Longbranch Pennywhistle

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Longbranch Pennywhistle was a country rock/folk music group featuring Glenn Frey and John David Souther. [1] They originally performed as "John David & Glenn," but when they added bass player David Jackson, they were encouraged to come up with a new name. Frey suggested "Longbranch," Souther came up with "Pennywhistle," and the names were merged at the suggestion of manager Doug Weston. [2] They released a self-titled album in 1969 under Jimmy Bowen's Amos Records label. [1] Frey had made the migration from Detroit to California and Souther from Amarillo, Texas and were adapting to what would become the California sound. [3] When the Amos Records label dissolved in 1971 the group had already disbanded the year prior. [4]

Frey went on to co-found the Eagles and Souther wrote or co-wrote several of the Eagles' most popular songs, along with hits for Linda Ronstadt. [1] He also recorded a number of hits under his own name, including "Her Town Too" which was a major hit in a duet with James Taylor. He also was a third of the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. [1]

On March 16, 2018, it was announced that the band's album has been remixed and remastered and would be reissued as part of the Frey greatest hits collection Above the Clouds on May 11, 2018. A standalone CD and vinyl record was released on September 28, 2018. [5]

Frey died in 2016; Souther died in 2024.

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Amos Records was an independent record label established in Los Angeles, California by Jimmy Bowen, in 1968. The label was located on 6565 Sunset Boulevard, and had an additional office branch in New York City. With Bowen producing most of Amos Records' music artists, the label released material from 1968 to 1971, and was best remembered for issuing an album by Longbranch Pennywhistle, which consisted of material from future contributors to The Eagles. Other notable artists included Bing Crosby, Mel Carter, and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Some of Amos' later releases were distributed by Bell Records.

<i>Longbranch Pennywhistle</i> (album) 1970 studio album by Longbranch Pennywhistle

Longbranch Pennywhistle is an early-in-genre country rock album by Longbranch Pennywhistle, a duo featuring the then-little-known Glenn Frey and John David Souther. It also contains strains of folk rock. It was released in 1970; the duo split up shortly afterwards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 1511/2. ISBN   0-85112-939-0.
  2. "JD Souther on the Legend of Longbranch/Pennywhistle". Sound & Vision. 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  3. "Glenn Frey - Biography, Albums, Streaming Links". AllMusic.
  4. "History (1970)". West Hollywood, USA: Troubadour. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  5. "Glenn Frey". Glennfrey.com. Retrieved 2018-03-16.