This Byrd Has Flown

Been reading "Mr. Tambourine Man, the Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark," by John Einarson.

Two former Byrds have played the Narrows, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. Gene Clark never will, because he died in 1991, just living long enough to see the alt.country movement he helped inspire. That's Roger to the left of Gene (in the square) and Chris just below, back in the original Byrds line-up. The other guys are David Crosby on the far left and drummer Michael Clarke, who is also dead.

Gene was considered the original lead singer of the Byrds, but his and Roger's voices were often combined in harmony on the Byrds records, according to the book. He co-wrote "Eight Miles High" and wrote "Feel A Whole Lot Better" and many other songs, most you are probably NOT familiar with.

Because poor Gene just never developed a significant solo career, though he did have a hit around 1980 with Roger and Chris in "McGuinn, Clark and Hillman" with the song "Don't You Write Her Off Like That," a tune written by Roger and a collaborator.

According to the book, he was considered the Byrds' best singer and best songwriter, and the best-looking Byrd. Except for those of us who follow these things, he and Michael Clarke are the "forgotten Byrds." Which is why I picked up the book. Roger has consistently been out there working and recording, and Chris Hillman did extremely well with his Desert Rose Band, and even has a new album currently on the Americana charts. I knew little about Gene Clark, and still don't know much about Michael Clarke, other than he's dead and supposedly wasn't much of a drummer (though he continued to work as a drummer after the Byrds, so he must have known something).

Anyway, you can find more information at www.geneclark.com including a wide array of MP3s, so you can hear what he sounded like solo.

After finishing the book, all I can say is "it's a damn shame."