Jim Neversink
Encyclopedia
Jim Neversink is a South African musician, singer and songwriter. His musical style spans over indie rock
, country
, americana
and punk
.
He is best known as a solo artist who performs with changing line-ups. As such, he has released three albums to critical acclaim; despite being released on independent labels, two of them were included in lists of best album of the year in South African magazines as well as in Billboard
. Three South African newspapers also listed Neversink albums among their albums of the decade.
Before he went solo, Neversink was the co-founder and lead guitarist of Famous Curtain Trick, a country/pop/rock band which rose to mainstream popularity in South Africa in the 1990s and was nominated for a SAMA Award
.
His most notable instrument is the guitar, including a home-built lap steel guitar
.
During the eighties and nineties, Durban, where Neversink eventually began to perform, became renowned for its creatively powerful live scene for independent rock and pop, earning it the label "the Seattle of South Africa"; despite a weak economical basis, Durban was seen to whip "the carpet out from under the economic heart land of Johannesburg" where the music industry was and is still based.
They released Famous Curtain Trick (EMI, 1995; produced by Neill Solomon) and Land of no Cadillacs (Universal, 1996; produced by Dave Birch, front man of Squeal, previously guitarist of The Camera Club), nominated for a South African Music Award
in the category "Best Pop Album".
Live performances included the music festivals Splashy Fen
(1995, 1997, 1999), Wingerdstok (1997), Oppikoppi
(1997), Southern Cross Folk & Rock Festival (2000) as well as opening for Roxette
in Durban (1995) and touring South Africa with Bryan Adams
(1999). In 2000, the band split up.
He appears on lap steel on "Calling" off Syd Kitchen´s album Africa's not for sissies (2001).
, pronouncing it "a masterpiece that will no doubt stand the test of time". Beeld
listed it among the "Top-Ten Albums" of the year, and, at the turn of the decade, included it in a list of South African albums of the decade. Channel24.co.za had it on their five-item list of "South African releases of the year". Their review, which likewise referred to the album as a "South African masterpiece", awarded it five stars out of five, remarking that "Neversink and Matthew Fink have produced a benchmark album, seemingly out of nowhere."
The CD has Jim Neversink on voice, guitar, lap steel, piano and harmonica, Matthew Fink on accordion and guitar and Katherine Hunt on bass, violin and backing vocals. Two tracks feature Paul "Roach" Cochrane on bass and Ashton Nyte
on lead guitar.
’ international "Top 20 albums" of 2008; Billboard
s South African correspondent placed it as no 6 on her international list of "2008 Billboard Critics Top 10s"; Isolation.tv placed it as no 1 on their top-10 "South African albums of the year". The Times and Mail & Guardian
included it in its listings of "albums of the decade". Channel24.co.za awarded it five out of five stars.
as support act for Sixto Rodriguez (2005) and at the Oppikoppi
festival (2006), the White Mountain Folk Festival (2006) and the Splashy Fen
(2007).
Neversink contributes backing vocal and slide guitar on the song "Stranger" by Laurie Levine (Unspoken: Beyond The Box Music, 2006) as well as backing vocal on her song "Scrambling" (Living Room: Beyond The Box Music, 2009).
He contributes slide-guitar on the song "Son" on Radio Kalahari Orkes's 2009 CD Heuningland.
, Denmark and releasing his third album, Skinny Girls Are Trouble.
Shortly after the launch of Shakey is Good, he had begun to perform with Loandi Boersma (bass) and Kevin O´Grady (drums) and various guest performers. This is also the line-up of the third album which has guest performances from Rian Malan
, Lani Pieters and Timon Wapenaar.
The album was produced in Johannesburg and New York by Richard Lloyd, former member of the New wave
/punk rock
band Television
, and engineered, mixed and mastered by Peter Pearlson. An internet blog was set up to document the pre-production and recording processes.
