During one of the band's first gigs, they played alongside The Flying Burrito Brothers and Nesmith recalled how, although the Burrito Brothers were a brand new band, they laughed at the First National Band's performance, because of Nesmith's history.
He reminisces about the various stars of the era, including Gram Parson, Marty Robbins, Kinky Freedman, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, and Elvis Presley.
Brothers Grimm | V-1 flying bomb | Royal Flying Corps | Lehman Brothers | flying boat | Christian Brothers | The Everly Brothers | Marx Brothers | The Chemical Brothers | Monty Python's Flying Circus | Congregation of Christian Brothers | Wright brothers | The Doobie Brothers | The Allman Brothers Band | The Blues Brothers | Marist Brothers | Coen brothers | Lever Brothers | Brooks Brothers | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | flying ace | Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools | The Flying Nun | The Bellamy Brothers | Band of Brothers (TV miniseries) | Band of Brothers | The Righteous Brothers | The Neville Brothers | Schweizer brothers | Olmsted Brothers |
Love of the Bakersfield Sound has never died, carried on by artists such as the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers in the 1960s-70s, Highway 101, Hillman and The Desert Rose Band, and Marty Stuart in the 1980s and '90s, and Big House, Dwight Yoakam, Red Simpson, Ferlin Husky.
Along with the International Submarine Band, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Nashville West was among the pioneering groups of the country rock genre.
His credits include major works that established the popularity of performers such as Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Dan Fogelberg, Brewer & Shipley, Pousette Dart Band, Donovan, John Hiatt, J.J. Cale, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
As well as his work with Nashville West, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Parsons has also played on records by Arlo Guthrie, The Everly Brothers, Randy Newman, The Gosdin Brothers, and Elliott Murphy.
In regards to the original material, "Brass Buttons" dated from Parsons' brief stint as a Harvard-based folksinger in the mid-1960s; "Hickory Wind" had already been recorded with The Byrds; "$1000 Wedding", about Parsons' aborted plan to wed the mother of his daughter in ostentatious style, had been recorded in a plodding arrangement with the Flying Burrito Brothers circa 1970; "Ooh Las Vegas" had been rejected from GP.