R I C K R O B E R T S
THE VOICE OF 'F I R E F A L L'
ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW
Rick Roberts started playing guitar at the age
of fifteen, hoping to impress the girls at the beach in Clearwater, Florida,
where he was born and raised. At the age of nineteen, he left college and
hitch-hiked to California, ‘with the dream’ of making it in rock. He got his
initial break about a year later, taking Gram Parsons’ spot in The Flying
Burrito Brothers, with whom he did two albums, and then went on to do two
critically acclaimed solo albums.
Winter Rose is the third band he
has put together, following Firefall and The Roberts-Meisner
Band. In between, he spent time with Stephen Stills’ band, Linda
Ronstadt’s band, and A 20th Anniversary Tribute to the Byrds. Roberts
toured as a member of Stephen Stills and Linda Ronstadt’s bands, and penned
more than 60 compositions which were recorded and performed by leading musical
entertainers.
Singer-songwriter Rick Roberts and guitarist Jock
Bartley founded Firefall in the summer of 1974. Roberts had served as a spark
for the Flying Burrito Brothers from 1970 to 1972, after Gram Parsons left the
band. He contributed several compositions to the repertoire—the best-known
being “Colorado”—before launching his own career as a solo artist. Bartley had
started as a student of jazz guitar great Johnny Smith, a Colorado Springs
resident. With a few band stints around the Denver/Boulder area under his belt,
Bartley took over the lead guitar post of Tommy Bolin in Zephyr in 1971. The
following year, he switched over to Gram Parsons’ band, the Fallen Angels
(which also featured Emmylou Harris) and met Roberts, whose touring schedule
with the Burritos often overlapped that of Parsons. Mark Andes, the founding
bassist of the bands Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, joined with Bartley and Roberts,
who began an informal series of jam sessions at his home in Boulder. Roberts
thought of a fourth participant he’d met in Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter
Larry Burnett. At Chris Hillman’s suggestion, they added drummer Michael
Clarke, an original member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
The break came when Roberts, Bartley and Andes
toured as Hillman’s backup band. Hillman fell ill during a date at the Other
End in New York, and the club owner accepted a proposal to bring Burnett and
Clarke into town. Firefall finished out the engagement, and Atlantic Records
was sold on the band. By January 1976, the group had completed recording a
debut album with producer Jim Mason, who blended the group’s acoustic guitars, mellow
pop melodies and vocal harmonies. A sixth member, David Muse, joined the ranks
on keyboards, synthesizers, flute, tenor sax and harmonica.
Firefall reached platinum status, and the singles “You
Are the Woman,” “Livin’ Ain’t Livin’” and “Cinderella” together sold in excess
of one million copies. Firefall notched more hits—“Just Remember I Love You”
and “Strange Way”—and two more best-selling albums in the late 1970s, Luna Sea
and Elan. The band’s heady time culminated in an opening slot for Fleetwood Mac’s
“Rumours” tour in 1977, including a hometown Folsom Stadium gig before 61,500
Coloradans.
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Song Stories and Other
Left
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My Journey Back to Real Life
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