From Manassas to The Electric Flag: Following the Musical Trail
Originally posted Aug 2013 Revised and Updated July 2026
One of the things I’ve always loved about collecting records and CDs is that one album almost always leads to another.
Last Sunday my listening trail started with Manassas. Chris Hillman and Al Perkins reminded me of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons, and the whole country-rock movement. But somewhere along the way my musical compass turned toward the blues.
That led me back to one of my favorite albums from the late 1960s…
The Electric Flag — A Long Time Comin’
About a year before Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons were forming the Flying Burrito Brothers, guitarist Mike Bloomfield and keyboardist Barry Goldberg headed west with a different vision. Their goal wasn’t country rock—it was to build what they called a great American blues band.
The result was The Electric Flag, and their debut album, A Long Time Comin’, remains one of my favorite discoveries from that era.
More importantly, it introduced me to the incredible guitar playing of Mike Bloomfield.
The Next Connection: Super Session
Once I started paying attention to Bloomfield, it didn’t take long before another classic appeared in my collection—Super Session.
The first side paired Mike Bloomfield with Al Kooper. When Bloomfield unexpectedly failed to show up for the second day of recording, Kooper called another guitarist who happened to be between bands…
Stephen Stills.
At the time Stills was leaving Buffalo Springfield, and his appearance transformed the second half of the album into something completely different. His versions of “Season of the Witch” and “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” became classics in their own right.
Why I Love Musical Rabbit Trails
This is exactly why I still enjoy listening the way I do.
I didn’t plan to spend the evening with The Electric Flag, Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Stephen Stills.
I simply followed the trail.
One album reminded me of another, one musician led to another collaborator, and before long I had traveled from Manassas to The Electric Flag, then on to Super Session—all without ever leaving the music of the late 1960s.
That’s one of the joys of being a lifelong music fan. Every record has another story waiting just around the corner.
And to finish the evening, I went back to one of my favorite Electric Flag performances—”Killing Floor.”