The Byrds Lyrics Page

The Byrds were back in the studio in 1969 to record the album "Dr.Byrds And Mr.Hyde", released in March with a new Dylan song "This Wheel's On Fire" and some strong McGuinn compositions, one of them a collaboration with Gram Parsons from the "Sweetheart" days, "Drug Store Truck Drivin'Man". The new line up could set stages on fire, especially with White's lead playing but missed the vocal quality of the original band.

Dillard & Clark recorded their second album "Through The Morning, Through The Night" in the summer of '69 with the help of Hillman, Sneaky Pete amongst others. Bernie Leadon had quit the band before to join the Burritos. The album included some Clark classics like "Kansas City Southern" and "Polly" but missed the freshness of the recordings in '68. Michael Clarke joined the band in summer but became jobless again when Dillard & Clark broke up.

Michael found a new engagement in the Flying Burrito Brothers the same year and took part on the recording of the group's second album "Burrito Deluxe", released in May 1970. Soon after its release founder member Parsons was fired because of his unreliability towards band's obligations. He was replaced by Rick Roberts with whom the Burritos recorded their third album "The Flying Burrito Brothers" in 1971.

Another change within the band happened in 1969 with the quitting of Chris Ethridge who was replaced by Bernie Leadon. The band's last album "The Last Of The Red Hot Burritos" was recorded live in 1971 and released in February 1972. At that time the line up had changed again with Al Perkins replacing Sneaky Pete on pedal steel guitar and Kenny Wertz replacing Bernie Leadon on guitar. Bernie Leadon had left after their third album to form The Eagles.
After the "Red Hot" release Hillman called it a day and disbanded the group. Relived in 1975 by Pete and Ethridge and performing in different line-ups this kind of Burritos never found the acceptance of Hillman.

After having been fired from the Byrds David Crosby found new partners in Stephen Stills (ex-Buffalo Springfield) and Graham Nash (Hollies) to form American supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash. Their first album "Crosby, Stills And Nash" became a huge success with its sparkling harmonies and fantastic guitar work. CSN were accompanied by Dallas Taylor on drums.

The Byrds recorded the album "Ballad Of Easy Rider" in the autumn of 1969 bringing the band back to a minor fame. The bad times for McGuinn were over and there was even a new audience especially in Europe that didn't mourn after the loss of the original members but enjoyed the Byrds' full power stage appearances.