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Beatle Country
Studio album by
Charles River Valley Boys
ReleasedNovember 1966 (1966-11)
RecordedSeptember 1966
StudioColumbia Studio B, Nashville
GenreBluegrass
Length33:22
LabelElektra
Producer
Charles River Valley Boys chronology
Blue Grass Get Together
(1964) 		Beatle Country
(1966)

Beatle Country is the fourth and final studio album by the American bluegrass band Charles River Valley Boys, released in November 1966 by Elektra Records. After hearing the Beatles' song "I've Just Seen a Face" on the radio in late-1965, James Field recommended to his band mates that they add it to their repertoire. Following the previous year's success of The Baroque Beatles Book, Elektra executive Jac Holzman subsequently acquired permission for the group to record an album of Beatles covers. Recorded at Columbia's studio in Nashville, the band and several session musicians completed the album across four days in September 1966. Paul A. Rothchild produced the album, with Peter K. Siegel co-producing.

Where their previous albums consisted of traditional and new bluegrass songs and some early country songs, Beatle Country contains only Lennon–McCartney compositions. Because the original Beatles versions are often employ complex chord progressions, the songs needed to be "countrified", "flattening" the chords to bring into style of bluegrass.[1] In addition to using rolling banjos, upright bass and high lonesome tenor vocal, they further changed the songs structurally, allowing for extra instrumental breaks – a typical feature of bluegrass music, where each musician is allowed the chance to solo. The album's cover artwork, created under the supervision of William S. Harvey, features a group of cowboys gazing at the theater district of Swinging London.

Upon release, Elektra promoted Beatle Country towards mainstream country and pop music audiences rather than to bluegrass fans. While initially successful, they album's ineffective marketing campaign allowed it to fall into obscurity. It subsequently attained cult status. The album was re-released on CD in 1995 and in 2005.

Background

The Charles River Valley Boys formed in the late 1950s in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with young musicians meeting at a local coffee house, Tulla's Coffee Grinder, to jam together.[2] One of the first urban, northern United States bluegrass bands to form,[3] the group focused on Appalachian, classic bluegrass and early country music.[4][5] Music scholar Laura Turner comments that "[t]he band's sound, repertoire, and intellectual acumen fit perfectly into the larger concept of folk revival – city-based youths seeking the sounds of a supposedly 'authentic' America".[6] In the early 1960s, they became popular in Boston and within the Cambridge folk scene,[7] performing regularly on Harvard College's WHRB radio station and at local coffee houses and folk clubs, including Club 47.[8] The band recorded parts of their first album, Bringin' in the Georgia Mail (1962) in London in July 1961. Banjoist Bob Siggins later recalled that they were well received as they toured pubs and folk clubs in London, and that "[the band] did get a little flavor of pre-Beatles London at the time ... there were a lot of great musicians bubbling up all around us while we toured ... we heard rumors about [the Beatles] in Germany and how great they were".[6] After returning to America, the band encountered Paul A. Rothchild, then an advocate of folk music and a frequenter of the Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960s.[9] Attending Club 47, a performance by the Charles River Valley Boys enthralled Rothchild, who offered to produce an album of the group.[10] The result, Bluegrass and Old Timey Music (1962), along with the subsequent Blue Grass Get Together (1964), mostly consisted of traditional and new bluegrass songs and some early country songs.[11]

One day, I came into a rehearsal and said, "the Beatles have a bluegrass song ... it's called 'I've Just Seen a Face' and we have to do it," ... the tempo (for us) is about 115 bpm, and if you listen to many bluegrass standards, a lot of them are in that range. Why? Because it's perfect for the banjo. You get a nice, bouncy roll, and you can make it ring.[12]

– James Field, 2015

In the lead up to the 6 December 1965 release of the Beatles' album Rubber Soul,[13] the Charles River Valley Boys' guitarist, Jim Field, recalled hearing "I've Just Seen a Face" on the radio and thinking "it instantly felt like bluegrass".[12][note 1] In particular, the I–vi–IV–V chord progression of the verses and the chorus beginning on the dominant had "a drive perfectly suited for a straight-ahead bluegrass trio".[12] Siggins added: "I think the instantaneous 'feel' of the song was the tipoff for me ... [a]dditionally, the lyrics could easily be (and in fact became) bluegrass lyrics".[12] With their usual set list made up of old and new bluegrass and country songs, the band added an arrangement of "I've Just Seen a Face" to their set, along with the country-inflected Beatles song "What Goes On".[16][note 2] Performing the covers in February 1966 at the War Memorial Auditorium during Boston's Winterfest, the band received a positive reception from the 5600-person audience.[20] On the strength of this performance, they sent a demo recording of four songs – two of which were Beatles covers – to Rothchild, now working at Elektra Records. The previous year, the company released a novelty record of Baroque style Beatles covers, The Baroque Beatles Book, arranged by conductor Joshua Rifkin. With the success of this LP in mind, record company executive Jac Holzman granted permission for the Charles River Valley Boys and Rothchild to record an album-length collection of Beatles covers.[21]

