Gary James' Interview With Chris P. James Of
The Burrito Brothers



Once upon a time they were known as The Flying Burrito Brothers. But that was back in 1968 when they were formed. The band's first two albums, "The Gilded Palace Of Sin" came in at Number 192 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time and "Burrito Deluxe" helped coin the phrase Country Rock. Original member Gram Parsons became good friends with Keith Richards. "Burrito Deluxe" contained the first version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' song "Wild Horses" almost a year before The Rolling Stones' own version would appear on their album "Sticky Fingers".

These days the band is called The Burrito Brothers", and they have a new album out called "Together", released world-wide on The Store For Music record label. Though the members have changed over the years, Will James from Gram Parsons International says "This latest incarnation is the closest to the original Flying Burrito Brothers of all of the previous bands". Now that's high praise!

Burrito Brothers member Chris P. James talked to us about the group.

Q - Chris - You're the band's front man, lead singer, keyboardist, harmonica player and songwriter. You're a one man band!

A - (Laughs) Well, I hope not. I think the other guys bring a whole lot to the table. At this point in time it has transformed into that and it's probably like everything in this band. I came in about 15 years ago (2009) after having been sort of waiting in the wings I like to say. It's a case of there's never been an audition for a guy to join the Burrito Brothers. If somebody's' leaving and it needs a spot filled, the other guys, whoever is remaining - we've all been around. It's a veteran band. I first played with The Burrito Brothers back in 1986 at a tribute to Gram Parsons, and that was the Gib Guilbeau / John Beland line-up of Burritos. Those two guys for that particular event just showed up without the full band. Guys who were there to accompany the solo artists and duets were available to fill out the sound for a band sound. So, I was their keyboard player and back-up singer that night and it was a beautiful thing for me because it gave me an entry in my resume, that I had played with The Burrito Brothers and I ended up getting called for some other stuff for people who were sort of in that family tree, so to speak. I worked quite a bit with Bobby Bare and the group that called itself "Burrito Deluxe" for about 8 years, that was still considered the same group, just a slightly different name. I knew most of the guys and subbed a couple times with them. I was real close with Walter Egan. So, I've kind of been around those guys since '86. In the year 2010, when yet another record label wanted there to be a Burrito Bros. to keep going, which is how it always happened; there was always some offer made like when Gene Parsons came in in '75. They were saying "Who's available?", and I got asked. The strange thing was none of the other guys, because the guy who had been the leader of the previous line-up that just seemed to call it quits, never really happened with The Burrito Bros. "The Burrito Bros. Deluxe" guys were led by a man named Carlton Moody, who decided he had enough. He lived in Europe and it wasn't that easy to just keep coming over to the United States and he'd done it for 7 years I think. So he quit, but the rest of the guys were approached and asked, "Why don't you get somebody else to step in?" When I did, I had band leader's experience. I was in a group that was signed to a European deal.

Q - Now, were you contacted in 2009 by The Burrito Bros.?

A - Yes.

Q - To make an album in 2010.

A - Yeah. None of them were the kind of guys who wanted to take the reigns. So, not only did I get in the group, but I was given the leader chair. SPV Records in England said, "You got to fill a couple of requirements for us to put the record out. One, you need to obtain trademark rights to the name." None of the other guys were interested in doing that or wanted to spend a couple few hundred dollars it cost to do that, and left it to me. Strangely, no sooner than I did that, I kind of in effect own the name. I never thought of myself that way. I still wanted it to be an equal group where everybody had an equal say. But somebody had to do that. Sort of the old dirty job that somebody has to do. The other thing the label required is making sure they'd heard of everybody who was suggested to be the latest line-up. They wanted to okay it. That sounds like The Burrito Bros. to me. And finally we had to make a good album. They're going to reject you if they think the music isn't good. But, we passed on all those three important things. Ever since then I've been the trademark holder. About 5 or 6 years later, about 2016 or so, a couple of the key guys who I had been sharing all those duties with; my brother Fred was in the group and he's an artist in his own right. He made his own albums and he sings and writes. Walter Egan was the most famous guy in the band probably. A pretty well-known artist in his own right. Walter moved on, having a bunch of other commitments, and my brother Fred seemed like he was always temporary anyway. He wanted to get back to his Blues career. The other guys all sort of rallied around me and said "We like what you do and so let's just keep this baby going," and that's essentially when I became the frontman instead of one of three frontmen. I feel a little funny about that. I don't want it to be all about me and so I always get a couple guys to sing at least one song each. A few songs that are not on the album. Now, I'm getting around to thinking in the next year or so we've got to have another one of those re-vampings because I'm starting to think I'm getting old and we need new blood in this group. So, it's not really like I'm the frontman I hope, but right now I guess I am.

