Nov. 3, 1973: A country rock band called Orion
This being
Nov. 3, 1973
Orion’s Country Rock Served Strong and Sweet
THE LATE JUDGE EMERY did it right. Deeded his estate in South Wales over to
Unfortunately, that didn’t protect the judge’s grand
140-year-old manse, now known as the Emery Inn.
When the new owners got it last spring, the porch was
shrouded in tattered plaster, French doors were boarded over to accommodate a
decaying hot dog stand and acoustical tile hid all traces of the main room’s
oak-beamed ceiling.
* * *
THE REBIRTH
of the Emery Inn is proceeding with all deliberate speed, however. The porch
has been enclosed with windows, the ceiling beams have been exposed again and
the kitchen is awaiting new equipment.
With leaves drifting down lazily in the forest outside and
a fire crackling lustily in the glass-doored fireplace, the wood-paneled main
room these days is as mellow as a fine old den. You’d never guess it’s only a
hop away from the end of the Aurora Expressway.
To add to that peaceful easy feeling on Friday and Saturday
nights, the new management has seen fit to install a band called Orion, four
skilled purveyors of a sound not often found in boogie-bound
* * *
THE EVER-WIDENING range of country rock gives Orion plenty of sources to draw from – the
Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, Eagles, Loggins & Messina, J. J. Cale, the
Doobie Brothers, Seals & Crofts, Commander Cody and even Steely Dan.
The group plays loud, but the music isn’t abrasive. They
rock tightly, but they rock pleasantly. And their lead instrument is Brad
Felton’s steel guitar, which gives their music a haunting allure.
Topping it off are three- and four-part harmonies that
sound almost like Poco, but more closely bunched. And guitarist Michael Pallin,
who does most of the lead singing, has a high voice perfectly suited for
country rock, something like Glenn Frey of Eagles.
* * *
“WE’VE BEEN TRYING to mix country and rock for two years now, but nobody around here was
ready for it,” says Brad as the group talks and practices acoustically in
Michael’s parents’ spacious
Such was the aversion to country-tinged music in
non-country nightspots that at one time Brad was afraid to tell club owners
there was a pedal steel guitar in the group.
“One owner,” Brad recalls, “came up to me during a break
and said, ‘Whataya call that thing?’ I told him: ‘Norm.’ ‘What?’ he says. ‘It’s
a pedal steel guitar,’ I said, ‘they use a lot in country music.’ He just shook
his head and said, ‘Well, whatever it is, it sounds awful nice.’”
* * *
BRAD BOUGHT
his pedal steel about two years ago and got good at it with Wild Bill & The
Sweet Clover Boys, which was dedicated to proving that long-hairs could make a
go of short-haired country music. He had to.
He recalls: “They told me: ‘You’re going to be playing a
solo in every single song, so you better learn it quick.’”
After that band split, Brad and Michael, who were together
in an earlier Orion, rejoined. When half their band left in August, bass
guitarist David Sprowl and drummer Dana Rosier, two other
“I’m younger than him,” Dana says of David, “but I’m his
uncle. My sister is his mother and my mother is his grandmother. We grew up
together. We call each other brothers.”
* * *
DANA’S LAST BAND had been the rock group Fat Rabbit, while David had just left ex-Road
member Nick DiStefano’s group Good Luck. Their interlocking families are both
musical too.
Dana’s brother Duane used to play piano in a trio in the
old Town Casino and once auditioned for the Arthur Godfrey Show when it was the
biggest thing in show business.
David’s father, Paul Sprowl, once played with the Blue
Notes, a regular attraction at
“My father used to be in bands too,” Dana says. “He was a
drummer.”
“And grandma,” says David, “she plays mandolin like I
wouldn’t believe.”
Working out arrangements first acoustically, blending in
the harmonies, the new Orion put aside the temptation to do scores of original
songs (most of them by Michael, who takes poetry classes at UB) and worked up a
club repertoire.
But they still slip in two or three of their own each
night. One, a mock-country wailer called “Blisters on My Ego,” hints at the
band’s fascination with parodies and word games.
The Emery Inn is the new Orion’s first steady job. They got
it because it was one of David’s advertising accounts.
* * *
THE OTHERS HOLD TOGETHER with day jobs too. Brad is a part-time furniture
mover. Dana and Michael are caretakers for a local estate.
They’d like to break into
“In
“One is the theory that it has to be so loud that you can’t
talk. And the other is that the music is background to be murmured over.
“Now don’t get us wrong,” he adds, “we’re not on a crusade.
But I think we’ve got a legitimate kind of music and I think we can sell, too.
“Getting the gig was a big break, going to the Emery Inn
and having people come in and dig the music. It’s confirmed our opinion that
we’re going about it the right way.”
* * * * *
IN THE PHOTO:
From left, steel guitarist Brad Felton, guitarist Michael Pallin, bass
guitarist David Sprowl and drummer Dana Rosier.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: Steel guitarist Brad Felton first appeared
on these pages in July 1972 with Wild Bill and the Sweet Clover Boys. After
Orion, he headed to
As
related in the Sweet Clover Boys footnote, he recorded with Hank Williams Jr.,
Phil Everly and Debby Boone, played with the house band in the Palamino Club
and toured with country singer Susie Allenson. He also was in the band in the
Eddie Murphy film, “48 Hours.”
But that
wasn’t enough to keep him in
Guitarist
Michael Pallin went into real estate and was a director of recruiting for
Century 21 in the
The Floyd Wickman website notes that Michael has long
been Wickman’s right-hand man and is the chief of the organization’s master
trainers. His bio on the Wickman website also tells us that his sons Derek and
Tim perform in a Beatles tribute band that has won international competitions.
Another master trainer for Wickman is Mary
Johnson-Pallin, his wife. Her Facebook page has connections to their pandemic
quarantine videos – which include Michael playing guitar and singing – and a
podcast that has more than 100 episodes. The one I opened started with a
Beatles tune.
A bass guitarist named David Sprowl appears in a Los
Angeles Times story about Larry Dean and the Shooters, one of the top groups in
L.A.’s country music clubs, in 1996. He also turns up as a master guitar
builder and repairman, owner since 2006 of Stringwalker Lutherie in
Drummer Dana Rosier also continued in music
professionally, playing as a multi-instrumentalist with many bands. With the
Roadrunners, which reunited in 2006, he was keyboardist. He died in
2009.
The Emery Inn, unfortunately, fell into disrepair again and was demolished by the county in 2014.
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