Song selection and recording

Joe Val
Vocalist and mandolin player Joe Val was initially hesitant about the album's concept.

Recording for Beatle Country took place over four days in September 1966 at Columbia's studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Produced by Rothchild and co-produced by Peter K. Siegel, Siegel recalled that Rothchild chose the studio because it was where Bob Dylan had recorded his 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde, and thought it would provide an authentic bluegrass sound.[22] The previous month, Beatles rhythm guitarist John Lennon's controversial "more popular than Jesus" comment provoked indignation among American Southerners.[23] Despite the furor, Siggins and Field recalled that it had no impact on their project.[24] Of the songs selected to cover, they varied chronologically from the December 1963 B-side "I Saw Her Standing There" to the August 1966 A-side "Yellow Submarine".[25] Several of the selected songs from the Beatles' latest releases, which Turner writes allowed the album to serve "as a contemporary bluegrass commentary on the growing experimentalism of the Beatles songbook".[1]

Having undergone several personnel changes in the years prior, the Charles River Valley Boys' 1966 line up consisted of Siggins on banjo, Field on guitar, Joe Val on mandolin and Everett A. Lilly on upright bass,[26] with the first three also providing vocals.[27] Siegel described this group as "the strongest, most uniform bluegrass band sound that the Charles River Valley Boys had ever achieved".[26] While the rest of the group were enthusiastic about the album's concept, Val, the oldest and most experienced of the group, was initially hesitant. Siggins recalls that Val "slowly got into it" and that "the clincher was that we did it in a great Nashville studio".[28]

Complementing the Charles River Valley Boys were several Nashville session musicians, including fiddler Buddy Spicher, dobro player Craig Wingfield and guitarist Eric Thompson.[29] The session musicians were not informed of the album's concept so as to maintain secrecy and prevent another record company from releasing a similar cover album.[22] Siegel recalled the recording process as efficient and professional, with the group recording fourteen covers in the four days. Rothchild and Siegel mixed the album in Elektra's New York studio, correcting small mistakes not noticed in Nashville and selecting twelve songs for inclusion.[22]

Songs

Many of the Beatles' songs display complex chord progression that exist outside of the harmonic standards of bluegrass. In arranging them, Field recalled a process whereby they "intentionally 'countrified' the chords ... flattening [them] out a little bit".[1] Turner mentions several bluegrass motifs being worked in across the album, such as: "the rhythmic impetus and timbre of the 'rolling' banjo motifs, persistently driving upright bass, occasional utilization of vocal techniques like Val's "high lonesome" tenor, and an abundance of solo instrumental breaks".[1]

Hearing those songs ("Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "I Saw Her Standing There") sung in the style and timbre of Bill Monroe ... sent chills down my spine. Hearing that voice come through the monitors, I felt like Joe [Val] was achieving an essential melding of the Beatles songs and the bluegrass style, and it's something I'll never forget.[28]

– Peter K. Siegel, 2015

The structural changes are incorporated on the album's opening track, "I've Just Seen a Face",[12] later characterized by Field as the foundation piece of the entire album.[30] Where the original includes only one instrumental break for a guitar solo, the cover adds extra breaks for banjo, mandolin and fiddle – a typical feature of bluegrass music, where each musician is allowed the chance to solo.[12] Additionally, the original includes only one chorus, not including its final iteration, while the cover repeats the chorus twice. Turner opines that this serves to emphasize the "quintessential bluegrass technique" of close three-part harmonies.[31] She describes the biggest differences between versions as consisting in their different textures and timbres, and in particular the Charles River Valley Boys' "incessant, 'walking' upright bass line that provides energetic drive, sparking mandolin tremolo, rolling banjo figures, and intricate, often double-stopped fiddle motifs that permeate the texture".[32]