Released in September 2010, Skinny Girls Are Trouble has so far only been reviewed by the Mail & Guardian which called it "arguably Neversink's finest hour and easily one of the best South African albums released in 2010" and also included in a list of "10 South African songs that rocked my world in 2010".
from Me After You and Håkon Lervåg from MOONROOM and Gutten & Gutten, and others.
brilliance, and (...) a Jim White feel to the strange tales of peri-urban paranoia and quixotic questing."
Love, together with death and longing for life on the other side, are recurring themes on both albums;
the angle is often darkly romantic, occasionally humorous and defiant. Some songs would appear to be personal and autobiographical; thus, "Always dreaming about you" and "Angel" (off Jim Neversink), the former dedicated to his late father, the latter to an ex-girlfriend. Others, like "Monkey" (off Shakey Is Good) or "Transfer to Harding" (off Jim Neversink), are narrative-driven ballad
s about life's outsiders. Similarly, "Ride, Ride Ride" (off Jim Neversink) was written with bank-robber Andre Stander
in mind; the title of "Even Elizabeth Klarer
" (off Shakey Is Good) refers to a famous alien abductee, and the protagonist of "Klackerty Kate" is a statuette of a disabled girl, placed in supermarkets to collect funds for Polio research.
Neversink sings in South African English
, his mother tongue. As can be seen from the examples mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the songs contain many references to life in South Africa. Additional examples (all from Skinny Girls are Trouble) are: in "Hope", the protagonist, a young girl, jumps off Van Stadens Bridge
, known to attract suicidals; Emmarentia Dam
which sets the scene for "Tambourine" is a recreative area in Johannesburg; and Steve Hofmeyr
mentioned in "Durban City Hall" is a popular singer of Afrikaans pop.
" and "SA’s answer to Johnny Cash", others place him in the vicinity of Chris Isaak
, the Jayhawks, Wilco
and Calexico and detect influences from Lead Belly and Loretta Lynn
.
He himself has labeled his music "loserbilly". He has expressed his admiration for such artists and bands as Lou Reed
, The Beach Boys
, The Band
, Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris
, Harry Nilsson
, The Beatles
, The Flying Burrito Brothers
, Gram Parsons
and Slim Whitman
. The song "Always Dreaming of You" (off Jim Neversink) contains a reference to Slim Whitman and quotes his hit "Rose Marie
". The word "Shakey" in the title of his second album is, partly, a reference to Neil Young
's pseudonym, Bernard Shakey.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
and punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
.
He is best known as a solo artist who performs with changing line-ups. As such, he has released three albums to critical acclaim; despite being released on independent labels, two of them were included in lists of best album of the year in South African magazines as well as in Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. Three South African newspapers also listed Neversink albums among their albums of the decade.
Before he went solo, Neversink was the co-founder and lead guitarist of Famous Curtain Trick, a country/pop/rock band which rose to mainstream popularity in South Africa in the 1990s and was nominated for a SAMA Award
South African Music Awards
The South African Music Awards are an annual award ceremony, run by the Recording Industry of South Africa , where accolades are presented to members of South Africa's music industry. Winners receive a statuette is called a SAMA. The event was established in 1995...
.
His most notable instrument is the guitar, including a home-built lap steel guitar
Lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
.
Childhood and early youth
Neversink was born in Durban on 16 June 1969. Growing up in Durban, he would listen to jazz, blues and country at home; he took up the guitar at the age of eighteen.During the eighties and nineties, Durban, where Neversink eventually began to perform, became renowned for its creatively powerful live scene for independent rock and pop, earning it the label "the Seattle of South Africa"; despite a weak economical basis, Durban was seen to whip "the carpet out from under the economic heart land of Johannesburg" where the music industry was and is still based.
