I listened to the Byrds a lot growing up ‘cause my dad was a huge fan. Like the Beatles or U2 or whatever I think I internalized a lot of it without ever really processing it; the music of the Byrds such a normal part of my life growing up that I sort of didn’t even realize I had heard all of their albums (another thing like this, that I still fuck with to this day: the soundtrack to Until the End of the World, the Wim Wenders flick).
Anyway, my dad was always a Gram Parsons partisan (Gram was a member in a later permutation of the group, and died of an OD at age 26, with all the accompanying mythmaking)—so in addition to The Notorious Byrd Brothers there was a lot of Burrito Brothers and Grievous Angel and that kind of stuff. And, shit, I still love Gram and “$1000 Wedding.” But discovering Gene (who left the Byrds before Gram even joined) a couple years ago made me do a complete 180. I’ll never give up GP, but Gene is, like… next-level.
I spoke with Sébastien Tellier on the phone last week (read it here), and we talked for a minute about Clark, who he loves (in fact, Tellier’s all over that 70s Cali-country-psych-rock ‘scene,’ as it were, name-checking Dennis Wilson and the Mamas and Papas). It’s sort of weird that this white-suited bushy-bearded French lothario loves a Missouri-born wannabe cowboy, but I have some theories, ranging from the cynical (cokehead perfectionism) to the charitable (a shared love of excess).
Sébastien, whose music/persona/image I love, is of the opinion that Gene is more or less at the apex of some sort of grand pyramid of music—like, about as advanced as you can get—and while on the one hand I think that’s sort of bullshit, on the other hand I think it’s totally true. I’m going to see Tellier tonight and wanted to drop some Gene up in this bitch to help psych myself up.
