Catalog Number: HMRLP019
Format: LP
UPC: 638126751447
Jeannie Piersol is one of the enigmas of the mid-1960s San Francisco rock scene. Though little known, the
distinctive singer emerged from the same community to the south of San Francisco that nurtured the principals
of the Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and other enabling constituents of the city's future rock
meritocracy.
Close friends with Grace Slick and her brother-in-law Darby Slick, Piersol duetted with Grace in an embryonic
line-up of pathfinding early SF outfit The Great! Society, before leaving to front her own band, The Yellow
Brick Road, who worked the clubs and ballrooms of the emerging SF circuit, including legendary venue the
Matrix.
Upon his return from a sojourn to India to study sarod, Darby Slick transformed the YBR into a multi-racial
psychedelic soul outfit know as Hair. This is turn led to Jeannie getting signed as a solo act to Cadet Concept,
the hipster imprint of venerable R&B label Chess Records. Slick and Piersol travelled to Chicago in 1968 to
record with by the master musicians of Chess, the result a unique hybrid of rock, soul and Indian flavors.
Despite healthy airplay, neither of Jeannie's two singles managed to make any commercial headway and she
would soon leave the rock scene behind. Nevertheless, a growing cabale of collectors, deejays and indie rockers
have since discovered the delights of tracks like the slow burning, entrancing 'The Nest', the rousing Airplane-
like 'Gladys', or the fuzzed-out dancefloor fave 'Your Sweet Inner Self.'
Piersol's brief but fascinating 1960s career is anthologized for the first time on High Moon's The Nest, which
features her two sought after singles and various other studio outtakes from Chicago and Los Angeles.
The tracklisting also features material by the rarely heard San Francisco rock groups that Jeannie fronted: Hair
(featuring Darby Slick) and The Yellow Brick Road, the latter represented by live recordings from the Matrix.
The handsomely-appointed package comes with a deluxe and extensively illustrated 16-page booklet with a
7500 word essay from Grammy-nominated producer Alec Palao.