Rant #1,505: Country Rock Legend Passes

I am not a fan of country music, nor country rock music, but I acknowledge its significance in the history of American pop music.

And like most of us, I was a big fan of Glen Campbell back in the day, I liked Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A.," and I understand the importance of other acts, such as Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Michael Nesmith, on the creation and mass acceptance of these musical styles.

So when I heard that Owens "Boomer" Castleman had passed away, I had to take notice.

Castleman became a legend in Nashville, a smart guy who really wasn't very well known to the public, but he first came on the scene in the mid 1960s, and really, he had made his mark on several musical styles for the past 50 years or so.

Castleman first came to some notoriety as a member of the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, one of the seminal country rock bands coming out of Nashville via Hollywood.

If you don't know who LCE was, please take out your Monkees records and look on the inner sleeve, where RCA/Colgems promoted their latest releases.

The LCE probably were on more Monkees Colgems innner sleeves than their own records sold their own music, but so be it.

With the influence of Nesmith, the LCE were pretty much formed as a country.rock version of the Monkees. A few of the band members had tried out for the TV band, including John London, and the LCE featured London, Castleman, and Michael Murphy.

They released one very good album, a couple of singles, appeared in TV shows and in films, but pretty much fizzled, as the thrust of RCA/Colgems promotional efforts was dedicated to their #1 act, the Monkees.

But it was a noble experiment, and LCE's music really should be searched out for anyone interested in the later incarnations of country rock, including the 1970s work of such artists as the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and even somebody like Jackson Browne.

After the band broke up, both Castleman and Murphy went to Nashville, and both artists had some success on the pop chart. Castleman scored with "Jennie Mae," which hit #33 in 1975, and earlier in that year, Michael Murphy, who had added his middle name, Martin, to his monicker by that time, scored with one of the biggest hits of the year, "Wildfire," which hit #3.

Murphy would go on to have several other country rock hits; Castleman pretty much went into the background, but he did not stand still.

Castleman was the inventor of the palm pedal, a device allowing guitar players to execute pedal steel style string bends, which is integral to the sound of country music.

He had toyed with the device beginning in 1968--while still a member of LCE--and it finally came out under the name the Bigsby Palm Pedal, which to this day is widely used by country musicians under various names.

He later founded the country music record label BNA Records, which he eventually sold to BMG Music.

With his background, Castleman was something of a country music renaissance man, not well known to the general public but a major figure behind the scenes in country music.

But when I heard of his passing, I had to think about those LCE records that I have. As I said, I am not really a fan of country rock, but yes, I enjoyed their music a lot.

Maybe it was their Monkees/Nesmith connection, but whatever the case, the LCE deserved better, but honestly, their time would come a few years later, when both Castleman and Murphy made their true mark on this genre.

R.I.P. to Castleman, and I hope I introduced you to someone whose influence you can still hear in the music of current country rock artists like Taylor Swift to this day.