"We're a rock & roll band that sounds like a country band," Gram Parsons said of the Burritos, whose first album was one of the most obscure masterpieces of Sixties rock. Parsons and Chris Hillman formed the Burritos after they both quit the Byrds; in many ways Gilded Palace picks up where the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo left off. Together, the mercurial Parsons and the levelheaded Hillman concocted a crazily coherent statement of irony-fueled hillbilly anthems, inventive covers and achingly beautiful two-part harmonies, underscored by Sneaky Pete Kleinow's radical pedal steel.
Total album sales: Under 500,000
Peak chart position: 164