Jeannie Piersol: The Secret’s Out

San Francisco in the ‘60s was positively teeming with budding singer-songwriters looking to join the ranks of the Summer of Love superstars of the day.

One such artist is Jeannie Piersol, whose distinctive hybrid of rock, soul and Indian raga made her one of the enigmatic voices of the San Francisco scene. And while she may not be as renowned a name as those of her contemporaries, Piersol -– still with us at an undisclosed age — emerged from the same breeding ground in Marin County that spawned the likes of Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother & The Holding Company.

She was close friends with Grace Slick and her brother-in-law Darby Slick, even duetting with her in an early version of Grace’s pre-Airplane group The Great! Society before she left to help form the Yellow Brick Road, which would then become Hair shortly after Darby joined YBR (more on that later). Both groups were regulars at such famed SF haunts as The Matrix and the Avalon Ballroom before Piersol landed a solo deal, releasing a pair of highly sought-after singles on the Chess Records psychedelic subsidiary Cadet Concept.

“Everyone was kind of new at the game,” she told the San Francisco culture site 48Hills. “There were not a lot of sharks in the water. It was just more relaxed. All of us were not great musicians. We didn’t study or practice for 20 hours a day. It was just fun.”

Released on Jan. 31 via the intrepid High Moon Records imprint, The Nest is by far the most comprehensive overview of Pietrol’s brief but significant career. In fact, it’s the only one. Beautifully packaged with an extensively illustrated booklet that includes liner notes from 5x Grammy Award-nominated compilation producer Alec Palao (featuring exclusive interviews with Piersol and many of her musical collaborators) as well as never-before-seen photos, memorabilia,poster art and more.

Of course, the cream of the set are the Cadet Concept singles, namely the title track and “Gladys,” both of which features backing vocals from the legendary Minnie Riperton, not to mention string arrangements by Minnie’s Rotary Connection counterpart Charles Stepney on “Gladys.”

“Darby [Slick] wrote ‘The Nest’ about his parents,” Piersol told Palao in the album’s liner notes. “He told me to sing like that, in that particular way. He did have a lot to do with integrating Indian music into rock ‘n’ roll. That’s Minnie Riperton [then of Rotary Connection] doing the backing vocals. She had a beautiful voice, real high. She was like a secretary there, I think.”

 

VIDEO: Jeannie Piersol “The Nest”

“Gladys” was written by Piersol and she sent a demo of it to Jefferson Airplane for potential inclusion on After Bathing At Baxter’s. When the band decided not to record it, she re-recorded it for herself and released the new version as her first single. Both the demo and recorded versions are available on The Nest anthology. Two more Darby songs Piersol performs here are the “Gladys” flipside “With Your Love” and “The Nest” b-side “Your Sweet Inner Self,” both of which features Earth Wind & Fire’s Maurice White on drums, Phil Upchurch on bass and rhythm guitar, Slick on lead guitar and Minnie once again singing backup.

Along with her own songs, The Nest also features rare material from both the Yellow Brick Road (“Quivering, “Light Sinking Down”) and Hair (“Shot Me Through” and the demo version of “Gladys”), which also featured Slick.

“Darby had gone to India, and when he came back, he decides to take over the Yellow Brick Road and rename us Hair,” Piersol tells Palao. “Darby found the musicians, so it became his band then. When the Slicks have something in mind, they go for it! It was kind of fun.”

There was no doubt a kind of magic that existed between Jeannie and Darby, whose fruitful collaboration sits at the heart of this collection. It’s an energy that can be heard most profoundly on the raga-soaked “Heading for the Sun” and “Mr. Bright Eyes,” featuring a brass arrangement by Stepney that really raises the roof. Both songs, written by Piersol, really showcase the dynamic nature of her creativity and make you long to hear more music long after these scant 35 minutes are up.

“When we went to Chicago I had hopes, because I liked the music we did back there,” Piersol tells Palao in the liner notes, referring to the Cadet Concept recording sessions. “Then it all just kind of went, poof, and the big excitement was over. I was always a kinda small town person, so I just let it go, and eventually I jyst didn’t think about it.”

Well, 55 years later, we are grateful to have this sonic snapshot of a moment that created some of the most unsung soul rock in American pop.

Check out the video for “Gladys” below. The clip is a new transfer of an original 1968 16mm film, directed and produced by Ray Andersen, to promote the single. Andersen, along with his wife Joan, were founders of the legendary “Holy See” light show in San Francisco that ran light shows at the Fillmore in the late 60s, and he employed some of Holy See’s hypnotic visuals as backgrounds in the promotional film.

 

VIDEO: Jeannie Piersol “Gladys”

 

JEANNIE PIERSOL

THE NEST

(High Moon Records)

TRACKLIST:

Side 1

1. The Nest

2. Joined In Space

3. Gladys

4. Quivering

5. Everyone Needs Love

6. Shot Me Through

 

Side 2

1. Your Sweet Inner Self

2. Gladys (Demo)

3. Mr. Bright Eyes

4. Heading For The Sun

5. With Your Love

6. Light Sinking Down