Plant and See by Plant and See

"The songs and the artwork are both compelling and unusual" Brendan Greaves (Paradise of Bachelors)

This back cover is as much about the label as it is about the album. I only heard about Plant and See having bought Hiss Golden Messenger's Poor Moon, a limited-run vinyl release. Both were put out by Paradise of Bachelors. It's also our first featured gatefold, with the front and back covers being inextricably linked. As it happens, the music inside is excellent. As Alastair McKay wrote in his Uncut review (see extended version here): "The album suffered because it was impossible to pigeonhole, though that is its strength too. The sound is built on Lowery’s swampy guitar, but flits between the sultry rock stylings of “Put Out My Fire” (like a jittery Hendrix, channelling tribal rhythms) and the sweet soul of “Henrietta”, with Lowery’s pained vocal floating over lush harmonies."

Paradise of Bachelors describe themselves as being "dedicated to documenting, curating, and releasing under-recognized musics of the American vernacular, with an emphasis on the South, broadly defined. In all our projects, we endeavor to commit ourselves to in-depth, detailed contextual research and the presentation thereof, to careful and compelling curation, and to respectful and mutually beneficial collaborations with artists and other partners. This is a mission."

The Plant and See release typifies what thay are about, and the accompanying press release is worth a read:

"Paradise of Bachelors is honored to celebrate the life and music of influential songwriter, singer, and guitarist Willie French Lowery (1944-2012) with the first-ever reissue of the sole eponymous album by his interracial swamp-psych band Plant and See. Originally released in 1969 on L.A. label White Whale—home of Jim Ford, the Turtles, and the Rockets—Plant and See is the strange fruit of disparate people, places, and players in dialogue. Its humid, storm-cloud guitars, ductile vocal harmonies, and intuitive, loose-limbed drumming are redolent of a specifically Southern syncretic musical identity and sense of place, testifying to the outstanding, colorblind musicianship of Lowery, African American drummer Forris Fulford, Latino bassist Ron Seiger, and Scotch-Irish vocalist and songwriter Carol Fitzgerald.

American Indian frontman Willie Lowery grew up in swamp-laced, tri-racial Robeson County, North Carolina, the state’s geographically largest, economically poorest, and most ethnically diverse county. Shaped by his own Lumbee Indian heritage as well as the influence of local African American and European American musical traditions, Lowery’s style developed into a powerful, singularly soulful sound that appealed to contemporary psych-rock audiences while directly addressing the concerns of his own Indian community. Plant and See represents his first major recorded work, following stints playing for the “hootchie-cootchie women” of a traveling carnival and the lite-psych group Corporate Image, as well as serving as Clyde McPhatter’s bandleader.

Plant and See was a short-lived incarnation; White Whale, already on the brink of dissolution, lacked the resources to effectively promote the album, which contravened the standard race, place, and genre-based markets of the day. Shortly after its release, the band regrouped as Lumbee, named in honor of Lowery’s tribe, the most populous East of the Mississippi. Lumbee’s 1970 album Overdose is, like Plant and See, a rare and highly collectable psychedelic classic; it attracted the attention of the Allman Brothers, whom Lumbee joined on tour in the early `70s. However, the mercurial Lowery quickly changed course, exploring ways to use the country, blues, and gospel idioms of his youth to articulate the history, politics, and cultural identity of the Lumbee people."

In an interview with Indian Country Today Media Network, Brendan Greaves of the label added more colour:

"As a label, we’re interested in telling stories of under-recognized musicians, musical artifacts, and communities, so it was critical to have the perspective of family and the Lumbee community to inform and contextualize this reissue...Plant and See was largely unknown except to dedicated psych-rock record collectors, White Whale label fanatics, and Willie’s family and friends. The songs and the artwork are both compelling and unusual, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to reintroduce and share this remarkable document...The vinyl format pays respect to the original release, sounds better, and showcases the artwork at a proper scale...In my mind, Plant and See and Lumbee weren’t so much seminal or influential — in the grand scheme of things, not many heard them then or now — as they were representative of the best ways Southern music can synthesize various musical traditions and cultural perspectives (American Indian, African American, European American, etc.) into something new and powerful, both strange and strangely familiar."