Christian Parker: American Cosmic Revival Vol. 2: Miles From Nowhere

Cover bands abound within contemporary music circles, both on stage and in the studio. But a chosen artist's interpretation of the songs and music of another rarely matches (and never exceeds) the authenticity of spirit displayed by Christian Parker and those kindred spirits with whom he has been collaborating in recent years on the esteemed canon of that iconic American band, The Byrds.

Over the course of four albums now—the most outstanding of which is Change Is Now—A Tribute To The Byrds (Subcat, 2024)—Parker and company have pored through the catalog of the group from the start in 1965 to the finish in 1973. In so doing, the collective has begun to delve into that body of work created by the late Gram Parsons, the man who, in a remarkably short stint in the Byrds lineup, brought to the very forefront of the band's sound the country and western overtones at which the group only hinted before the groundbreaking project that was/is Sweetheart of the  Rodeo (Columbia Records, 1968).

As delineated in its title, American Cosmic Revival Vol. 2—Miles From Nowhere is the second set of explorations in style overseen by the trust fund kid from Florida named Cecil Connor III. In choices of song ranging from the opener "Wheels" to the closing of the Mick Jagger/Keith Richards number "Wild Horses," the dozen tracks span the eclectic arc of the The Flying Burrito Brothers, as founded by Parsons and erstwhile Byrds expatriate Chris Hillman, then onto latter day configurations of the parent group. 

And that is not to mention the The Rolling Stones' own reading of the aforementioned Glimmer Twins' composition as it appeared on Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones Records, 1971). "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)" appeared on The Ballad of Easy Rider (Columbia Records, 1969), while original Byrd Gene Clark's vastly-underrated, post-band country-rock projects receive their due through the forlorn "Train Leaves Here This Morning" and a piece of pure poetry titled "Hear The Wind." 

Seeming digressions from the fundamental source material nevertheless carry a readily discernible logic. Bob Dylan's "I Threw It All Away" is one of the few fully-formed originals of the Nobel Laureate's that anchored his most celebrated (albeit not his first) sojourn to Music City, Nashville Skyline (Columbia Records, 1969).  Then there is pioneer of Bakersfield C&W Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December," where the prominent honky- tonk piano courtesy Earl Poole Ball is intermixed with fast flashes of the signature guitar chime of the Byrds plus the dulcet vocal tones of Jennifer Kessler. 

Likewise judiciously restrained, the strings of Stevie Blacke do not render lachrymose Don and Phil Everly's  "So Sad." The Brothers' seminal vocal harmony work that so influenced Parsons (among so many others) boasts a cleansing purity when sung by Parker's second in command, guitarist/vocalist Patrick Cleary, with supplemental harmonies by the frontman.

In all this comparably affectionate and respectful homage, there is no sense of getting things 'just right,' but rather informing stellar material with comparably sterling musicianship, arrangements and production. Overseen by general studio supervisors Parker and Cleary, from recordings by the former and Ron Keck (the drummer throughout), the audio quality then mixed by Sean McDonald and mastered by Larry Lachmann exhibits a shimmer equal to its punch.  

And all the way from the stylized, ultra-glossy cover graphic by Jon Hunt to the tart curls of pedal steel master JayDee Maness—like the aforementioned keyboardist, a participant on the aforementioned late Sixties milestone—down deep to the stalwart electric and acoustic bass of Michael Rinne, Miles From Nowhere is the antithesis of antiseptic, a testament to the heightened level of inspiration select few artists can instill in others, who then, with their own herculean efforts, go on to perform due justice to the superlative prototypical inventions.