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Glenn Frey and JD Souther’s Longbranch/Pennywhistle duo will be resurrected when the long out-of-print 1969 self-titled LP is reissued this September. Pre-orders are available on the duo’swebsite.
The album was recorded before Frey co-founded the Eagles. It will be pressed on compact disc for the first time, while the 180-gram vinyl will mark Longbranch/Pennywhistle‘s first pressing since its release nearly 50 years ago.
“Glenn Frey was my roommate, best friend, and first songwriting partner in Los Angeles,” Souther said in a statement. “We knew we were onto something original, as are most young musicians, including our soon-to-be friends and collaborators Jackson Browne and Don Henley; but quite honestly, we were just trying to do our best work in a very competitive environment.
“Glenn Frey touched so many people with his music, friendship, and wit. Honestly, it’s just a struggle to wrap my head around a world without him in it. Hearing our freshman effort together helps a little with that pain and, for all its imperfections, the spirit of what we were doing rings clear and true; two young songwriting partners in the early days of a satisfying and enduring collaboration.”
Souther continued, “If in doing that we evolved a new architecture of some sort, fine, but remember we were all listening carefully to each other and to the giants before and among us. We listened to Miles, Hank Williams, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Trane, Bach, Cole Porter, Tim Hardin, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and Carole King to name a few. We always said that if you want to make great music you should listen to great music.”
For the reissue – which was included as part of Frey’s Above the Clouds box set earlier in the year but receives a standalone release on September 28th – producer/engineerElliot Scheiner remastered and remixed Longbranch/Pennywhistle. The album also features contributions from guitarist Ry Cooder, pedal-steel legend Buddy Emmons, Wrecking Crew pianist Larry Knechtel, drummer Jim Gordon and more great session musicians.
Longbranch/Pennywhistle Track List
Jubilee Anne
Run Boy, Run
Rebecca
Lucky Love
Kite Woman
Bring Back Funky Women
Star-Spangled Bus
Mister, Mister
Don’t Talk Now
Never Have Enough
