Riley is one of the first projects ever from country music legend Gary Stewart who tragically committed suicide in 2003. The album was recorded in 1970 and only ever available as a hand-stamped private press LP of which only 500 were made.
Now a massive cult figure, "Grandma's Roadhouse" is an album of boozy roughness which will find favour amongst fans of Creedence, CSN, The Band, Crazy Horse, Long Ryders. Delmore Recordings is based in Nashville and run by Mark Linn, the archeologist responsible for unearthing Kris Kristofferson’s early publishing demos ("Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends - The Publishing Demos 1968-7", Light In The Attic), and Love’s 1971 CBsessions, ("Love Lost" - Sundazed). Delmore also released the Karen Dalton albums in the U.S. (Released on Megaphone in Europe).
In 1970, Gary Stewart, future King Of The Honky-Tonks, was five years from his first #1 record, “She’s Acting Single, I’m Drinking Doubles,” and living in a beat-up trailer near Franklin, TN. Gary and his writing partner Bill Eldridge were getting their songs cut by Stonewall Jackson, Hank Snow, Cal Smith, etc. and Gary was recording mostly unsuccessful singles for Kapp. The two also had "day jobs" at the legendary Bradley's Barn studios, getting coffee and setting up mics for the country stars who recorded there. One of the benefits of working at Bradley’s was that Gary and Bill were given carte blanche to use the studio on off hours to record their own stuff. In 1970 Gary invited his old friend Riley Watkins to bring his band (Riley, Jim Snead, Jim Noveskey) down from Michigan to back Gary & Bill on their songs, and to record some of their own. Without the pressure of a studio clock ticking, the musicians were free to be loose, and experiment with arrangements, instrumentation and styles. What emerged was a sound that was not yet in Nashville and Nashville didn’t want it.
Trickles of “country-rock” were seeping out of various corners of the US, but what t fools had stumbled across was pure “headneck” genius. The wild abandon of Gary’s stratosptenor co-mingling with Riley’s sandpaper vocals, spot on group harmonies, psychedelic guitars mixing with southern slide, melodic bass lines, and driving drums, formed a hazy sort of perfection. In 1971, Riley pressed up 500 copies to sell at gigs back in Michigan until a “real” record deal came through. But within a year, the band splintered, with Riley and the two Jim’s going their separate ways and Gary going on to gigs with Nat Stuckey and then Charlie Pride, before his breakthrough. One song from the album did eventually see daylight, when in 1976, Gary re-recorded "Easy People" in a bluegrass style for his second RCA album, Steppin’ Out. But the rest have remained unheard....until now.
Now a massive cult figure, "Grandma's Roadhouse" is an album of boozy roughness which will find favour amongst fans of Creedence, CSN, The Band, Crazy Horse, Long Ryders. Delmore Recordings is based in Nashville and run by Mark Linn, the archeologist responsible for unearthing Kris Kristofferson’s early publishing demos ("Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends - The Publishing Demos 1968-7", Light In The Attic), and Love’s 1971 CBsessions, ("Love Lost" - Sundazed). Delmore also released the Karen Dalton albums in the U.S. (Released on Megaphone in Europe).
In 1970, Gary Stewart, future King Of The Honky-Tonks, was five years from his first #1 record, “She’s Acting Single, I’m Drinking Doubles,” and living in a beat-up trailer near Franklin, TN. Gary and his writing partner Bill Eldridge were getting their songs cut by Stonewall Jackson, Hank Snow, Cal Smith, etc. and Gary was recording mostly unsuccessful singles for Kapp. The two also had "day jobs" at the legendary Bradley's Barn studios, getting coffee and setting up mics for the country stars who recorded there. One of the benefits of working at Bradley’s was that Gary and Bill were given carte blanche to use the studio on off hours to record their own stuff. In 1970 Gary invited his old friend Riley Watkins to bring his band (Riley, Jim Snead, Jim Noveskey) down from Michigan to back Gary & Bill on their songs, and to record some of their own. Without the pressure of a studio clock ticking, the musicians were free to be loose, and experiment with arrangements, instrumentation and styles. What emerged was a sound that was not yet in Nashville and Nashville didn’t want it.
Trickles of “country-rock” were seeping out of various corners of the US, but what t fools had stumbled across was pure “headneck” genius. The wild abandon of Gary’s stratosptenor co-mingling with Riley’s sandpaper vocals, spot on group harmonies, psychedelic guitars mixing with southern slide, melodic bass lines, and driving drums, formed a hazy sort of perfection. In 1971, Riley pressed up 500 copies to sell at gigs back in Michigan until a “real” record deal came through. But within a year, the band splintered, with Riley and the two Jim’s going their separate ways and Gary going on to gigs with Nat Stuckey and then Charlie Pride, before his breakthrough. One song from the album did eventually see daylight, when in 1976, Gary re-recorded "Easy People" in a bluegrass style for his second RCA album, Steppin’ Out. But the rest have remained unheard....until now.