Recent from talks
The First National Band
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
The First National Band
The First National Band or Michael Nesmith and The First National Band was an American collaborative band, led by Michael Nesmith after his departure from The Monkees. During the two active years, The First National Band released three albums from 1970 to 1971.
Early in his career, Nesmith released a handful of singles under the name "Michael Blessing" which were folk rock strongly inspired by the work of Bob Dylan.
As a member of The Monkees, Nesmith was unhappy with the bubblegum pop records that musical director Don Kirshner was providing for the group, and fought to get his own compositions to be recorded under the Monkees name.
In 1968, Nesmith released The Wichita Train Whistle Sings as a side-project from the Monkees. In 1970, he bought himself out of his Monkees contract altogether.
In 1969, when it was clear to Nesmith and his friend John Ware that The Monkees were soon coming to an end, Ware suggested that they form another band with their mutual friend John London and put his studio connections to good use while he still had the chance.
Nesmith took Ware up on his offer—on the condition that Orville "Red" Rhodes would join and that the band would not "just do that power trio thing". The First National Band was the start of a collaboration between Nesmith and Rhodes that lasted until Rhodes's death in 1995.
The First National Band endured many problems in its short career. Nesmith's association with the Monkees had made him a joke to some people and as a result many fellow musicians would not take his music seriously. During one of the band's first gigs, they played alongside Gram Parsons and his new band The Flying Burrito Brothers [citation needed]. Nesmith recalls how others seeing a former Monkee decked out in a Nudie suit with a steel player in tow must have been laughable to seasoned Country devotees, such as Parsons. However, their unique sound won over the LA club scene and created a new image for Nesmith. Nesmith also asked venues not to promote or refer to his time in the Monkees when advertising or introducing the band. Many emcees ignored such requests, drawing his ire. Audience members would shout out requests for "Last Train to Clarksville" and other Monkees hits.
During his stint with The Monkees, Nesmith had accumulated an extensive back-catalogue of unreleased songs. This enabled The First National Band to release three albums in fewer than 12 months. July 1970 saw the release of Magnetic South, which was the first and "blue" in the trilogy of "red, white and blue" albums and reached No. 143 on the Billboard Albums Chart. This album contained five songs from Nesmith's Monkees days. It also contained the song "Joanne", which, due to a lot of radio play, surprised the band by reaching No. 21 on the Billboard Singles Chart. However, despite this chart success, the single did not gain the band commercial success because the band were in Britain, on a tour of working-man's clubs, which lasted until "Joanne" had dropped out of the American charts and sunk without a trace. Ware claimed that the band's management believed that, as the Monkees weren't as well known in Britain, it would be the perfect place to try to break in this new change in musical direction.
Hub AI
The First National Band AI simulator
(@The First National Band_simulator)
The First National Band
The First National Band or Michael Nesmith and The First National Band was an American collaborative band, led by Michael Nesmith after his departure from The Monkees. During the two active years, The First National Band released three albums from 1970 to 1971.
Early in his career, Nesmith released a handful of singles under the name "Michael Blessing" which were folk rock strongly inspired by the work of Bob Dylan.
As a member of The Monkees, Nesmith was unhappy with the bubblegum pop records that musical director Don Kirshner was providing for the group, and fought to get his own compositions to be recorded under the Monkees name.
In 1968, Nesmith released The Wichita Train Whistle Sings as a side-project from the Monkees. In 1970, he bought himself out of his Monkees contract altogether.
In 1969, when it was clear to Nesmith and his friend John Ware that The Monkees were soon coming to an end, Ware suggested that they form another band with their mutual friend John London and put his studio connections to good use while he still had the chance.
Nesmith took Ware up on his offer—on the condition that Orville "Red" Rhodes would join and that the band would not "just do that power trio thing". The First National Band was the start of a collaboration between Nesmith and Rhodes that lasted until Rhodes's death in 1995.
The First National Band endured many problems in its short career. Nesmith's association with the Monkees had made him a joke to some people and as a result many fellow musicians would not take his music seriously. During one of the band's first gigs, they played alongside Gram Parsons and his new band The Flying Burrito Brothers [citation needed]. Nesmith recalls how others seeing a former Monkee decked out in a Nudie suit with a steel player in tow must have been laughable to seasoned Country devotees, such as Parsons. However, their unique sound won over the LA club scene and created a new image for Nesmith. Nesmith also asked venues not to promote or refer to his time in the Monkees when advertising or introducing the band. Many emcees ignored such requests, drawing his ire. Audience members would shout out requests for "Last Train to Clarksville" and other Monkees hits.
During his stint with The Monkees, Nesmith had accumulated an extensive back-catalogue of unreleased songs. This enabled The First National Band to release three albums in fewer than 12 months. July 1970 saw the release of Magnetic South, which was the first and "blue" in the trilogy of "red, white and blue" albums and reached No. 143 on the Billboard Albums Chart. This album contained five songs from Nesmith's Monkees days. It also contained the song "Joanne", which, due to a lot of radio play, surprised the band by reaching No. 21 on the Billboard Singles Chart. However, despite this chart success, the single did not gain the band commercial success because the band were in Britain, on a tour of working-man's clubs, which lasted until "Joanne" had dropped out of the American charts and sunk without a trace. Ware claimed that the band's management believed that, as the Monkees weren't as well known in Britain, it would be the perfect place to try to break in this new change in musical direction.