Mason Proffit - Wanted (Reissue) (1969/2006)

"Hear the voice of change," command the Talbot brothers at the opening of their debut album, and the song, "Voice of Change," is both a political statement calling out to President Nixon's "silent majority" and a statement of purpose from the band. Like their peers on the West Coast, the Midwestern Talbots attempt to merge the musical and social concerns of the folk-rock movement with elements of traditional country. But they are a bit more Western-styled than the Flying Burrito Brothers and less of a good-time outfit than Poco. Forging a connection between the hippie ethos and the Old West's outlaw myth, they conjure up a portrait of long-haired cowboys riding across the plain. In "Two Hangmen," the brothers alternate vocals (and stereo speakers) to tell the odd tale of an executioner who comes to doubt his profession and is sentenced to death for it, only to be spared by a second executioner, the two then hung to preserve the status quo. It's a bizarre Western fable, to be sure, but one that illustrates the brothers' sense that they are trying to invent a new society within the terms of the old and may have to pay for it. (Wanted!, after all, is a title that cuts at least two ways.) The music takes off from folk and country sources into progressive rock ("Sweet Lady Love" is even reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival), the pedal steel guitar and fiddle augmented here and there by strings, while the brothers' tenor harmonies give the group a distinctive vocal sound. Like many debut albums, this one is ambitious, both musically and thematically; Mason Proffit want to change musical tastes and political beliefs at the same time. Whether or not they succeed, they have crafted a good opening argument.