British guitarist analyses Michael Nesmith performing 'Joanne' live in 1992 

My favorite Monkee, also.

I agree with that totally! ❤

I feel the same way...well said

Beautifully stated WL !!

... It takes a piece of me too.

... What a beautiful song. I would not know that he was from the Monkeys.

Betty's closing in on 100 yrs of age. Micky would be very happy to follow her lead. Who wouldn't?

Betty passed away recently 😢

Michael is gone as well. Only Mickey is left now

Beautiful song, too.

The videoist is incorrect. Michael's yodeling is Head Voice, not falsetto.

Yeah, jumping registers is how you get that yodeling sound.

Not sure who owes what to whom, as it was a lucky choice for both Mike Nesmith and Linda Ronstadt. Apparently the producers of the Monkees turned down the song when Mike offered it to them for the band. Linda first heard it on an album by the Greenbriar Boys.The third LR/Stone Poneys album includes another Nesmith song, "Some of Shelly's Blues"

katherine A. Rodgers I remember "Liquid Paper" and "Carbon Peper" a necessity for typist and transcribers back in the days.

@@drewpall2598 Oh yes. Cabon Paper. Sometimes in triplicate because copy machines had niot been invented. And it was a pain to have to erase them all. But, we didn't know any betterr back in the good old days.

Katherine - Wasn't Liquid Paper the white substance that people painted onto their computer screens to correct errors? (I still remember that silly cartoon.)

@@donaldpetersen3513 Lol! I remember that too/

That's pretty cool trivia!

I’m inclined to agree with you that Mike and the other members of the Monkees’ were underrated as far as their talent was concerned. Though I wasn’t born yet when they were in their prime, I was turned on to them thanks to their 20th anniversary reunion. I saw the Monkees perform as a trio 9 times in concert between 1986-2011. They definitely showed their musicianship and performance abilities not to mention that they would mention when they’d perform his compositions.

I loved What am I Doin Hangin Round

@@melaniefowler8841 YESSSSS! Great song!

Quite right

Bob Dylan, love him or hate him, is arguably the father of Country Rock, Mike came later (post Monkees, 70's). Bob D, Buffalo Springfield, the Band, and the Byrds laid the groundwork for the genre, that doesn't diminish Michaels contribution to Country Rock. He is, however, the one of the fathers of the music video tv format that inspired MTV.

Hit me hard, also. I read that Michael and his First National Bank band pioneered the country rock sound.

Oh. It IS!!!❤

Check out The Crippled Lion by The First National Band :)

@@Harford1171 Thanks! I will do that.

@@tracychavez7914 Tropical campfires is great album as well!

@@Harford1171 Loved it

@@tracychavez7914 Glad to hear it!

Yeah, he was always a Texas boy at heart...

That's what I keep hearing. My grandpa (born in 1900) sang in a similar style.

@Kenton Hall ....and Navajo Trail. Great stuff.

He was told he was too twangy, so He would just shut up and sit down! When the Monkees broke apart Michael sang what he felt and stayed true to Himself! You all have to be down to Earth! Michael was who He was! A very Mindful Man! He heard things in his mind that were a beautiful thing! Some people are blessed with this! I just have listened to Michael's interviews from RU-vid and you hear him tell those who will listen and will tell you his thoughts about everything!

I was too young for the Monkees, too. And I was not exposed to USA country and western music. Fil, this little tutorial taught me enough to recognise this genre now. I guess I thought Monkees were a goofy tv show with actors, not musicians. This song is so beautiful. I need to read the lyrics because I can tell it’s sad, but only from the minors, not lyrics, because I do not understand.

I had no idea he'd written Different Drum. That's one of my favorite songs from Linda Ronstadt (love her). I grew up on The Monkees and always considered them a serious group, even as much as I enjoyed the silliness of their show. I'm sure I have all the songs by Linda and The Monkees memorized (though you wouldn't want to hear me sing them).

Pacific Arts

Cindy Powers... I agree there was more to Michael then the television character he played on the Monkees.

@@drewpall2598 ✌️☺️

Up

Up

Up.

Up.

Up .... from Ponorogo alipers

Listen to the song "Mama Nantucket" that he wrote & performed with The First National Band - serious yodeling there and he does it SO WELL. RIP Mike, you are missed.

@@nancystedman6028 I've had them all over the years, I sing some of them to the grandkids to get them off to sleep. I have only fond memories of the whole band.

I thought of pointing out the same thing! I thought I had read that when he played the song for Linda Ronstadt she told him, “if you put a yodel into this, you’ll have a hit!” 😃

​@@paulreese3071Ya, she really likes his yodel and was very encouraging.

They were my very first. Got into them when the show was fist time syndicated. Love em' I was so young.

@@rw6616 I watched them through reruns. I was born in 1968.

@@tommycollins7846 me too

“They could act silly but they actually were decent musicians & singers.” No offense but if your fans include John Lennon and Paul McCartney, I’d say ‘they’ (The Monkees) were better than decent musicians and singers.

@@michaelpimentel3002 I always appreciated their talent but I am talking about how a lot of other people viewed them. But John & Paul knew better.

@@dagmar.6954 Understood... and agree.

in the beginning of their career, only Mike and Peter Tork had musical talent. Micky was a guitar player but the TV creators wanted him to play drums. The legendary WRECKING CREW out of LA did virtually all of the backing music on the first Monkees albums. That's Hal Blaine's drumming and Tommy Tedesco's seering guitar work you're hearing. The Wrecking Crew were uncredited on the album as they were left off albums of the artists they helped make famous (most notable. . the Beach Boys). Micky talks about his first meeting with Hal Blaine who later showed him tricks of the trade. He spent a year taking drum lessons and later became quite good in his own right. This was a band created for TV. Davy was a Broadway actor. Lovable and a young girl's dream. The Monkees were in my generation. For years I never knew that the Wrecking Crew were the musicians behind the songs. And what songs they were.

@@kiltedwolf2 Very interesting history. I had heard about the Wrecking Crew. Thanks for the info.

What’s interesting is that Mike and Peter were never really actors but were very accomplished musicians. Micky and Davy were the ones who were really actors. But the Monkees were an amazing band and had some really great music. They are definitely a happy part of my childhood and their music still brings me joy to this day.

@@kaymuldoon3575 Incorrect. They were all working musicians. Davy was a very good drummer (the producers decided he was too small and couldn't be seen behind the kit, so put Micky there.) and could play bass and guitar. Micky already had his own band and sang and played guitar. They were all working musicians. Peter (as Mike once said) could play many of the so called "real" musicians off the stage.