Kevin Kelley played drums on one Byrds studio album and then he was gone from the credits for good. That turnover is what the map is for. It also makes a good gift for Byrds fans, because no discography listing shows it.
My Byrds discography map plots every studio album from 1965 to 1973 and the musicians credited on each one, so the turnover is visible at a glance instead of buried in twelve sets of sleeve notes.
Kelley's one record was Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968. He is not the only name with a single column ticked. The people who vanish, the ones who come back and the session players who outlast the members are the real story here.
The Byrds Discography Tube Map Art Print
Album by album line-up changes drawn as tube lines, so the shifting membership reads at a glance.
Explore This Art PrintThe Original Five, Counted Album by Album from 1965 to 1973
Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke are all on Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965. Four years later, on Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, one of them is left. This is the count I worked from when I built the map.
| Album | Original five credited | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) | 5 of 5 | Hal Blaine, Jerry Cole, Larry Knechtel and Leon Russell play tracks one and eight |
| Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965) | 5 of 5 | Terry Melcher adds organ on "He Was a Friend of Mine" |
| Fifth Dimension (1966) | 4 full members, Gene Clark on two songs only | Michael Clarke picks up harmonica on "Captain Soul" |
| Younger Than Yesterday (1967) | 4 of 5 | Clarence White, Hugh Masekela, Vern Gosdin and Van Dyke Parks guest |
| The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) | 5 of 5, heavily qualified | Jim Gordon and Hal Blaine drum, Gary Usher plays Moog, a string and brass cast arrives |
| Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968) | 2 of 5 | Gram Parsons and Kevin Kelley in, plus Lloyd Green, JayDee Maness and John Hartford |
| Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969) | 1 of 5 | Clarence White, Gene Parsons and John York become the band |
| Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) | 1 of 5 | Byron Berline on fiddle, Glen D. Hardin on organ for "Gunga Din" |
| (Untitled) (1970) | 1 of 5 | Skip Battin replaces John York, Gram Parsons sings on "All the Things" |
| Byrdmaniax (1971) | 1 of 5 | Larry Knechtel returns after six years, Jackson Browne on piano |
| Farther Along (1971) | 1 of 5 | Charles Lloyd on saxophone, John Guerin on drums, Buddy Emmons on pedal steel |
| Byrds (1973) | 5 of 5 | All five originals back, none of the 1969 to 1971 line-up present |
A Gift for Byrds Fans Who Argue About Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The Sweetheart column is the one people stand in front of. Two originals, McGuinn and Hillman, alongside Gram Parsons, Kevin Kelley and a Nashville cast that runs to Lloyd Green, JayDee Maness, John Hartford, Earl P. Ball and Roy Husky. If the person you are buying for has ever claimed that record is barely a Byrds album, that column is their argument, set in print.
A2 (420 x 594mm) suits a hallway or the wall above a record player, and prices start at £42. A1 (594 x 841mm) is the one to choose if they will genuinely read the names, because the guest credits on Sweetheart and Byrdmaniax sit in the smallest type on the sheet. Both sizes come unframed or in a black wood frame.
Clarence White Guests on Two Songs in 1967 and Is Still There in 1971
Clarence White first appears as a guest, playing guitar on "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name" on Younger Than Yesterday in 1967. He then plays on The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart of the Rodeo, joins properly for Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, and stays through Ballad of Easy Rider, (Untitled), Byrdmaniax and Farther Along.
That is seven consecutive albums of credits, longer than any of the original five except McGuinn managed. White was killed by a drunk driver in July 1973 at the age of 29, and he is not on the reunion album released that year. Gram Parsons died two months later.
Michael Clarke, Jim Gordon and Hal Blaine All Drum on The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Michael Clarke's 1968 credit is not simply "drums". It is drums on six named tracks: "Artificial Energy", "Draft Morning", "Old John Robertson", "Tribal Gathering", "Dolphin's Smile" and "Universal Mind Decoder". Jim Gordon covers five more, including "Goin' Back" and "Wasn't Born to Follow", and Hal Blaine takes "Get to You" and "Change Is Now".
Crosby and Hillman are itemised the same way on that record, song by song rather than album wide. It is the clearest evidence anywhere on the map that the band was coming apart while the tape was rolling. A fan who has never worked out who plays what will lose an evening to this corner of the print.
Gene Clark Leaves in 1966 and Returns as a "Possible" Backing Vocal
Gene Clark is a full member on the first two albums. On Fifth Dimension in 1966 he is reduced to vocals on "Eight Miles High" and "Why", including the alternate RCA versions, with tambourine on one of them. He is absent from Younger Than Yesterday altogether.
On The Notorious Byrd Brothers his entry reads "possible backing vocal" on the master of "Goin' Back" and on "Space Odyssey". I have left that hedge in rather than tidying it into a firm credit, because 1960s session paperwork is far patchier than anything from the 1980s onwards. Where the documentation is uncertain I would rather show the uncertainty than invent a clean answer.
One Line Per Player, and Arrangers Do Not Count
The test I apply is whether the credits show someone actually playing. Arranging for other players to play does not clear it. Terry Melcher clears that bar four separate times: organ on "He Was a Friend of Mine", a backing vocal on "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" on Ballad of Easy Rider, piano on "All the Things" and "Truck Stop Girl" on (Untitled), and piano again on Byrdmaniax.
Gary Usher qualifies too. He produced The Notorious Byrd Brothers and is also credited with Moog synthesizer, percussion and backing vocals on it.
Allen Stanton does not qualify. His only credit on the whole grid is the string section arrangement on "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley", and arranging strings is not playing an instrument. It is a rule I apply to every map.
Larry Knechtel Plays on Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965 and Byrdmaniax in 1971
The hired hands outlast the members. Larry Knechtel plays electric bass on tracks one and eight of Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965, next to Hal Blaine, Jerry Cole and Leon Russell. He reappears six years later on Byrdmaniax, playing piano on five tracks and organ on two.
His first and last Byrds credits are six years apart, a wider span than Gene Clark, David Crosby or Michael Clarke managed in one stretch. Byrdmaniax also carries Jackson Browne on piano and Merry Clayton singing in the choir on the opening track. Point that out to a Wrecking Crew obsessive and the gift justifies itself.
The Bits of the Line-Up That Trip People Up
Did all five original Byrds play on Sweetheart of the Rodeo?
No. Only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman are on it from the original five, joined by Gram Parsons and Kevin Kelley, with Clarence White on electric guitar.
Did Gram Parsons ever record with the Byrds again after 1968?
Once, in a small way. He is credited with a backing vocal on "All the Things" on (Untitled) in 1970, the same song Terry Melcher plays piano on. It is his only later credit on the grid.
Did the original five ever get back in a studio together?
Yes, on Byrds in 1973, where McGuinn, Clark, Crosby, Hillman and Michael Clarke are all credited. None of the 1969 to 1971 line-up appears on it.
What is the print itself like?
Every one is a Giclée on 230gsm textured matte fine art paper, archival and acid-free, in A2 (420 x 594mm) or A1 (594 x 841mm), from £42. The A1 is the sensible choice for a band with this much small print.
Who Else Was Playing in California in 1968
The map itself is here: The Byrds Discography Map art print. If their shelf runs deeper than one band, three others sit beside it.
The Beach Boys discography map shares several of the same Los Angeles session players, Hal Blaine and Leon Russell among them. The Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers map picks up the jangle a decade on. The Fleetwood Mac map is the other great study in a band swapping members and surviving it.
There are seventy maps in the Music Wall Art Prints collection if none of those three is right. For a Byrds fan, though, my advice is to buy the A1 and let them find Kevin Kelley on their own.
