Record Albums and Other Music
According to the information in the Billboard record charts, Michael Parks' first two album recordings were released on vinyl LPs (33 1/3 rpm), vinyl singles (45 rpm), 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, and reel-to-reel tapes, but not the 4-track tape format. The first album was advertised in the TV Guide issue of October xx-xx, 1969, and reviewed in Billboard magazine of ______ 1969. I have never seen any
reissues on CD, although one of his songs was recently
released on a compilation album (CD) called Golden Throats III.
There are also alternate versions of songs
in the movie and the TV episodes. For example, the version of [Poor,]
Wayfaring Stranger on Closing The Gap is different from the one in the
pilot movie (which is an "a capella" version with costar
Bonnie Bedelia). And the version of Long Lonesome Highway on
the album and the later episodes of the show (during the closing
credits; a finger-picking version) is different from the one in
the first episode of the show (a strummed version).
Many of the songs Michael Parks recorded are covers, old standards
and spirituals/hymns, but some were written by James Hendricks,
who produced and arranged the first three albums, and came out
with his own album [MGM SE-4768], with some of the same songs. (James
Hendricks was actually on one of the episodes, the one where Bronson
teams up with a songwriter to perform in a talent contest at
a roadside lounge; the episode was entitled A-Pickin' an' A-Singin').
Click here for singles by Michael Parks: (Singles)
This page updated February 16, 1998 . . . . . . . . . this web page copyright 1998 jonpf@thecia.net