http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.49791&rws=%2Fmason-proffit%2Fmusic-videos.rssWhen the Band dropped the immortal <i>Music from Big Pink</i> in 1968, the album turned hippie rock inside out. Just about every musician of note traded in his paisley pants and sitar for buckskin fringe and a pedal steel. It was the whole getting-back-to-the-country thing, and the Talbot brothers, Terry and John Michael, were no exception. After disbanding their garage-rock outfit, Chicago's Sounds Unlimited, the pair put together Mason Proffit, a quintet fusing folk-rock, country and high-concept lyrics laced with Native American mysticism, Gnostic Christianity and Western Americana. But despite a high-profile signing to Warner Bros. and a national tour with the Grateful Dead, none of the Proffit's five albums sold well. That's a darn shame, because the band swung harder than most of the West Coast's country-rock heavies. Terry, meanwhile, crooned as if he'd grown up listening to Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard. Mason Proffit disbanded in 1973, but not before making a <i>huge</i> impression on a couple of upstarts in California. Yessir, the Eagles' desperado/outlaw image owes a lot to the brothers Talbot. So if you want to pass Country Rock 101, you need a serious dose of the Proffit. - Justin FarrarCountry Rocken720Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:07:55 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.49791&rws=%2Fmason-proffit%2Fmusic-videos.rss When the Band dropped the immortal <i>Music from Big Pink</i> in 1968, the album turned hippie rock inside out. Just about every musician of note traded in his paisley pants and sitar for buckskin fringe and a pedal steel. It was the whole getting-back-to-the-country thing, and the Talbot brothers, Terry and John Michael, were no exception. After disbanding their garage-rock outfit, Chicago's Sounds Unlimited, the pair put together Mason Proffit, a quintet fusing folk-rock, country and high-concept lyrics laced with Native American mysticism, Gnostic Christianity and Western Americana. But despite a high-profile signing to Warner Bros. and a national tour with the Grateful Dead, none of the Proffit's five albums sold well. That's a darn shame, because the band swung harder than most of the West Coast's country-rock heavies. Terry, meanwhile, crooned as if he'd grown up listening to Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard. Mason Proffit disbanded in 1973, but not before making a <i>huge</i> impression on a couple of upstarts in California. Yessir, the Eagles' desperado/outlaw image owes a lot to the brothers Talbot. So if you want to pass Country Rock 101, you need a serious dose of the Proffit. - Justin Farrar