Manassas (band)
Origin Miami, Florida, United States
Genres Blues-rock, country rock, Southern rock, Bluegrass, Folk
Manassas was an American rock band formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. Predominantly a vehicle for Stills’ artistic vision, the band released two albums during its active tenure, 1972’s Manassas and 1973’s Down the Road. The band dissolved in October 1973.
Manassas was formed in the fall of 1971, following Stills’ concert tour to support his album Stephen Stills 2 (1971). While Stephen Stills 2 was Stills’ second solo album, it was his first completed following the acrimonious 1970 breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY), and was not critically well received. After a chance meeting with Flying Burrito Brothers singer/multi-instrumentalist Chris Hillman in Cleveland, where Stills’ tour schedule crossed paths with that of the Burritos – a band that, by late 1971, had undergone multiple personnel changes and was in financial trouble – Stills saw an opportunity to change his artistic direction. He subsequently contacted Hillman, asking him, along with Burritos’ guitarist Al Perkins and fiddler Byron Berline, to join him in Miami at Criteria Studios to jam. Stills also invited several members of his touring band – drummer Dallas Taylor, bassist Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels, keyboardist Paul Harris and vocalist/percussionist Joe Lala – to play at the session.
The musicians quickly gelled in the studio, and within several weeks had recorded enough material at Criteria to fill a double-LP album release. The band was capable of a wide musical range, with a repertoire including blues, folk, country, Latin, and rock songs. Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, a friend of both Hillman and Stills who visited Criteria during the sessions, was an early fan of the band, at one point expressing an interest in joining. (Wyman would contribute to the sessions by helping Stills re-write his to-date unrecorded song from 1968, “Bumblebee,” as the blues/funk tune “The Love Gangster,” with Wyman also playing bass on the track.) The band christened itself Manassas after Stills, who had an interest in American Civil War history, orchestrated a photo shoot for them in Manassas, Virginia, the site of the First and Second Battles of Bull Run (1861 and 1862, respectively).
The band’s first album Manassas, a double-LP sporting a cover photo from the shoot in Virginia, was released in April 1972. The album was well received, quickly peaking at #4 in the United States and achieving RIAA Gold Record status. For most of 1972, Manassas embarked on an international tour in support of the album, including television appearances on ABC-TV’s In Concert in the United States and Beat-Club in West Germany.
Personnel
Original band members
Stephen Stills, vocals, keyboards & guitar (CSNY, ex-Buffalo Springfield)
Chris Hillman, vocals, mandolin & guitar (ex-Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers)
Al Perkins, steel guitar & guitar (ex-Gram Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers)
Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels, bass, backing vocals (ex-CSNY and John Sebastian)
Paul Harris, keyboards (performed sessions and toured with John Sebastian during 1968-71, and sessions for B.B. King during 1969-70)
Dallas Taylor, drums (ex-Clear Light, CSNY and John Sebastian)
Joe Lala, percussion, backing vocals (ex-Blues Image and Pacific Gas & Electric)
Touring members (1973 only)
Kenny Passarelli, bass (played with Joe Walsh’s band Barnstorm)
John Barbata, drums (ex-the Turtles and CSNY)
Session contributors
Bill Wyman, bass (on Manassas)
Byron Berline, fiddle (on Manassas)
Joe Walsh, slide guitar (on Down the Road)
Bobby Whitlock, (ex-Delaney and Bonnie & Derek & the Dominos) keyboards & backing vocals (on Down the Road)
P. P. Arnold, backing vocals (on Down the Road)
Sydney George, harmonica (on Manassas) and flute (on Down the Road)
Jerry Aiello, keyboards (on both Manassas and Down the Road)
Charlie Grimes, guitar (on Down the Road)
Discography
Studio albums
Manassas – May 1972
Down the Road – May 1973
Live albums
“From Bull Run to Culpepper” – 2000
From label “Five Dolar Records” (subsidiary of “Good Music UK”): combining material from 1973 live performances on the BBC and Germany’s “Beat Club”
Compilation albums
Pieces – September 2009
Previously unreleased material from original Manassas sessions
Singles
1972 “It Doesn’t Matter” / “Rock ‘n’ Roll Crazies – Cuban Bluegrass – Jet Set”
1972 “It Doesn’t Matter” / “Fallen Eagle”
1972 “Rock ‘n’ Roll Crazies” – “Cuban Bluegrass” / “Colorado”
1973 “Isn’t It About Time” / “So Many Times”
1973 “Guaguancó De Veró” / “Down the Road”
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