BY: DIGITAL WAX MEDIA STAFF

 

After changing the landscape of popular music over the course of less than a decade, Los Angeles folk rock band The Byrds would give their final performance as an active touring and recording band on this day in 1973.

 

Despite having been active for just nine years at the time, The Byrds of 1973 were a vastly different unit than that which burst onto the scene with their 1965 reimagining of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” By the close of the 1960s, all original members save for founder and guitarist/vocalist Roger McGuinn had departed the group.

 

 

 

The decision by McGuinn to officially disband the group in 1973 was enacted at the suggestion of original member David Crosby to make way for a reunion of the original five members for the one-off 1973 album Byrds, not to be confused the 1978 compilation album, The Byrds.

 

 

The beloved original lineup of Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, and David Crosby became heavily associated with the introduction of the “chiming” sound of the Rickenbacker 12-string guitar in popular music, inspiring contemporary acts such as The Beatles in the process.

 

While the group became prolific in their stylistic explorations, which would include forays into psychedelic, country, and jazz music throughout the 1960s alone, original members began to fall away, beginning with Gene Clark, who was arguably the most accomplished songwriter of the group at the time.

 

Drummer Michael Clarke and guitarist/vocalist David Crosby soon followed, with the latter falling in with the Buffalo Springfield camp and going on to co-found the hugely successful Crosby, Stills and Nash [and sometimes Young.] McGuinn and Hillman would work with a rotating cast of musicians for subsequent projects, including Gram Parsons for the sea-changing Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968.

 

Hillman would eventually depart the group as well, going on to form the impressive albeit short-lived Manassas with Stephen Stills. McGuinn would recruit Gene Parsons, Clarence White, and Skip Battin for the final official iteration of The Byrds, which would lean further into the country music direction taken by the band in the latter half of its initial run of activity. It would be this personnel lineup which would be featured as part of the band’s 1970s albums, including 1970’s Untitled, 1971’s Farther Along.

 

1972 saw the reunification of the original Byrds ensemble for recording of the impressive but uneven, Byrds. Upon the album’s completion, McGuinn officially disbanded the Columbia Records lineup of the group, in part due to David Crosby’s insistence that, “there were only ever five Byrds,” and that subsequent iterations of the group were a fraudulent imitation of the original band.

 

The Byrds would reunite in various capacities over the ensuing decades, including a final reunion of all five original members for the band’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in early 1991. The induction notably failed to acknowledge later members such as Clarence White, Skip Battin, and Gene Parsons, instead focusing on the original five.

 

Nearly every member of The Byrds – later iterations included – have since passed away. Bassist and founding member Chris Hillman continues to perform, having recently toured in support of the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album’s 50th anniversary. John York, who joined The Byrds as Hillman’s replacement and remained for roughly a year, would maintain an active musical career following his short time with the band.

 

Founding member and group leader Roger McGuinn continues to actively tour and perform the material of the iconic band, who covered a remarkable amount of stylistic ground during their initial run, despite being associated primarily today with their pioneering of the jangle-pop sub-genre.

 

The Byrds – Farther Along Album Artwork – Fair Use

 

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