The Flying Burrito Brothers' Nudie Suits, from left: Chris Ethridge, 'Sneaky Pete' Kleinow, Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman
Chris Ethridge supplied key components to The Flying Burrito Brothers’ country-rock sound, through his bass and piano playing and background singing on the group’s widely loved and influential 1969 debut The Gilded Palace of Sin. Mississippi-born Ethridge had been in Burrito Brothers co-founder Gram Parsons’ earlier group, the International Submarine Band, and he left the Burritos before their follow-up Burrito Deluxe. But until his death in 2012, he was a first-rate session and touring player, relied on by artists like Linda Ronstadt, Ry Cooder and Willie Nelson.
Ethridge added one more thread — or set of threads — to the Burritos’ legacy. In the cover photo for Gilded Palace, taken in January 1969, he joined his bandmates in wearing a custom Nudie Suit, a flamboyant and intricate creation of designers Nudie Cohn and Manuel Cuevas. The other three suits have been on display as part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock exhibit since it opened in September 2022 — but Ethridge’s suit went missing in August 1969. Stolen out of road manager and infamous industry figure Phil Kaufman’s car in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, the white suit with its distinctive floral motif was thought to be lost to history.
Ethridge’s daughter Necia Ethridge tells the Scene that her father chose the suit’s theme “as a nod to his Southern roots and love of the [Hank Snow] song ‘Yellow Roses.’” Chris Ethridge wore it for a handful of photo sessions, as well as during an album preview performance at A&M Records’ soundstage, billed as the Burrito Barn Dance, and when the group played “Wheels” and “Hot Burrito #1” on American Bandstand.
Detail of Chris Ethridge's Nudie Suit
Despite Ethridge and his family’s best efforts to locate the suit, it remained elusive. That is, until earlier this year. An eagle-eyed friend of the family, Tommy Miles, spotted a familiar-looking outfit in a promotional email from renowned auction house Kerry Taylor Auctions.
“It was Lot 385, and it had a picture of my dad’s suit on it,” Necia Ethridge explains. “I was like, ‘Well, I’ll be darned. That is his suit.’ Then I read the words, and I think my heart just about went through my shoes when I read, ‘Elton John’s 1971 Nudie Suit.’”
As it turns out, the suit was living an alternate life — squarely in the limelight. John purchased the piece from the Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors Store in Los Angeles in late 1970; Ethridge says no one is certain how it wound up back there. The famously fashionable John first wore it on Top of the Pops in 1971, when he performed “Your Song,” and again in his role as best man at Bernie Taupin’s wedding later that year. In 1972, John once again donned the suit, along with a trademark pair of oversized shades, for the photo on the sleeve of his mega-hit single “Rocket Man.” John held onto the suit until 1988, when he auctioned it for charity through Sotheby’s, and it didn’t appear in public until that fateful email.
“It felt unreal,” Ethridge says. “It honestly took me months to process. That was my dad’s suit. But it was also Elton John’s beloved suit. So I had to come to accept that this was part of the journey.”
Ethridge contacted the auction house and shared her story. It was verified in part by a tag bearing the name “Chris Ethridge” on an order label in the breast pocket. The auction house pulled the lot from circulation and gave Necia the opportunity to make her best offer, which she did at the urging of her children. The bid was accepted, and Necia flew to London to retrieve the suit, half-joking that she couldn’t risk having it shipped, lest it be lost once again.
“Kerry Taylor had set it up on a mannequin, beautifully styled,” Ethridge says. “And I couldn’t tell you who was in that room. I couldn’t tell you what was around me. In that moment, it was like I was connecting to my father, who passed away in 2012. It was just amazing. I cried.”
She graciously loaned the suit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, where it rejoined the Burritos’ other suits in a special event July 20. Wilco’s Pat Sansone, a Nashville resident and Ethridge family friend, performed. Ethridge was in attendance, along with longtime Nashvillian Phil Kaufman. The museum’s Mick Buck tells the Scene that the suits are “the centerpiece of the exhibit,” and that this unexpected discovery helped elevate an already special offering.
“They’re just so striking and visual, and so iconic,” Buck says. “They’re an important part of the exhibit’s story. And so, to unexpectedly be able to add the fourth suit — not only was that a totally out-of-left-field surprise, but now we feel like the exhibit is complete.”