Q - You were in a group called "Mr. Hyde" before The Burrito Bros.

A - Yes. That's right. And it connected greatly to it because Rick Lonow was the drummer and he's been in Poco and sort of carrying on the legacy of Poco, a group called Caimarron 615. Just like the guys who played with Dylan were called 615. That's the area code for Nashville. So, they allude to that and then Cimarron obviously is some allusion to "Rose Of Cimarron", the famous Poco song. They're the guys who were in Rusty Young's last version of Poco, carrying on after Rusty's death. Rick was also in that line-up right before I joined Burrito Deluxe. So, we'd already been well acquainted from him being in Mr. Hyde and Bob Hatter, who joined The Burrito Bros. a few years later, sometime in the mid 2018s, he was also in Mr. Hyde. I really take a lot of pride in what Mr. Hyde was. I think it was a very good group.

Q - How successful was Mr. Hyde?

A - We played quite a bit around Nashville. We played clubs. We played the Billy Block Show. We really didn't tour much. I wouldn't say we were very successful. I would say the success was in the reputation. Our base seems to really be European. Our label for the last 5 years has been SSM Records in England. I really like the idea of aiming ourselves towards the European and world-wide market. It seems they're more interested. There's always been a degree of interest from overseas in The Burrito Bros.

Q -It's been said that The Burrito Bros. helped put Country Rock on the map and helped popularize it. If the original band had stayed together do you believe they would have gained as much popularity as say the Eagles?

A -That's really hard to say. What ifs are really strange 'cause it didn't happen and I easily see, and it's well documented in various interviews with the people who were there and involved, that the Eagles certainly owed to some degree being inspired by Gram Parsons and the original Burrito Bros., Flying Burrito Bros. as they were called up until the '80s. They kind of polished off the rough gem that Gram and Chris Hillman had created. Whether these guys would have done the same and made it as big, it's really hard to say because they really seemed to not be inclined toward a real, real polished sound. I don't know. Gram is certainly now regarded as an iconic figure. His contribution to influencing others is really well regarded. I guess that's the main thing for him more than what if. It seems like he was destined to stay a little bit under the radar. I know the feeling. We are.

Q - I did not know that The Flying Burrito Bros. were invited to appear at the Woodstock Festival '69 and they turned it down. The group performed at Altamont in December of 1969. And they appeared on the Festival Express Rail Tour with Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and The Band. Did you ever talk to any of the original members about those events?

A - Not Woodstock, although I'm not surprised to hear that they were invited because they were so a part of that scene. Rolling Stone liked them a lot. When the first Flying Burrito Bros. albums came out, I believe A@M Records believed they were going to be successful with them. They had a lot of charisma and flair to what they did. They thought it might be bigger than it turned out to be. I've talked with Bernie Leadon. I was on tour in England when Bernie was in The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and we hit it off pretty nicely. I asked him stuff about that. Altamont went sour after The Rolling Stones got onstage. The Burritos played to a fairly regular, for it's day, a Hippie gathering concert crowd. It didn't seem like this dark, ugly situation until a bit later. There are so many stories about groups that could have been at Woodstock and for whatever reason they were on tour somewhere or else they had prior commitments and couldn't make it and forever regretted it because it did so much good for those who were there.

Q - Like Tommy James.

A - Yeah. That's right. It's interesting when speaking of the influence and you mention Altamont and it makes me think of The Rolling Stones. I strongly feel that Gram Parsons had an enormous influence on The Rolling Stones. He and Keith Richards really hit it off. When The Byrds were touring for that brief time Gram was in the band and their album was "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo", which is considered a classic, major album of influence and history. Gram turned Keith on to a lot of the Southern American Country roots, Soul kind of stuff that Keith was inclined towards obviously. The Stones started out doing covers of American R@B. Keith said in many interviews that he learned a lot from Gram. He showed him the difference between the Bakersfield Country as opposed to Nashville and the slicker stuff. They just really hit it off. My feeling of the massive impact, if you think about it, was before Keith met Gram their last album was "Satanic Majesties Request", their foray into just wild Psychedelic music. Sort of their answer to "Sgt. Pepper". Then he meets Gram and the next step coming from The Stones is this far earthier, more rootsy "Beggars Banquet" and "Let It Bleed" and "Honky Tonk Women". I'm not one that buys into the idea that Gram wrote many songs that The Stones did, but he probably had a little to do with "Honky Tonk Women" because that's an American Country concept right there. The Stones had never gone there, so to speak. Furthermore, when The Burrito Bros. did their version of "Honky Tonk Women" at roughly the same point in time as The Stones recording was done, Gram sings different lyrics. He doesn't do that with anything else that I'm aware of. He was true to the source material of all the Country songs he did. He didn't just decide, "I'm going to sing whatever I want." And so, where did these other lyrics come from? I claim it's that he felt free to do it partly because it's his baby and it wouldn't be the first time by any stretch that Jagger / Richards failed to credit another person who had input on the song. So, it's possible that Gram had a little something to do with "Honky Tonk Women" I think.

