The mysterious story of Elton John and a long-lost Flying Burrito Brothers suit

When a famous suit goes missing, it doesn't just turn up decades later, right?

Wrong.

A set of Western-inspired outfits once worn by influential country-rock band the Flying Burrito Brothers was reunited this week at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum for the first time in nearly five-and-a-half decades.

Designed by sought-after suit-maker Manuel Cuevas and sold out of Nudie Cohn's famed North Hollywood tailor shop, Hall of Fame curators reunited three of the four suits last year as a centerpiece to "Western Edge," an exhibit examining the country-rock roots of Southern California.

Longtime fans of the 1960s California country-ish scene likely recognize these so-called "Nudie" suits from the cover of debut Burrito Brothers album "The Gilded Palace of Sin." Last fall, the Hall debuted "Western Edge" with the colorful, patterned outfits worn by members Chris Hillman, "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow and Gram Parsons (who adopted marijuana leaves on his jacket in a nod to the counterculture movement that doubles as one of the best-known Nudie suits.

Missing from the collection until this week: a white suit with red roses, worn by member Chris Ethridge.

As for how it returned to the Hall? It's the kind of story that may go down in rock 'n' roll lore.

Around 1969, the suit was allegedly stolen out of road manager Phil Kaufman's station wagon in Silver Lake, California, according to Ethridge's daughter Necia Ethridge (Chris Ethridge died in 2012). It did not resurface among his family until late last year, when a longtime friend of Ethridge's father alerted her to a suit being sold at auction by a private collector in London.

Necia Ethridge immediately began scrolling through the auction website. When she finally landed on the white suit, an accompanying description left her floored.

"I see 'Elton John's 1971 "Nudie" suit,'" she said. "My heart almost fell out of my body."

The discovery kickstarted a journey for Ethridge, a high school councilor from Taos, New Mexico, to reclaim her father's suit — and find out exactly where it traveled after reportedly leaving Kaufman's station wagon decades ago.

"Through the process, I began to realize that this is really a journey about a fantastic piece of clothing, more so than the ownership," Ethridge said.

Flashback to late 1970. A young Elton John — weeks removed from his transformative run at Los Angeles' Troubadour rock club — ventured into Nudie's shop, likely in hopes of scoring a new outfit or two. He buys a white suit with red roses off the rack, unaware that it went missing from another bands' wardrobe months earlier.

John wore the suit multiple times in the coming months, including at a 1971 performance on tastemaking British television program "Top of the Pops" and on the U.K. single artwork for now-staple tune "Your Song." He also wore it at songwriting partner Bernie Taupin’s 1971 wedding, according to Ethridge.

"I feel like he loved it," she said. "He took really good care of it."

Meanwhile, no one in the Flying Burrito Brothers or Chris Ethridge's circle made a connection when John wore the suit during his appearances in the early '70s. Eventually, the suit left John's rotation of costumes, and by 1988, it sold at a headline-making auction in London.

The suit remained with a private collector until returning to the auction block before being purchased by Necia Ethridge earlier this year. For Mick Buck, Country Music Hall of Fame curatorial director, reuniting a once-lost piece of music history feels out-of-the-ordinary — even at an institution that specializes in preserving artifacts.

"It's incredible," Buck said. "Each suit is such a unique design. ... It's a reflection of the personalities of the four guys in the Burrito Brothers. Each very different, very distinctive, very striking."

And for Ethridge, who was born two years after the suit went missing, returning the suit marks the end of an unlikely journey into long-lost country-rock history.

"This whole journey has been full-circle," she said. "The colors, the balance. Everything feels right. And it feels good."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The strange story of Elton John and a long-lost Flying Burrito Brothers suit