The band's cover of "Yellow Submarine" incorporates several sound effects added during the mixing process in New York, including ricochet gunfire and a mechanical wind-up toy.[28] Sung in a comic tone by Siggins, he recalled that they tried to make it sound "as corny as possible ... kind of like an old hee-haw movie".[28] Siggins adapted his singing style to sound like the banjoist and entertainer Uncle Dave Macon,[28] changing the pronunciation of "yellow submarine" to "yeller submarine".[33][28] He further recalled: "We often stress the word 'yeller' to this day, to make it even cornier, as in the 'old yeller' dog name".[28]

The Charles Valley River Boys' version of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" transposes from the original modal E to a modal A. In place of the original guitar-sitar intro is a mandolin tremolo. Val's first vocal is joined by a banjo that emphasizes the song's triple meter.[1] Turner writes that the vocal's emphasis on the rhotic "r" and Val's "representative bluegrass high tenor range" signal American "southernness". Siegel compares the vocal to that of bluegrass musician Bill Monroe, in particular Monroe's rendition of the murder ballad "Roane County Prison".[28][note 3]

Release and reception

Elektra released Beatle Country in November 1966.[34] After hearing the album, Paul McCartney sent a letter to the record company expressing his appreciation of it.[35] Rather than marketing the album towards bluegrass fans, Elektra instead focused on mainstream country and pop music audiences. They sent copies of the album to 2225 radio stations that programmed "even an hour of country music".[36] With the album marketed as country, the strategy confused both country and bluegrass fans. Siegel reflects that the strategy was likely due to Elektra's desire to extend the album's sales to beyond the small bluegrass market.[34] William S. Harvey, then the art director of Elektra, oversaw the creation of the album's cover artwork. The image depicts a group of cowboys "psychedelically clad", looking out at the theater district of Swinging London. Created without the band's involvement, they were unhappy with the result, with Siggins recalling "we were as shocked as anyone!"[34] Field explained that he interpreted the art as the record company's attempt to expand beyond the bluegrass market: "they didn't want to put pictures of us holding banjos and mandolins and stuff like that because everyone would have said 'oh, it's bluegrass, I don't like bluegrass.'"[34]

In a contemporary review for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, Neil V. Rosenberg described Val's mandolin playing as the "outstanding feature" of the album. Applauding his breaks on "What Goes On" and "Help!", he characterizing Val's playing as "clean, uncluttered, [and] a distinctive style with great feeling". He calls the singing on "I Saw Her Standing There" "forced", while describing "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" as the high point of the album in terms of both its vocal and instrumental performance. He praises Spicher and Wingfield's contributions, while also lauding Siggins for his humorous arrangement of "Yellow Submarine". He concludes that the album is "more interesting than captivating" and finds "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" the only cover on the album which "stands on its own as a great bluegrass performance".[37]

Retrospective assessment and legacy

While successful on first release, the album was quickly forgotten,[38] subsequently achieving cult status.[33] In a retrospective assessment, Kurt Wolff writes that while the album began to capitalize on Beatlemania, the music "turns out to be surprisingly strong and well-arranged". He opines that the album – in particular, the covers of "Baby's in Black", "Ticket to Ride" and "Paperback Writer" – helps provide the "all-too-familiar numbers a hopped-up bluegrass spin that makes them sound fresher than they have in years".[39] Reviewing for AllMusic, Pemberton Roach awarded the album three out of five stars. Like Wolff, he similarly describes the album as "surprisingly ... excellent". He suggests that the band imbue the songs "with an authentic Kentucky mountain flavor", with the only kitsch on the album being the pronunciation of "Yellow Submarine" as "Yeller Submarine". He concludes that the LP remains both interesting as a novelty record and as "an excellent bluegrass album by any measure, regardless of the unusual source of its material".[33]

When Rounder released the album on CD in 1995, the cover art was changed to be closer to the bands original expectations, depicting a sepia-toned group of bluegrass musicians in suits, with Siggins recalling the photo depicts "what [we] thought were Beatles clothes ... or 'mod' English clothes".[34] The album was again released on CD in 2005. Both CD releases resulted in a short burst of sales.[38]

