LIVE AT THE FILLMORE; FEBRUARY 1969

The Byrds: Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gene Parsons, John York. Recorded live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California on February 7 & 8, 1969. Includes liner notes by David Fricke. Originally recorded as a soundcheck for the headline attraction, a reunion of Butterfield Blues Band/Electric Flag Alumni, LIVE AT THE FILLMORE captures the Byrds less than a week after the release of DR. BYRDS AND MR. HYDE. By this time, Roger McGuinn was the sole remaining founding member and his band had moved from the Dylan-inspired folk-rock of its origins to more of a country-flavored sound due in part to the seeds planted by one-time member Gram Parsons. Parsons' replacement, Clarence White, carried on and expanded upon the band's country legacy. White gained his fingerpicking expertise as one-half of the seminal bluegrass act the Kentucky Colonels and had been an occasional Byrds sideman since 1967's YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY. The Byrds didn't quite fit in with their self-indulgent jam-band peers--the band was known for playing concise and crystalline recreations of its material while in concert. Standouts captured here include the self-penned instrumental "Nashville West"; a thumbed-nose retort to Nashville, "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man"; and authentically twangy covers of songs from artists including Merle Haggard ("Sing Me Back Home") and Buck Owens ("Buckaroo," "Close Up the Honky Tonks").