Roots rock fans should bow down and give thanks to Collector's Choice for this recent release. Not only will fans of the genre be absolutely thrilled with some previous unreleased live work from former Byrd Gene Clark, but having ex-Textone Carla Olson along for the ride is a double treat.

Not only is Olson a great singer/songwriter in her own right, but her work with Clark in the '80's was Clark's most fruitful partnership since he left the Byrds. Clark seemed to shine whenever Olsen was nearby and both artists always brought their A-games whenever they decided to work together.

Thanks to these newly discovered live recordings, we can once again marvel at Clark's gifts and the fabulous interplay he had with Olson. Though Clark always faired better as a team player than he did on his own (as his history tends to bear out), he was a marvelous artist and one of rock's best songwriters.

If nothing else, his brief sojourns with The Byrds prove this to be true.

While he was only with the band for two brief stretches, Gene Clark will always be best known for being a part of the earliest incarnation of the Byrds (1964-1966) for which he wrote and sang lead on some of the band's best known songs ("Eight Miles High," "Feel A Whole Better," and "Here Without You.").

But before his stint with the Byrds, he was a part of folk-pop group The New Christy Minstrels, who scored a few hits on the pop charts in the early '60's. Thankfully for fans of country-rock, he eventually became tired of the Minstrels constant touring and quit the band. He met Jim McGuinn (who later changed his name to Roger) and together they formed the Byrds, becoming forerunners of the influential country-rock sound which would eventually influence artists like Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles, among many others.

As previously mentioned, Clark's time in the Byrds was brief with contributing factors such as a fear of flying and growing resentment from the others for his dominant songwriting skills leading to his exit. Clark was immediately signed by Columbia as a solo act, but his debut solo album did very little business, due to his teaming with the Gosdin Brothers for an interesting record. Seems the world wasn't ready for a total rock/country hybrid at that point in time, though the album was brilliant in execution.

Clark's next project was met with the same indifference as his album with The Gosdins. After the album with Gosdin failed to sell, Columbia dropped him and he signed with A&M Records. This time, Clark teamed up with Doug Dillard in another attempt to blend country and rock but after two albums, indifference from the public caused the collaboration to disintegrate. It wasn't until 1971 that Clark's first solo project was issued. Entitled White Light, it didn't sell well in America but sold decently overseas, which gave Clark the opportunity to record his next album for the overseas market only.