Byrds 2024

‘Change Is Now' is a tribute to The Byrd's entire catalog from 1964 to 1973. Christian Parker & Gary Jacob produced this fifteen-song deep-dive collection. "We wanted to pick songs off the beaten path that never had the exposure they deserved, Parker said" The first volume 'Sweethearts' A Tribute to the Byrds 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo" was released in the summer of 2023. Original session player Earl Poole Ball & Christian Parker produced the 1968 classic, and original pedal steel guitar player JayDee Maness contributed. 'Change Is Now' has the rigging of a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar and a B-bender telecaster, with many Gene Clark original compositions. Earl Poole Ball played on three songs, one of which he performed while on the road with Johnny Cash for 20 years!

July's COVERMOUNT CD is Jingle Jangle Mornings: A Byrds Companion. Folk, rock, country, psych (and raga!) from Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Clarence White, The Louvin Brothers, Pete Seeger, International Submarine Band, Ravi Shankar and more!

Four of the five original members of The Byrds appear on Younger Than Yesterday, their fourth album recorded in 1966 and released in 1967. Time has shown it to be among the most durable of the band's albums. David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman come into their own as songwriters and Michael Clarke continued to mature into an impressive drummer. The album successfully expands their musical styles into several different directions yet remains a focused set blending folk-rock, heavy psychedelia, jazz influences and early indicators of the country rock direction the band later pursued.
While there's a somber, brooding tone that hangs over many of the songs, the album has a fresh playful quality capturing new musical textures, including reverse tape effects and brass instruments…

Although they only attained the huge success of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys for a short time in the mid-'60s, time has judged the Byrds to be nearly as influential as those groups in the long run. They were not solely responsible for devising folk-rock, but they were certainly more responsible than any other single act (Dylan included) for melding the innovations and energy of the British Invasion with the best lyrical and musical elements of contemporary folk music. The jangling, 12-string guitar sound of leader Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker was permanently absorbed into the vocabulary of rock. They also played a vital role in pioneering psychedelic rock and country-rock, the unifying element being their angelic harmonies and restless eclecticism…

Beyond his achievements as a founding member of the Byrds, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Gene Clark was one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the rock era. After his passing in 1991, fans began lobbying for the release of known studio recordings that had been locked away for decades. They eventually got their wish with the release of The Lost Studio Sessions: 1964-1982, a collection of rarities from the personal archives of the Byrds’ first manager, Jim Dickson. This title was released in several limited-edition formats in 2016 by Sierra Records. Mining this same cache of treasures, a six-song EP entitled Back Street Mirror followed in 2018 for Record Store Day.