Famous Curtain Trick
In the early nineties, Neversink and Nadine Raal founded the pop-rock-country band Famous Curtain Trick, which performed songs written mainly by Neversink and Raal. The band consisted of lead singer/guitarist Raal, Neversink on guitar, lap steel and backing vocals, Garth Johnstone, later Duncan Smith on bass, and in the early stages Kevin O’Grady, then Warren Peddie, later Craig Nash on drums.They released Famous Curtain Trick (EMI, 1995; produced by Neill Solomon) and Land of no Cadillacs (Universal, 1996; produced by Dave Birch, front man of Squeal, previously guitarist of The Camera Club), nominated for a South African Music Award
South African Music Awards
The South African Music Awards are an annual award ceremony, run by the Recording Industry of South Africa , where accolades are presented to members of South Africa's music industry. Winners receive a statuette is called a SAMA. The event was established in 1995...
in the category "Best Pop Album".
Live performances included the music festivals Splashy Fen
Splashy Fen
Established in 1990, Splashy Fen is South Africa’s longest-running music festival, which every Easter attracts thousands of people to a farm near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal for a unique outdoor music experience....
(1995, 1997, 1999), Wingerdstok (1997), Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi is the name of a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam. The festival started off focusing mostly on rock music, but gradually added more genres and now plays host to a complete mixed bag of genres...
(1997), Southern Cross Folk & Rock Festival (2000) as well as opening for Roxette
Roxette
Roxette are a Swedish pop music duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle . Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act from the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough album Look Sharp!...
in Durban (1995) and touring South Africa with Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
(1999). In 2000, the band split up.
Other collaborations
For a while, Neversink formed part of the alternative country/lo-fi rock band Lilo. He appears on bass on the band's first album Light me up a Lucifer (2002). Other members were, at the time, Alexander Sudheim, Graeme Barnes and Dean Henning.He appears on lap steel on "Calling" off Syd Kitchen´s album Africa's not for sissies (2001).
2000–2009
In 2001, Neversink moved to Johannesburg and began using the artistic name Jim Neversink.Jim Neversink (Ent Entertainment 2005)
Neversink's self-titled solo debut album was produced by Matthew Fink. Recorded partly under primitive circumstances in Neversink's bedroom, it was nominated "Album of the Year" by The StarThe Star (South Africa)
The Star is a daily newspaper based in Gauteng, South Africa. It has a readership of 840 000 and is owned by Independent News & Media. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when it published survey results according to which about twenty percent of South African men have raped a woman in...
, pronouncing it "a masterpiece that will no doubt stand the test of time". Beeld
Beeld
Beeld is an Afrikaans language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. Beeld is distributed in five provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. Die Beeld was an Afrikaans language Sunday newspaper in the late 1960s...
listed it among the "Top-Ten Albums" of the year, and, at the turn of the decade, included it in a list of South African albums of the decade. Channel24.co.za had it on their five-item list of "South African releases of the year". Their review, which likewise referred to the album as a "South African masterpiece", awarded it five stars out of five, remarking that "Neversink and Matthew Fink have produced a benchmark album, seemingly out of nowhere."
The CD has Jim Neversink on voice, guitar, lap steel, piano and harmonica, Matthew Fink on accordion and guitar and Katherine Hunt on bass, violin and backing vocals. Two tracks feature Paul "Roach" Cochrane on bass and Ashton Nyte
Ashton Nyte
Ashton Nyte is a South African born singer, songwriter, producer, composer and front man of the South African alternative rock band The Awakening. Nyte has released five solo albums both as Ashton Nyte and Ashton Nyte and the Accused in addition to his numerous releases as The Awakening...
on lead guitar.
Shakey is Good (Radio Lava, 2008)
A second album, with Fink, Hunt and now Warrick Poultney on drums, and produced by Fink, likewise earned critics' acclaim: it came in as no 2 on The TimesThe Times (South Africa)
The Times is a popular South African daily newspaper and an offshoot of The Sunday Times, to whose subscribers it is delivered gratis; non-subscribers pay R3.50 per edition....