Siggins reflected that the album's influence extended to "[breaking] the ground to such an extent ... that [it] kind of loosened the strictures against any experimentation with bluegrass".[38] Field stated that the album "[unleashed] a lot of people", recalling his first meeting with Sam Bush of the American progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, who stated that he listened to the album regularly.[38] When the Boston Bluegrass Union awarded the Charles River Valley Boys the Heritage Award in 2013, the band reunited and performed "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Help!" during the award ceremony at the city's annual Joe Val Bluegrass Festival.[40]

Track listing

All songs written by Lennon–McCartney. Track lengths per AllMusic.[33]

Side one

  1. "I've Just Seen a Face" – 2:39
  2. "Baby's in Black" – 2:53
  3. "I Feel Fine" – 2:30
  4. "Yellow Submarine" – 2:50
  5. "Ticket to Ride" – 3:25
  6. "And Your Bird Can Sing" – 2:45

Side two

  1. "What Goes On" – 3:25
  2. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" – 2:54
  3. "Paperback Writer" – 2:49
  4. "She's a Woman" – 2:34
  5. "I Saw Her Standing There" – 2:10
  6. "Help!" – 2:28

Personnel

According to Richie Unterberger's liner notes for the 2005 CD release,[27] except where noted:

Charles River Valley Boys

  • Bob Siggins – vocals, banjo
  • Jim Field – vocals, guitar
  • Joe Val – vocals, mandolin
  • Everett A. Lily – bass

Additional musicians and production

Notes

  1. ^ In North America, Capitol reconfigured the Beatles' albums, limiting the number of tracks to twelve to limit fees to publishers.[14] They omitted "I've Just Seen a Face" and other tracks from the North American version of Help!, later replacing "Drive My Car" with "I've Just Seen a Face" as the opening track of Rubber Soul.[15]
  2. ^ Having been omitted from the North American version of Rubber Soul,[17] Capitol first released "What Goes On" in the US on 21 February 1966 as the B-side to "Nowhere Man".[18] Both sides of the single were later included on the June 1966 album Yesterday and Today.[19]
  3. ^ A traditional song from the Upper Cumberland area of Tennessee, the piece is sometimes known as ""In the Hills of Roane County".[28]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e Turner 2016, p. 88.
  2. ^ Von Schmidt & Rooney 1994, pp. 28–29, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 80.
  3. ^ Malone & Neal 2010, p. 349, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 81.
  4. ^ Von Schmidt & Rooney 1994, pp. 30–31, quoted in Turner 2016, pp. 80–81.
  5. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 80–81.
  6. ^ a b Turner 2016, p. 81.
  7. ^ Malone & Neal 2010, p. 349, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 81.
  8. ^ Alarik 2008, pp. 27–29, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 81.
  9. ^ Holzman & Daws 1998, p. 68, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 82.
  10. ^ Von Schmidt & Rooney 1994, p. 142, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 82.
  11. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 81–82.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Turner 2016, p. 84.
  13. ^ Womack 2009, p. 292.
  14. ^ Frontani 2007, p. 116.
  15. ^ Kimsey 2009, pp. 234–235.
  16. ^ Turner 2016, p. 85: normal set list, added "I've Just Seen a Face" and "What Goes On"; Frontani 2007, p. 117: "What Goes On" being country inflected.
  17. ^ Kruth 2015, p. 132.
  18. ^ Womack 2009, p. 290.
  19. ^ Frontani 2007, p. 117.
  20. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 85–86.
  21. ^ Turner 2016, p. 86.
  22. ^ a b c d Turner 2016, p. 87.
  23. ^ Gould 2007, p. 340.
  24. ^ Turner 2016, p. 87n5.
  25. ^ Turner 2016, p. 88: songs included, dates; Frontani 2007, pp. 23, 245n23: A- and B-side status.
  26. ^ a b Turner 2016, p. 82.
  27. ^ a b Unterberger 2005.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i Turner 2016, p. 89.
  29. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 82, 86–87.
  30. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 79, 88.
  31. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 84–85.
  32. ^ Turner 2016, p. 85.
  33. ^ a b c d Roach, Pemberton. The Charles River Valley Boys - Beatle Country at AllMusic. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  34. ^ a b c d e Turner 2016, p. 90.
  35. ^ Cooke 2015, p. 45.
  36. ^ Hall 1966, p. 32, quoted in Turner 2016, p. 90.
  37. ^ Rosenberg 1967, quoted in Rosenberg 2004, p. 166.
  38. ^ a b c d Turner 2016, p. 91.
  39. ^ Wolff 2000, p. 254.
  40. ^ Turner 2016, p. 80.

Sources

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