Description
The Flying Burrito Brothers – Live 1976 – Vinyl Record
Live 1976 documents the Flying Burrito Brothers as an active touring country-rock band several years after the lineup most often associated with their name. The performance was recorded by Radio Bremen at the Post-Aula in Bremen on October 4, 1976. Its value lies in the particular musicians and repertoire of that moment. Rather than recreating an early Gram Parsons-era album, the set shows the revived Burritos drawing on country standards, road songs, and instrumental numbers suited to a working concert ensemble.
The lineup brings together Gib Guilbeau, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Joel Scott Hill, Skip Battin, and drummer Ed Ponder. Kleinow provides a direct connection to the group’s beginnings, while the other musicians bring experience from overlapping strands of country, rock, and folk. The combination is especially well suited to a repertoire that moves between singing and instrumental display. Steel guitar, fiddle, guitars, bass, and drums give the music several ways to create momentum without requiring elaborate studio arrangements.
The band had re-formed after its early-seventies breakup and released Flying Again in 1975, followed by Airborne in 1976. This concert belongs to the touring activity around that renewed phase. It is useful context for a group whose history is often compressed into its earliest records: the Burritos name continued to represent a live musical practice, with changing players bringing their own songs and specialties. The Bremen recording catches that process in a specific room, in front of an audience already receptive to American country rock.
“Shenandoah Valley Breakdown” opens the program with an instrumental statement before “White Line Fever,” “The Wild Side of Life,” and “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke” turn toward the vocal repertoire. “Diggy Diggy Li” adds another regional flavor, and “The Fugitive” continues the connection to established country songwriting. The selections make clear that the band’s idea of country rock depended on a working knowledge of country music itself, not simply the addition of a steel guitar to otherwise conventional rock songs.
The second side includes “Toe Tappin’ Music,” “Bordertown,” “Pride Man,” and “Takin’ It Easy for Love to Begin,” then closes with “Truck Drivin’ Man” and “Orange Blossom Special.” The final instrumental brings the set back to the musicians’ ability to generate excitement through playing together. This vinyl LP contains the twelve-song Bremen program. Live 1976 offers a focused look at the later Flying Burrito Brothers, preserving a chapter in which the band’s roots remained central even as its personnel and recording career continued to change.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Shenandoah Valley Breakdown
White Line Fever
The Wild Side of Life
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)
Diggy Diggy Li
The Fugitive
Toe Tappin’ Music
Bordertown
Pride Man
Takin’ It Easy for Love to Begin
Truck Drivin’ Man
Orange Blossom Special
