If anyone knows the meaning of loss, it's Necia Ethridge. Her dad, bass guitarist Chris Ethridge, was an early founding member of the late '60s band The Flying Burrito Brothers, which was the first to introduce rock and Southern soul to country music. He toured with the likes of Linda Ronstadt and Willie Nelson.
Chris Ethridge died of cancer 11 years ago, and Necia said she possessed nothing tangible from her dad's successful career. "Most of what I know about him during that time is from his personal stories, from photographs, from amazing footage that has come up over the years," she said. "Experiencing so much loss and losing my father, there actually was a time where I could say that I was pretty down."
Watch this story by clicking on the video player below:
But where this story truly begins can be seen on the band's first album cover, "The Gilded Palace of Sin," released in the winter of 1969. The band used a portion of the album's advance to purchase embroidered rhinestone-covered suits made by Nashville's famed designer Nudie Cohn.
Ethridge's rhinestone-clad suit had a short shelf life. It was stolen from Phil Kaufman's car in 1969. Kaufman, who was the road manager for the Burritos at the time, had left the band's suits in a car in Silver Lake. The next morning, the suit was gone.
This was not the only time Ethridge's personal effects were stolen. After his father passed away in 2012, Necia and her family's home, which had been owned since 1947, was plundered, and all of Ethridge's memorabilia and record collection were taken.
However, Necia's luck changed around Thanksgiving 2022. A family friend who had done some Internet sleuthing discovered that the suit had gone up for auction – 53 years after it disappeared.
What made the suit even more remarkable was its provenance. Sir Elton John had purchased the suit in a Los Angeles shop in late November 1970 and even wore it on the British TV show "Top of the Pops" on January 14, 1971.
John later sold the suit to a private investor in 1998, and then it went to auction last year.
Necia was able to acquire the suit. "When I received the email that said, 'Yes, how are you going to pay me?' I really just wanted to, like, throw everything up in the air and just go parading down Main Street like, I bought my dad's suit! I bought my dad's suit!"
The Burritos' costume quartet is once again united and on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee – a kind of homecoming that suits Necia just fine.
For more info:
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville
Story produced by Roman Feeser.
