John Mallon discusses the Byrds and their progeny in NRO:

I am in the land of giants!" Chris Hillman exclaimed as he stepped onstage at the Double Stop Music Hall in Guthrie, Okla. Hillman should know something about giants - despite his unassuming presence, he is a giant in the history of American music. An inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hillman was one of the original members of the legendary group the Byrds, one of the first and most credible American responses to the British invasion of the mid Sixties. The Byrds were a uniquely American phenomenon, and are credited with launching two genres of music - folk rock and country rock - that have profoundly influenced the history of American music and the generations of musicians that followed.

The Byrds had a way of spawning legends. The original members were already veterans, though barely out of their teens. Leader Roger McGuinn, then known as Jim, had been a backup musician for the Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and Bobby Darin. Hillman had already recorded as a mandolin player in bluegrass bands. Gene Clark had toured and recorded with the New Christy Minstrels. David Crosby was an aspiring folkie in the L.A. club scene, and the otherworldly, childlike drummer Michael Clarke was, according to legend, discovered playing bongos on the beach and was invited to join the band on account of both his great hair and his resemblance to Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones.

McGuinn was the innovator who created the Byrds's so-called "jingle jangle" sound on his twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar. Crosby became known for his exquisite harmony vocals, while Gene Clark wrote and sang songs of such emotional depth and power that they broke hearts. Hillman took up bass guitar, bringing to the band the melodic sense of someone who already had a reputation for playing Coltrane solos on a mandolin. Michael Clarke, a self-taught drummer - and who, like contemporaries Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Ringo Starr of the Beatles, and Keith Moon of the Who, was not of the Buddy Rich school - played with a unique grace and soaring beauty which complemented the band's sound perfectly.

The original members evidently had temperaments to match their talent, and the Byrds were to gain and lose many members, among them several legends-to-be. Clarence White, for instance, was a country-influenced guitar legend who invented a gadget that fit inside his Fender Telecaster guitar and on which one could bend notes by moving the bridge by applying pressure on the guitar's neck. Tragically, while crossing a street after a performance White was killed by a drunk driver.

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