Gene Parsons (1979) No Fire Here Tonight

Gene Parsons is famous for being the drummer for the latter day Byrd's legendary country rock lineup as well as being fundamental in the genre through song writing and his creation of the B String Bender; a mechanism of pulleys allowing a regular electric guitar to sound like a pedal steel by modulating the B string adding twangy sounds to the guitar's repertoire. His 1979 solo album Melodies is indeed that a collection of mildly fresh sounding country rock at a time when the genre was perhaps starting not as dominant a form. The folk pop rock of My Kingdom for a Car and the ballad Way Out There is irresistible but the winner is No Fire Here Tonight with it's mix of electric bluegrass sound complete with pop synthesizer interjections. It's manufactured synthetic sound contributes to a love long gone. This Byrd worked better in a group context frankly though some of these tracks are melodic, that's not the problem the problem is aside form this track it lacks the colour and personality of his former collaborators to liven this set up.