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MUSICIANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BYRDS
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Chip Douglas
Bob Dylan
Walter Egan
The Electric Flag
Chris Ethridge
Bassist Chip Douglas (né Douglas Farthing Hatlelid) was one of the Modern Folk Quartet, along with Cyrus Faryar, Jerry Yester and Henry Diltz. This band began on the coffee-house circuit in the early '60s, then became part of the Laurel Canyon crowd. Eventually they went electric and changed their name to MFQ. Their song "This Could Be The Night" was produced by Phil Spector, one of his only forays into folk rock.
Douglas played bass in the first, Spring '66 incarnation of the Gene Clark Group, and on Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers (Columbia, 1967). Douglas was briefly bassist for the Turtles, and arranged the horns on "Happy Together." He left the Turtles to produce the third Monkees album, Headquarters (Colgems, 1967). He also played bass on several of the songs on that album. Later he produced his old bandmates the Turtles, including their hit cover of the Clark-McGuinn song, "You Showed Me."Bob Dylan
The relationship between the Byrds and Dylan is complex, both musically and personally. McGuinn had seen Dylan around Greenwich Village in the early '60s, but the two didn't really know each other.
Jim Dickson was responsible for bringing "Mr. Tambourine Man" to the group. He had already recorded the Hillmen doing a bluegrass version of Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In," but he knew the Byrds could meld Dylan to the sound of the Beatles. The Byrds themselves were dubious, but in time developed an appreciation for "Tambourine Man." That song's ride to the top of the charts coincided with Dylan's own turn to rock, "Subterranean Homesick Blues." The first Byrds album sported three other Dylan covers, plus a picture of Dylan onstage with the band. From that point on, the Byrds recorded another eleven Dylan compositions in almost all of their configurations. They also recorded "Ballad of Easy Rider," written by McGuinn around a verse of text by Dylan. An apparent rift developed over the Byrds version of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," but was mended in time.After the Byrds, Dylan appeared on McGuinn's first solo album. Around the same time, McGuinn appeared on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Columbia, 1973), where he played on "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," among other things. Roger McGuinn and Band (Columbia, 1975) featured McGuinn's version of that tune.In 1975, McGuinn joined Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review. His next solo album, Cardiff Rose (Columbia, 1976) featured a cover of Dylan's "Up To Me." In recent years, Dylan joined the McGuinn/Crosby/Hillman Byrds at the Roy Orbison Tribute for a version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" that appeared on The Byrds Boxed Set. The box also featured that threesome doing "Paths of Victory." Soon thereafter, McGuinn played the same song at the Bob Dylan Tribute.The Internet was created by a coalition of the military, academia and the defense industry so that Deadheads and Dylanologists would be able to trade tapes more efficiently. Consequently, there are about 9 billion Dylan sites on the Net. Luckily, you don't have to sort through them, and neither do I, because you can find them all at Bob Links.Walter Egan
Walter Egan enjoyed some attention as a protégé of Lindsay Buckingham, who produced Egan's first solo album as Fleetwood Mac was at the height of its popularity in 1977. Egan subsequently released a number of other albums for Columbia in the late '70s.
The Electric Flag
Like Gram Parsons, the Electric Flag set out to fuse several musical genres -- in their case, rock, blues, soul, and jazz. To sum up their blend, they billed themselves as "An American Music Band." (Not surprisingly, given the similarity in their musical views, the Electric Flag spent some time practicing at the International Submarine Band's Laurel Canyon house.)
The Electric Flag was one of the earliest supergroups. Lead guitarist Mike Bloomfield and vocalist Nicky Gravenites were refugees from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, having played on the first two records by that group (who also backed up Bob Dylan at the watershed 1965 Newport Folk Festival, at which Dylan first "plugged in.") Bloomfield also played guitar on Bringing It All Back Home (Columbia, 1965) and Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia, 1965). Organist Barry Goldberg had played with Mitch Ryder and Steve Miller; drummer Buddy Miles had worked with Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett; bassist Harvey Brooks had played for Bob Dylan and the Doors. The first album by the Electric Flag was the soundtrack to The Trip (Sidewalk, 1967), in which Electric Flag music was played over shots of the International Submarine Band playing. Their major label debut was Long Time Comin' (Columbia, 1968). With its soul-based horn charts, the Electric Flag sound was a rockier version of the later brass-driven music of Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago. Bloomfield left after that LP, and the band broke up after one more lackluster album. Bloomfield then released Supersession (Atlantic, 1968) with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills, and went on to more obscure work solo and with various other musicians. Gravenites joined Big Brother and the Holding Company. Buddy Miles became the drummer for Jimi Hendrix and his Band of Gypsies. Chris Ethridge
Chris Ethridge played bass on Safe at Home (LHI, 1968), the first album by the International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons's pre-Byrds outfit.
After Parsons quit the Byrds in 1968, he called Ethridge, who became the first bassist in the Flying Burrito Brothers. Ethridge wrote the basic melodies for "Hot Burrito #1" and "Hot Burrito #2" from the first Burritos LP. Tiring of the band's lack of success, Ethridge left before the second album. He recorded a solo album, L.A. Getaway (Atlantic, 1971) with help from Joel Scott Hill on guitar and vocals. He also did session work, playing on, among other things, Graham Nash's solo debut, Songs for Beginners (Atlantic, 1971); Graham Nash/David Crosby (Atlantic, 1972); Gene Clark's White Light (A&M, 1972); Roger McGuinn (Columbia, 1973); and all of Ry Cooder's early '70s LPs.In 1974, Ethridge and original Burrito steel guitar player Sneaky Pete Kleinow formed a new "Flying Burrito Brothers," along with ex-Byrd Gene Parsons, fiddler Gib Guilbeau, and Ethridge's old musical partner Joel Scott Hill. After one album, Flying Again (Columbia, 1975) Ethridge departed again, to be replaced on bass by ex-Byrd Skip Battin.Ethridge remains a musician. He has toured and recorded with Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Ry Cooder, among others.[Back to top.]
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