’ international "Top 20 albums" of 2008; Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s South African correspondent placed it as no 6 on her international list of "2008 Billboard Critics Top 10s"; Isolation.tv placed it as no 1 on their top-10 "South African albums of the year". The Times and Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
The Mail & Guardian is a South African weekly newspaper, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a strong focus on politics, government, the environment, civil society and business.- The Mail & Guardian newspaper :...
included it in its listings of "albums of the decade". Channel24.co.za awarded it five out of five stars.
Live performances
Live appearances with the Fink/Hunt/Poultney line-up included performing at the London ForumLondon Forum
The London Forum, or sometimes Kentish Town Forum is a well-known venue for concerts in Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom owned by the MAMA Group. The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the closure of the cinema, The Town & Country Club was established...
as support act for Sixto Rodriguez (2005) and at the Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi is the name of a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam. The festival started off focusing mostly on rock music, but gradually added more genres and now plays host to a complete mixed bag of genres...
festival (2006), the White Mountain Folk Festival (2006) and the Splashy Fen
Splashy Fen
Established in 1990, Splashy Fen is South Africa’s longest-running music festival, which every Easter attracts thousands of people to a farm near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal for a unique outdoor music experience....
(2007).
Other collaborations
Television actor and singer Emmanuel Castis performs one of Neversink's songs, "Stay", on South of Nowhere (Next Music (Pty) Ltd, 2008). The song "Mail Order Russian Bride" (off Jim Neversink) is included on Southern Gems - 18 Flawless Tracks from SA Stars (Sheer Sound, 2007). "Monkey" off Shakey Is Good is included in Beginner's Guide to South Africa (Nascente, 2010).Neversink contributes backing vocal and slide guitar on the song "Stranger" by Laurie Levine (Unspoken: Beyond The Box Music, 2006) as well as backing vocal on her song "Scrambling" (Living Room: Beyond The Box Music, 2009).
He contributes slide-guitar on the song "Son" on Radio Kalahari Orkes's 2009 CD Heuningland.
Skinny Girls Are Trouble (One F, 2010)
2010 saw Neversink relocating to CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark and releasing his third album, Skinny Girls Are Trouble.
Shortly after the launch of Shakey is Good, he had begun to perform with Loandi Boersma (bass) and Kevin O´Grady (drums) and various guest performers. This is also the line-up of the third album which has guest performances from Rian Malan
Rian Malan
Rian Malan is a South African author, journalist, documentarist and songwriter of Afrikaner descent. He first rose to prominence as the author of the memoir My Traitor's Heart, which, like the bulk of his work, deals with South African society in a historical and contemporary perspective and...
, Lani Pieters and Timon Wapenaar.
The album was produced in Johannesburg and New York by Richard Lloyd, former member of the New wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
/punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
, and engineered, mixed and mastered by Peter Pearlson. An internet blog was set up to document the pre-production and recording processes.
Released in September 2010, Skinny Girls Are Trouble has so far only been reviewed by the Mail & Guardian which called it "arguably Neversink's finest hour and easily one of the best South African albums released in 2010" and also included in a list of "10 South African songs that rocked my world in 2010".
Copenhagen Collaborations
Neversink has formed a new band for Jim Neversink in Copenhagen, while playing a number of guest spots at live concerts, playing lapsteel with Gutten & Gutten and performing his own material with the 'bluegaze' group Me After You. Neversink is also a founding member of the band called For Satan, a group formed with Leonard SeabrookeLeonard Seabrooke
Leonard Seabrooke is a Copenhagen Business School Professor in International Political Economy and Economic Sociology in the Department of Business and Politics and also a University of Warwick Professor in International Political Economy in the Department of Political and International Studies,...
from Me After You and Håkon Lervåg from MOONROOM and Gutten & Gutten, and others.
