red rhodes, “poinciana”
from: velvet hammer in a cowboy band, 1973
This instrumental should be the soundtrack for something important, Maybe it’s just deeply romantic: a song in honor of the fact that you survived something really difficult and you’ve gratefully arrived in the territory of resolution. Maybe good after wedding vows have been delivered and the crowd is standing around as you walk out. I know of no other pedal steel record that approaches the beauty of this one. for that matter I don’t even know any other pedal steel records. But this one is a stunning beauty. It took Mr. Rhodes three years to make it. He had been a seminal figure in Mike Nesmith’s First National Band, creating some of the most credible country rock records of the period. If you gotta go to your grave with one lp, this would be my candidate for the initial session with St. Peter!
p.s. The image above is an electrical diagram of an invention Red made to create effects he sought in his music.
The First National Band: Red is third from the left. Second is Mike Nesmith