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Originally Posted by craigster59
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That photo made me go Googling...
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The TV, Movie, and Music career of Billy Mumy: interviewed by Harvey Kubernik
Published October 31, 2013 | By Harvey Kubernik
Q: You are a self-admitted Byrds’ freak. I know at Hamilton High School you would scribble Byrds’ lyrics in class. How did that band influence or impact you or subsequent music or even equipment purchases? Is Chris Hillman the most underrated or overlooked musician in history? What kind of impact did Roger McGuinn and his 12-string Rickenbacker have on your life? You still have one.
A: Yeah, the Byrds were “my band” back in the mid 60’s. I used to draw their logo, you know the one from 5D, on my notebooks and stuff. Marta Kristen, who played my sister “Judy” on “Lost in Space”, turned me on to the Byrds in 1965. She turned me on to Dylan too. I would have found ’em on my own, but I’ll always thank her for that. See, it was folk music that made music the most important thing in my life. Specifically, the Kingston Trio’s catalogue. Of course, I came into that a bit late, but when it hit me, it hit me turbo hard. I was a folk music fanatic by 1965. Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, that kind of stuff. One of the things about the Kingston Trio, besides the fact that they had 14 top ten albums, 4 at the SAME TIME in 1959, was they had amazing harmony. Especially the original trio, with Dave Guard before John replaced him in 1962. Dave Guard was the genius in that band. His harmony parts were all over the place. Like… Crosby’s in the Byrds. So… when I heard the Byrds, doing folk songs, with these really interesting harmony parts that Crosby created… I was hooked. Also, they had electric energy and it just got you more excited. Hey, the 60’s were truly special!
Anyway, I never saw the original five Byrds live. I saw them in 68 at the Newport Pop Festival, that was McGuinn, Chris Hillman, and Gram Parsons with Kevin Kelly on drums, I think. Then I saw the Clarence White era Byrds several times… He was an amazing musician. I have a 65 telecaster with a B Bender in it that Gene Parsons installed for me. He actually did it as a favor for Fred Walecki who owns Westwood Music. Gene had stopped installing b benders by then, I got that in ’83, and I knew he was friends with Freddy, so I asked and Fred got it done for me. It’s a great guitar. And I’ve tried to emulate that Clarence White thing on a lot of recordings over the years. I use it quite a lot on the new “Carnival Sky” album.
One of the very best gigs I ever saw was the Byrds at the Ventura Theater. I think it was 1990. It was Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman and David Crosby with John Jorgensen from Hillman’s Desert Rose Band on guitar and the drummer from that band. They were trying to reclaim the name Byrds, cuz Michael Clarke was touring with bands calling themselves the Byrds… anyway… that’s definitely one of the very best shows I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure they were better at that gig than they ever were in the original run. Gene Clark was great though. A really good writer. Chris Hillman was a great and interesting bass player and he of course became a fine writer and singer. He’s certainly covered a lot of ground, from the Byrds to Manassis with Stills, to the big hits of the Desert Rose Band, to his own indie released solo stuff… I bought my 1968 Fender Precision bass because he played one just like it. I sold my comic books to buy that bass back in 68. The Notorious Byrds Brothers album is still a record I listen to all the time. And the ver y first electric guitar I ever bought was a Rickenbacker. I still have ’em both. The Byrds were a big influence on me. I really wish McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman would get together again. That would be really great. I think. But I hear McGuinn won’t do it. Still, you never know… could happen.
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