Lyrics
Neversink's lyrics have been the subject of special acclaim; the Mail & Guardian, upon the release of Shakey is Good, pronounced him "one of the finest songwriters in South Africa". The Star justified a no-1 placement on a best-albums list by referring to "the raw emotion, the intelligent songwriting which he has crafted beautifully"; and The Times remarked: "No one comes close to Jim Neversink in making observations about the small details of living in South African towns sound so cinematic (...) Neversink’s off-kilter way of looking at society’s damaged things stands alone." Channel24.co.za speaks of "moments of SparklehorseSparklehorse
Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band led by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous.-History:Sparklehorse's first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot featuring Bob Rupe of the Silos and Cracker, was a modest college radio success...
brilliance, and (...) a Jim White feel to the strange tales of peri-urban paranoia and quixotic questing."
Love, together with death and longing for life on the other side, are recurring themes on both albums;
the angle is often darkly romantic, occasionally humorous and defiant. Some songs would appear to be personal and autobiographical; thus, "Always dreaming about you" and "Angel" (off Jim Neversink), the former dedicated to his late father, the latter to an ex-girlfriend. Others, like "Monkey" (off Shakey Is Good) or "Transfer to Harding" (off Jim Neversink), are narrative-driven ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s about life's outsiders. Similarly, "Ride, Ride Ride" (off Jim Neversink) was written with bank-robber Andre Stander
Andre Stander
Andre Stander was a Police Captain at the CID branch of Kempton Park Police Station, South Africa who began robbing banks in the 1970s and later became known in popular media as the head of the "Stander Gang" in the early 1980s...
in mind; the title of "Even Elizabeth Klarer
Elizabeth Klarer
Elizabeth Klarer was a South African who claimed to have been contacted by extraterrestials between 1954 and 1963. She was one of the first women to claim a sexual relationship with an extraterrestrial.-Biography:...
" (off Shakey Is Good) refers to a famous alien abductee, and the protagonist of "Klackerty Kate" is a statuette of a disabled girl, placed in supermarkets to collect funds for Polio research.
Neversink sings in South African English
South African English
The term South African English is applied to the first-language dialects of English spoken by South Africans, with the L1 English variety spoken by Zimbabweans, Zambians and Namibians, being recognised as offshoots.There is some social and regional variation within South African English...
, his mother tongue. As can be seen from the examples mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the songs contain many references to life in South Africa. Additional examples (all from Skinny Girls are Trouble) are: in "Hope", the protagonist, a young girl, jumps off Van Stadens Bridge
Van Stadens Bridge
The Van Stadens Bridge is a concrete arch bridge over the Van Stadens River in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It carries road traffic for the N2 national highway.- Suicides at Van Stadens Bridge :...
, known to attract suicidals; Emmarentia Dam
Emmarentia Dam
Emmarentia Dam is a dam in Emmarentia, Johannesburg, South Africa. There are several dams that make up Emmarentia Dam, despite its allusion to the singular.The Johannesburg Botanical Garden is on the western shore of the dam....
which sets the scene for "Tambourine" is a recreative area in Johannesburg; and Steve Hofmeyr
Steve Hofmeyr
-Career:Hofmeyr matriculated in 1982 at Grey College. After two years compulsory army and border duty, he went to Pretoria Technikon Drama School.-Recording star and performer:...
mentioned in "Durban City Hall" is a popular singer of Afrikaans pop.
Influences and musical style
Whereas some journalists have dubbed Neversink "a modern-day Johnny CashJohnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
" and "SA’s answer to Johnny Cash", others place him in the vicinity of Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
, the Jayhawks, Wilco
Wilco
Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John...
and Calexico and detect influences from Lead Belly and Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
.
He himself has labeled his music "loserbilly". He has expressed his admiration for such artists and bands as Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, 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...
, Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...
and Slim Whitman
Slim Whitman
Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...
. The song "Always Dreaming of You" (off Jim Neversink) contains a reference to Slim Whitman and quotes his hit "Rose Marie
Rose Marie (song)
"Rose Marie" is a popular song from the musical or operetta of the same name. In the original Broadway production in 1924 it was performed by Dennis King and Arthur Deagon as the characters Jim Kenyon and Sergeant Malone....
". The word "Shakey" in the title of his second album is, partly, a reference to Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's pseudonym, Bernard Shakey.