California Country Rock & great 60's and 70's music from Rick Nelson, Eagles, Vince Gill, Johnny Rivers, Elvis, Brooks & Dunn, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rascals, Three Dog Night, Tommy James, Stax, Motown, and Muscle Shoals music! GARDEN PARTY is a 3-piece band that plays great California Country Rock and Oldies music. “It is a fun band for members of Butch Wax & The Hollywood’s to get together in a scaled down group and play some country rock, classic country, and oldies says Garden Party band member Gene Ackmann. “We do a lot of music from Rick Nelson, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Vince Gill, Johnny Rivers, Elvis, CCR, Pasty Cline, Fleetwood Mac, and more. We sometimes do 4 piece and 5 piece versions of Garden Party too that includes other members from Butch Wax.
“When we first got together the first song we learned was Garden Party”. “We played it every time we rehearsed and it has always been a favorite of mine”. The story behind the song was that Rick Nelson played a show at Madison Square Garden as part of a Rock and Roll Revival tour. Rick came out to do his portion of the show and did all of his old hits plus some new material. He didn’t look the same as everyone remembered. The year was 1972 and his hair was longer and he had a new sound – a sound that would become the L.A. country rock sound and the blueprint for bands like The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. The crowd at Madison Square Garden turned on Rick and began booing him when he tried to play his new material. Shaken and hurt by the experience he went home to California and wrote one of his masterpiece songs “Garden Party”. In the song Rick tells the story about the experience at Madison Square Garden and it became a #1 Hit for him in 72.
“When I met Don Henley in 2003 the first thing I asked him wasn’t anything about the Eagles. I asked him what he thought about Rick Nelson and Rick’s contribution to music”. Henley said that Rick was a favorite of his and a big influence. He said that he and Glenn Frey and Linda Ronstadt would all go hang out at The Troubadour when they were unknowns hoping that Rick Nelson would come in and play – as it was a favorite spot of Ricks. Randy Meisner was Rick’s bass player in the Stone Canyon Band and played and sang on Garden Party. Meisner later became one of the founding members of The Eagles.
