"The singer, who was known for her cool mix of rock, soul and Indian music styles, was part of an early incarnation of iconic S.F. rock act The Great Society... “The Nest” serves as a great introduction — or, in some cases, a reminder — of this great vocal talent." – The Mercury News
High Moon Records is proud today to release the enigmatic 1960s San Francisco singer Jeannie Piersol’s eagerly awaited anthology, The Nest. The first-ever full-length compendium of Piersol’s distinctive, rarely heard body of work, The Nest, arrives today on CD, vinyl LP, and digital download, accompanied by an extensively illustrated booklet that includes liner notes from 5x GRAMMY® Award-nominated compilation producer Alec Palao (featuring exclusive interviews with Piersol and many of her musical collaborators), plus lavish artwork, never-before-seen photos, memorabilia, and more.
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With her hip hybrid of rock, soul, and Indian flavors, Jeannie Piersol is one of the enigmas of the mid-1960s San Francisco scene. Though little known, the distinctive singer emerged from the same Marin County community that nurtured the principals of the Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Big Brother, and other leading lights of the Bay Area’s future rock meritocracy. Close friends with Grace Slick and her brother-in-law Darby Slick, Piersol duetted with Grace in an embryonic line-up early Bay Area outfit The Great! Society before leaving to front her own bands, The Yellow Brick Road and Hair, both of whom worked the clubs and ballrooms of the emerging SF circuit, including such legendary venues as The Matrix.
The Nest gathers together the handful of tracks Piersol recorded during her all-too-brief but blazing career, including a pair of sought-after singles released on Chess Records’ psychedelic Cadet Concept subsidiary, plus studio outtakes, demos, live performances, and material by The Yellow Brick Road and Hair. Highlights include the slow-burning, psychedelically informed 1969 single, “The Nest,” available now at all DSPs and streaming services. An official music video is streaming now on YouTube. A siren song marked by its ear-catching flourish of sarod, funky backbeat, and – seemingly out of nowhere – Piersol’s honeyed, hypnotic, eminently seductive voice, “The Nest” has become a chill-out favorite in recent years, lionized by DJs, reprised by indie rockers, and frequently pondered in blogs and podcasts. For decades, the backstory to this alluring track (also featuring backing vocals from iconic soul singer Minnie Riperton) was ambiguous at best, but it can now be revealed as a landmark by-product from the crucial formative years of the fabled Bay Area rock scene.
The album also includes "Gladys," which features backing vocals by Riperton, drums by Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White, and orchestral arrangements by Charles Stepney (Rotary Connection, Ramsey Lewis) – and is also joined by an official music video streaming now on YouTube. The clip is a new transfer of an original 1968 16mm film, directed and produced by Ray Andersen, to promote the single. Andersen, along with his wife Joan, were founders of the legendary “Holy See” light show in San Francisco that ran light shows at the Fillmore in the late 60s, and he employed some of Holy See's hypnotic visuals as backgrounds in the promotional film. “Gladys” was written by Piersol and she sent a demo of it to Jefferson Airplane for potential inclusion on After Bathing At Baxter’s. When the band decided not to record it, she re-recorded it for herself and released the new version as her first single. Both the demo and recorded versions are available on The Nest anthology.
“A full 55 years since its release, ‘The Nest’ still entrances, and perhaps has now found its true place in a world where records this disarmingly ingenuous can probably no longer be made,” write Alec Palao in his liner notes. “Along with most everything else Jeannie recorded, it’s something to be justly proud of.” LISTEN TO “GLADYS” WATCH “GLADYS” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
LISTEN TO “THE NEST” WATCH “THE NEST” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO Jeannie Piersol’s tale may be just one of the multiple strands that make up the fabric of West Coast rock ’n’ roll mythology, but it nonetheless remains instructive. There is the distinct air of unfulfilled potential that spills from The Nest, but the singer was subject to the variegates of an industry that still flung new acts at the wall and would happily abandon anything that failed to adhere commercially. So, like many of her generation, rather than succumb to the showbiz grind, Piersol decided to walk away and live a normal life. Now, High Moon’s welcome release of The Nest, what for decades have been Jeannie Piersol’s own personal keepsakes and memories are now something we can all appreciate. | 
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