The Byrds

The Byrds were the first important American band of the psychedelic era, integrating stateside folk and country traditions into rock’s rapidly expanding vocabulary. Formed in 1964 by Los Angeles-based singer-songwriters Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark, the group typified the West Coast musical aesthetic of the time with bright, interlocking guitar lines, sumptuous vocal harmonies and impressionistic lyrics. Their commercial apex came with their first single, a 1965 take on Bob Dylan’s song “Mr. Tambourine Man” that helped to broaden Dylan’s impact beyond folk circles. Mirroring the Fab Four, Crosby and McGuinn experimented with Eastern musical styles, group improvisation and state-of-the-art electronics on their trailblazing albums of 1966 through 1968. After Crosby’s departure from the band, McGuinn recruited aspiring singer-songwriter Gram Parsons for 1968’s Sweetheart of the Rodeo, a watershed classic of the country-rock genre. Parsons exited soon afterward, but the McGuinn-led group retained a sound steeped in roots music, drawing in ringer session guitarist and bluegrass specialist Clarence White as a full-time member until the band’s dissolution in 1973.