The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith revives his early ‘70s Southern rock band, earning much overdue critical acclaim. Songs like “Different Drum” (a Top 20 hit for Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys), “Listen to the Band”, “Some of Shelly’s Blues” (covered by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), and “Silver Moon” will join lesser-known but equally transcendent album sides in a rebirth of what was labeled by critics as “the greatest music that you never heard.”
Almost fifty years ago, in May 1968, Michael Nesmith ventured to Nashville to record a series of groundbreaking sessions with local musicians. What they produced is now recognized as the foundation of the country-rock and alt-country movements. “I could just feel this happening, that there was this ‘thing,’” recalled Nez. “So, I headed off to Nashville to see if I couldn’t get some of the Nashville country thing into the rock’n’roll or vice versa.”
Despite the eight innovative country-rock LP’s Nesmith created between 1970 and 1978, he is one of the less heralded architects of the genre. The First National Band’s three classic albums — Magnetic South, Loose Salute, and Nevada Fighter — spawned four charting singles, including “Joanne” which reached #21 on the Billboard Top 100. However, live success for the fledgling band was harder to come by and the musicians Nez collected to bring his country-rock dream to market soon scattered. Nez played out his remaining RCA albums with Red Rhodes and toured with him throughout the ‘70s. Yet the full-blown sounds of the First National Band were never to be heard on the concert stage again until now!