High Moon Releasing Jeannie Piersol's First-Ever Anthology

01-10-2025

(BHM) High Moon Records is heralding the upcoming arrival of enigmatic 1960s San Francisco singer Jeannie Piersol's eagerly awaited anthology, The Nest, with today's premiere of the psychedelic soul standout, "Gladys," available everywhere now. Originally released in 1968 as Piersol's debut single, the track - which features backing vocals by iconic soul singer Minnie Riperton, drums by Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White, and orchestral arrangements by Charles Stepney (Rotary Connection, Ramsey Lewis) - is joined by an official music video streaming now at the official High Moon Records YouTube channel. 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.

The first-ever full-length compendium of Piersol's distinctive, rarely heard body of work, The Nest, arrives Friday, January 24 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. Pre-orders are available now.

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 at YouTube.