Rising Sons was an American
folk-rock band formed in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in 1965. Their initial career was short-lived, but the group found retrospective fame for launching the careers of singer
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
and guitarist
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...
.
History
The original lineup was a 17-year-old
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...
(vocals, six- and 12-string guitar, mandolin, slide and bottleneck guitar, dobro),
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
(vocals, harmonica, guitar, piano),
Gary Marker (bass), Jesse Lee Kincaid (born Nick Gerlach, vocals and guitar) and
Ed Cassidy (drums). Cassidy left in 1965 after injuring his wrist playing a monumental version of "
Statesboro Blues" with the band. He was replaced by
Kevin Kelley.
The group often played at the Los Angeles clubs
The Troubadour and
The Ash Grove. They were signed by Columbia Records. Their only album, produced by
Terry Melcher
Terrence Paul Melcher (; February 8, 1942 – November 19, 2004) was an American record producer, singer, and songwriter who was instrumental in shaping the mid-to-late 1960s California Sound and folk rock movements. His best-known contribution ...
, was not issued at the time. One single, "Candy Man" backed with "The Devil's Got My Woman", was released. The group disbanded in 1966. They were contemporaries of the famous Los Angeles band
The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
; fans wondered which band would be the bigger success, until the Byrds' album ''
Mr. Tambourine Man'' became a hit. Recordings by Rising Sons were widely bootlegged and nearly three decades later were released by
under the title ''Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder'' (1992). "We were the problem," remembered Marker later. "We had difficulties distilling our multiple musical agendas down to a product that would sell. We had no actual leader, no clear musical vision.... I think
elcherwent out of his way to make us happy – within the scope of his knowledge. He tried just about everything he could, including the live, acoustic session that produced '2:10 Train.'"
After Rising Sons
Mahal went on to become a prominent solo blues and folk performer. Cooder and Marker played with
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...
and his Magic Band. Cooder went on to become a prominent
session musician
A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...
, recorded numerous albums under his own name, and scored several soundtracks. Kincaid attended the
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...
on a classical guitar scholarship and left the United States for six years in Europe. His music album, ''Brief Moments Full Measure'', and his book, ''Ibiza Chronicles'', were released in 2014. He currently resides in
Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
Mill Valley is lo ...
. Cassidy founded the band
Spirit. Kelley became a member of his cousin
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his w ...
's band
The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
in 1968, playing on their seminal album ''
Sweetheart of the Rodeo''.
Marker retired from the
music industry
The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...
but maintained an active interest (especially in Beefheart-related matters) until he died of a
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
, on December 8, 2015, at the age of 72.
Influence
According to
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, Rising Sons' "languid, bluesy, folksy sort of sound anticipated future recordings by outfits like
Moby Grape,
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...
, the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
, and even the southern rock Allman Brothers, and the country-rock
Byrds."
Members
According to Marc Kirkeby's 1992 liner notes,
except where noted:
*
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
vocals, harmonica, guitar, piano
*
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...
vocals; six- and
twelve-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 string (music), strings in six Course (music), courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lo ...
s;
mandolin
A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
;
slide and
resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar (often generically called a " Dobro") is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar' ...
s
*Jesse Lee Kincaidvocals, guitar
*
Gary Markerbass guitar
*
Ed Cassidydrums
*
Kevin Kelleydrums, percussion
Discography
Singles
Albums
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Rock music groups from California
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical groups established in 1965