From The Byrds and Clarence White to Wilco and Jeff Tweedy in one easy step. Incidentally, I interviewed Jeff Tweedy around the time Wilco was making Being There and I asked him about the song, “Passenger Side.” If you check the liner notes to A.M., Brian Henneman from the Bottle Rockets is credited with playing “small stoned guitar.” I asked Jeff what that meant and he said it was specifically an homage to the phased guitar sound of The Byrds on “Wasn’t Born To Follow.” So, there you go. And perhaps it’s coincidence, but the song Clarence came in to play on, as much as any song on Notorious, laid out the transitory nature of the Byrds’ Nest in the summer of 1967.ĭennis Hopper, Peter Fonda & Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider, 1969 Whatever the case, the album has not only stood the test of time, it could be their masterpiece. In retrospect, I’m not sure if the restless experimentalism of Notorious Byrd Brothers was due more to artistic temperament than it was simply a naked reflection of the band’s bipolarity.

Founding Byrd, Gene Clark, was also in and out of the band, depending upon mood, day, and whether planes were involved.

Michael Clarke‘s drumming was proving to be as inadequate as Crosby‘s social skills and he, too, was given the boot. David Crosby’s overwrought, drug-fueled narcissism was destroying the band from within and would eventually result in his wholly appropriate firing. When Clarence White rejoined The Byrds in the studio in late August 1967, he was reconnecting with a band on the verge of implosion. Marty Stuart, from the Nashville West liner notes But there’s no doubt in my mind that when the sun went down, wherever Clarence White was playing, that’s where you would have found me.”

Cruised up Lankershim Boulevard to the Palomino with Nudie (Cohn) to catch James Burton burning it up with Ricky Nelson while anticipating the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, or Lester (Flatt) and Earl (Scruggs) bringing some bluegrass to the West. Gone to check out Wynn Stewart recording at Capitol or witnessed Johnny Cash, Joe Maphis, and Merle Travis terrorizing Tex Ritter. I could have hung out with Leo Fender, Buck Owens and Don Rich, Moon (Ralph Mooney), Merle (Haggard) and Roy Nichols. “To have been a Renaissance Hillbilly in Hollywood in the 1960s would have been great for me.

Clarence white eight miles high