Firefall--You Are The Woman (1976)

     The beginnings of Firefall came about through the meeting of singer Rick Roberts and guitarist Jock Barkley. Barkley was playing in Gram Parsons backing band "The Fallen Angels", and met the singer when they were playing the same venue. Rick was impressed by the guitarist's style and after jamming a bit inquired about the possibility of forming a new group. They contacted bassist Mark Andes who had played with Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, and Larry Burnett and shortly afterward took on the name "Firefall" in 1974. Roberts, who had previously been a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, called on another former member, Michael Clarke about taking over as drummer. During late 74 and early 75, the group played in and around Boulder and Aspen Colorado. It was also during this period they cut a few demos produced by Chris Hillman.
     The demos initially went nowhere, but Hillman was impressed enough to ask Andes, Bartley, and Roberts to join his band. It was at one of these gigs in New York City in June of 1975 that Hillman took ill, and was sick enough that he was unable to finish the tour. Burnett and Clarke were flown to finish the commitments. There were a&r men from Atlantic Records (who had heard those demos) at the NYC concert, and were impressed enough from what they heard to sign them to a multi-album deal. Just before the recording of their first album in late 1975, multi-instrumentalist David Muse was brought in.
     The first single off the album, "Livin' Ain't Livin" stalled just short of the top 40, but it was the second song, "You Are The Woman" which cracked the top 10 in 1976 and set the group up for success for the rest of the decade.
     Roberts left the group in 1981, and you can find his website here: http://www.rickrobertsmusic.com/. Barkley is still with the group and their site is here: http://www.firefall.com/