Love Hurts - Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris (1974)

Our LCM classic this week is a great cover of 'Love Hurts' by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris released in 1974 as part of Gram's 'Grievous Angel' album. The song was written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant and first recorded by The Everly Brothers in July 1960. You might remember that Roy Orbison also covered it in 1961.

After Gram's sad death from an overdose in 1973, Emmylou made the song a staple of her repertoire and has included it in her concert set lists from the 1970s to the present. She has since re-recorded the song twice.

For the recording of Grievous Angel Gram Parsons again convened with his singing partner Emmylou Harris, various members of Elvis Presley's "Hot Band", including James Burton and Glen Hardin and the occasional guest (such as Bernie Leadon and Linda Ronstadt) to record his second solo album for Reprise Records. 

The sessions for Grievous Angel took place at Wally Heider Studio 4 in Hollywood with Gram Parsons producing. Lacking much-needed new material, Gram quickly wrote two songs during the sessions ("Return of the Grievous Angel", with lyrics by Boston-based poet and Parsons fan Thomas Brown, and "In My Hour Of Darkness", arranged by Harris) and looked to songs rejected from previous albums and to standard country songs to fill out the album. In regards to the original material, "Brass Buttons" dated from Parsons' brief stint as a Harvard-based folksinger in the mid-1960s; "Hickory Wind" had already been recorded with The Byrds; "$1000 Wedding", about Parsons' aborted plan to wed the mother of his daughter in ostentatious style, had been recorded in a plodding arrangement with the Flying Burrito Brothers circa 1970; "Ooh Las Vegas" had been rejected from GP. "Medley Live from Northern Quebec" is a fake live recording featuring canned applause and ersatz concert ambiance which combines the Louvin Brothers's "Cash on the Barrelhead" with his own "Hickory Wind." Writing in Twenty Thousand Roads, David Meyers praises Harris's increased role on the album, noting that the duet "Love Hurts" contains "a lovely high whine, a mourning, keening reach for the suffering in the song. Neither overdoes it, they feel the pain, they show it to us, they make us feel every bit, but never go too far. Their sustain on the final "love hurts" demonstrates how far they'd come together in emotion and technique."

In spite of the lack of new material, the album took what its predecessor had presented and expanded the format of "Cosmic American Music". After mixing the album at the Capitol tower in Hollywood, Gram set off for Joshua Tree, California, where he would fatally overdose on September 19, 1973.

Leather And Lace - Stevie Nicks and Don Henley (1981)

This LCM Friday classic comes from one of my favourite US female singer-songwriters. First released in October 1981 on her solo 'Bella Donna' album, this beauty 'Leather and Lace' by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley stands the test of time. 

Stevie orginally wrote the song for Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter's duet album 'Leather and Lace', but the song was not included on that album. Her version, a duet with Eagles Don Henley, peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks in January 1982

Searchin' For A Rainbow - The Marshall Tucker Band (1975)

Our next LCM Classic is a great track 'Searchin For A Rainbow' first released in 1975 from Southern rock country Marshall Tucker Band. Which we think has touches of The Eagles. The band are originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina whose blend of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, and gospel helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. While the band had reached the height of its commercial success by the end of the decade, the band has recorded and performed continuously under various lineups for nearly 40 years.

The original lineup of the Marshall Tucker Band, formed in 1972, included lead guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter Toy Caldwell (1947–1993), lead vocalist Doug Gray (born 1948), keyboard player, saxophone player, and flautist Jerry Eubanks (born 1950), rhythm guitarist George McCorkle (1946–2007), drummer Paul Riddle (born 1953), and bassist Tommy Caldwell (1949–1980). They signed with Capricorn Records and in 1973 released their first LP, The Marshall Tucker Band.

The "Marshall Tucker" in the band's name does not refer to a band member, but rather a Spartanburg-area piano tuner. While the band was discussing possible band names one evening in an old warehouse they had rented for rehearsal space, someone noticed that the warehouse's door key had the name "Marshall Tucker" inscribed on it, and suggested they call themselves the "The Marshall Tucker Band," not realizing it referred to an actual person. It later came to light that Marshall Tucker, the blind piano tuner, had rented the space before the band, and his name was inscribed on the key. In his book, Top Pop Singles, 1955-2002, music historian Joel Whitburn attributes "Marshall Tucker" to the owner of the band's rehearsal hall.