Bradley’s Barn

By the time they came to record their fifth album, The Beau Brummels had effectively been reduced to a duo consisting of Sal Valentino and Ron Elliott, bassist Ron Meagher having recently been drafted into the US Army. The group could already lay claim to having invented the West Coast folk rock sound, and here they make a very good case for, if not inventing country rock, then certainly perfecting it. Recorded in Nashville with occasional Dylan sidemen including drummer Kenneth Buttrey and guitarist Jerry Reed, Bradley’s Barn synthesised country, bluegrass, folk and psychedelic rock with a dizzying scope and richness that the likes of The Byrds, Gram Parsons and even Dylan were yet to master, and some might say, ever match.