Q - Gram once said about the band, "Whether I do it or anybody else does it, it's got to keep going". Why do you think he said that? Did he know something the world didn't know?

A - That's interesting. It seems to give us a degree of justification. The guy who's most revered for the creation of this band and considered the iconic central figure and says he wants it to keep going whether he does it or anybody else - that's what we're doing. That validates the very idea. I remember when I first came in 15 years ago there were naysayers going, "You're not the real Burrito Bros.". That's not said much anymore. We do it out of sheer love and belief in it being worth carrying on as Gram said. It's not some gold mine we're tapping into. We're The Burrito Bros. We're not getting rich. Not even close. But, we believe in it. We believe in the music we make. We believe it gives us a foundation of focus that I strongly am in love with. To put it in context, Gram was asked about Rick Roberts carrying on the name. The first time The Flying Burrito Bros. went out without a single original member was 1972. It was that long ago. And Gram wasn't dead yet. He was being asked by an interviewer, sort of digging for dirt, hoping he would say. "I know, isn't that horrible." Gram said exactly the opposite. His answer was the delightful one you just quoted. That tells me he wanted it to keep going. I'm a little worried about it. I would hate to think that my tenure with it finishes up the game. We've come so far. It's now been 57 years since it started. Gosh, I don't want it to end with me. I've got to start thinking about bringing someone in. It's a veteran band. I'm not looking for any 20 something guy. It would be nice if he's 20 years younger than me, maybe a 50-ish guy who's really strong and who could take the ball and keep it rolling. I've got to keep my eyes and ears open for bringing some new blood into the group before too much longer. If I love that quote that Gram said, then I need to carry it in my heart as well. It needs to keep going whether I do it or not.

Q - How have you been promoting this new album of The Burrito Bros. titled "Together"?

A - We put out a few videos. We fell into a little bit of a holding pattern but we were planning to kick it back into a higher gear. We did the Christmas album last year (2023) and now we plan to promote it again. They say you should do that every year. We certainly should do it at least more than just the one year so it's still new enough and fresh enough. We've also got our next album underway. It's going to be finished within a month (December 2024) and it'll be out at the beginning of next year (2025) . It's called "Time Machine". We're still recording and the thought is as always whenever we got more product out we can usually generate a higher degree of interest than when it's been awhile since anything new came out. We've got a new version of "Whiter Shade Of Pale", which is such a wonderful song. Just one of the greatest songs of all time. I loved it as long as I can remember. I said to my wife, "It's probably my choice for what I would want played at my funeral." There are four verses to that song. Keith Reid wrote two more verses other than the two that are sung in the classic, instantly familiar version. I thought that would be a different approach. I don't think most people have heard those lyrics. To have the Bach related, borrowed from Bach organ music played on pedal steel by Tony Paoletta gives it another different flavor. I think it came out real well. That just might resonate with more people than we've been able to reach in the past. I hope for things like that. Just knowing that you did a good job is something of its own reward. This might sound a little strange, but I feel this band is so good, and has been, that I stand by all of our work. It's really well done and inspired. The musicianship is top notch. I'm amazed that it's not far more recognized. It seems those who do, regard it as something very, very fine. Perhaps 'cause we're older guys? I don't know why it's been such an uphill struggle to get widespread, broad recognition, but I think it's inevitable at some point. The name, the legacy, the group that started with Gram Parsons, it just isn't going to go away. It's going to remain in the books, so to speak. So maybe my fate is to be more recognized when I'm dead and gone. I don't know, but I just believe we're making music as good or better than anybody else out there. In the effort to raise the profile a little bit, to raise the interest in the group, not only do we have a new album, but you know that new Beatles song with John Lennon's voice isolated from a previously recorded tape? We decided to do that with Gram Parsons. So there will be a Gram Parsons lead vocal, a "new" Gram Parsons song on our next album as well.

Official Website: www.TheBurritoBrothers.net





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