Monkee had made him a joke to some people. During one of the band's first gigs, they played alongside The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...

 and Nesmith recalled how, although the Burrito Brothers were a brand new band, they laughed at the First National Band's performance, because of Nesmith's history.

Nesmith had an extensive back-catalogue from his days in The Monkees, which had not been heard by anyone. This meant that, in their short time as a band, they were able to release three albums. July 1970 saw the release of Magnetic South, which was the first and "blue" in the trilogy of "red, white and blue" albums and reached #143 on the Billboard Albums Chart. This album contained the inclusion of five songs which hailed from Nesmith's Monkees days. It also contained the song "Joanne", which, due to a lot of radio play, surprised the band by reaching #21 on the Billboard Singles Chart. However, despite this chart success, the single did not gain the band commercial success because the band were in Britain, on a tour of working-man's clubs, which lasted until Joanne had dropped out of the American charts and sunk without a trace. Ware claimed that the band's management felt that, as the Monkees weren't as well known in Britain, it would be the perfect place to try to break in this new change in musical direction.

November 1970 saw the release of the band's second "red" album, Loose Salute
Loose Salute
Loose Salute is the second solo album by American singer-songwriter Michael Nesmith during his post-Monkees career. Released by RCA Records in 1970 and dedicated to Tony Richland, it peaked at No...

, which reached #159 on the Billboard Album chart. This contained the Monkees hit, "Listen to the Band", recorded in its third version.

After the band had returned from Britain, and after Joannes success had long since been forgotten, work was started on the band's final "white" album, Nevada Fighter
Nevada Fighter
Nevada Fighter is the third solo album by American singer-songwriter Michael Nesmith during his post-Monkees career. The album is also the third and final album with the First National Band. Released in 1971, it peaked at No...

. Recording for this album started in October 1970, but things within the group started falling apart, which lead to both Ware and London leaving the group the following month. Released in May 1971, it failed to chart.

After The First National Band

Nesmith and Red continued to work together, and recruited a new set of musicians, consisting of members of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

's band to work on Nesmith's fifth album, Tantamount to Treason Vol. 1
Tantamount to Treason Vol. 1
Tantamount To Treason Vol. 1 is Michael Nesmith's fourth solo album during his post-Monkees career. Released in 1972, Tantamount To Treason Vol. 1 is the only album Michael Nesmith recorded and released with the Second National Band. An assumed sequel was said to have been recorded but was never...

. This was released in May 1972 and credited to Michael Nesmith & The Second National Band. Nesmith and Red continued to collaborate together on Nesmith's later solo albums up until Red's death in 1995. Nesmith is still continuing to release solo albums, the last being Rays
Rays (Michael Nesmith album)
Rays is an album by Michael Nesmith, released in 2006. 2000 limited edition numbered copies were produced of the album. Nesmith described the album as a cinematic journey of sound with elements of swing, jazz and instrumental funk that forms what he calls "New Century Modern".The album cover is a...

in 2006.
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