Michael Nesmith (born December 30, 1942) is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968). Nesmith’s songwriting credits include “Different Drum” (sung by Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys). He is also an executive producer of the cult film Repo Man (1984). In 1981, Nesmith won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year for his hour-long television show, Elephant Parts. (More from Wikipedia)
Thus, I was beginning to tire of Wikipedia, but not before I put together another greatly expanded article on Linda Ronstadt’s first band the Stone Poneys (as well as their three albums). The Stone Poneys had a big hit with “Different Drum”, written by Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, but all three of their albums are just wonderful and have become some of my very favorite Linda Ronstadt music. I heard just this week that Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson’s Disease, and that the disease has progressed to the point where she can no longer sing – so sad. Here is the Stone Poneys article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Poneys .
(September 2013)
Everyone knows the 1967 hit song by the Stone Poneys, “Different Drum” – written by Michael Nesmith of the Monkees – which appeared on their second album, Evergreen, Volume 2. By then, Linda was singing virtually all of the vocals solo (except on the album’s surprising psychedelic-flavored title track, “Evergreen (Part One)” which was sung by Kenny Edwards), but it wasn’t always like that. Many critics think that their first album, The Stone Poneys is even better; on that album, Linda Ronstadt sang solos on only three songs plus one verse of a fourth.
By the time their third album came out, Kenny Edwards had left the band; and in spite of pressure on Ronstadt from Capitol Records to become a solo act, the Stone Poneys managed to score another fine album, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Volume III. The album included another Michael Nesmith song, “Some of Shelly’s Blues”, plus “Let’s Get Together” and “Stoney End” – several years before those songs became big hits for the Youngbloods and Barbra Streisand, respectively. And Linda Ronstadt was already showing her gift for spotting excellent songwriting by including no less than three songs by Tim Buckley, including “Hobo” (which Buckley called “Morning Glory”), which might be my very favorite Linda Ronstadt song of them all.
In truth, only Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork started out as musicians; Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were actors (in fact, I remembered previously seeing Dolenz in a TV show called Circus Boy). However, by the time they went on tour in late 1966, all four members of the Monkees were accomplished musicians and put on as good a show as most American rock bands of that period; I saw them myself (I believe in Greensboro, NC), and I enjoyed the show – probably the first major rock concert that I attended.
(April 2014)
