Longbranch Pennywhistle was a

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

group featuring

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American musician. He was a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he was the co-lead singer and frontman, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with ...

and John David Souther. They originally performed as "John David & Glenn," but when they added bass player David Jackson, they were encouraged to come up with a new name. Frey suggested "Longbranch," Souther came up with "Pennywhistle," and the names were merged at the suggestion of manager Doug Weston. They released a self-titled album in 1969 under Jimmy Bowen's Amos Records label. Frey had made the migration from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and Souther from

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

and were adapting to what would become the California sound. When the Amos Records label dissolved in 1971 the group had already disbanded the year prior. Frey went on to co-found the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

and Souther wrote or co-wrote several of the Eagles' most popular songs, along with hits for

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music. Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...

. He also recorded a number of hits under his own name, including " Her Town Too" which was a major hit in a duet with

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

. He also was a third of the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. On March 16, 2018, it was announced that the band's album has been remixed and remastered and would be reissued as part of the Frey greatest hits collection ''Above the Clouds'' on May 11, 2018. A standalone CD and vinyl record was released on September 28, 2018. Frey died in 2016; Souther died in 2024.

References

External links

Glenn Frey OnlineJD Souther official website

AllMusic's bio on the band
American country rock groups {{US-folk-band-stub