Benefit show pays tribute to Byrds founder Gene Clark at the Chapel
SAN FRANCISCO -- The fifth edition of Here Tonight: A tribute to the music of Gene Clark comes to the Chapel Friday with an array of artists playing the Byrds founder and country-rock pioneer's songs.
Organized by musician Eric Shea (Mover, Parchman Farm, Sweet Chariot, Hot Lunch), the evening is patterned after Shea's long-running Sleepless Nights tribute to country-rock icon Gram Parsons with artists covering tunes written by Clark during his tenure with the Byrds as well as music from his roots band Dillard and Clark and solo albums.
Inspired by country legend Hank Williams and the early rock of Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, Clark began writing tunes at an early age while growing up in Kansas City. He went from leading his own folk group to being discovered by the New Christy Minstrels and playing on two of their albums in the early '60s before following his dreams to Los Angeles and starting the Byrds with Roger McGuinn.
Taking cues from the Beatles vocal harmonies and ringing Rickenbacker guitars as well as Bob Dylan's socially conscious anthem -- the Byrds were the first group to cover "Mr. Tambourine Man" for their debut single -- the band's electrified take on folk rock put them on the map among hitmaking American bands of the era. Clark wrote or co-wrote a number of the quintet's hits including "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" and "Eight Miles High" before tensions between members led to his early departure.
Columbia would sign Clark to a solo deal on the strength of his songwriting, releasing his first album Gene Clark and the Gosdin Brothers in 1967, but its well-reviewed mix of pop, country and psychedelia was overshadowed by the latest Byrds hit effort Younger Than Yesterday. The songwriter would briefly rejoin the Byrds before teaming with Doug Dillard for the new band Dillard & Clark with future member of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles Bernie Leadon. The group's first album from 1968, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark, has been hailed as a country-rock cornerstone.
Clark would leave that band after its second album as it moved in a more traditional bluegrass direction. The songwriter would step away from the music business for a time, eventually returning to his solo career with White Light (a collaboration with guitarist Jesse Ed Davis), Roadmaster and the stunning 1974 recording No Other. While the albums would not find commercial success when released, they would later be hailed as remarkable achievements and cited as an influence on later alt-country bands and tunesmiths.
Disappointed with the music not finding a larger audience, Clark would record more sporadically while still performing live into the late '70s -- touring and recording with McGuinn and Chris Hillman -- and the '80s. At one point playing billed as a tribute to the Byrds when his former bandmates refused to reunite the group. A collaboration with Carla Olson in 1987, So Rebellious a Lover, would revive Clark's career, but health issues from his long dependency on drugs and alcohol as well as a bout of throat cancer would lead to a fatal heart attack brought on by a bleeding ulcer in 1991, just months after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Byrds that included the band playing together for the first time in years at the ceremony.
In addition to renowned LA folk-rock outfit GospelbeacH and Shea's roots-minded pub rock band Sweet Chariot -- who put out their first album Lean Into the Breeze on Who Can You Trust? Records, the label for Shea's other band, proto-metal/skate punk quartet Hot Lunch -- this latest edition of Here Tonight held at the Chapel in San Francisco will also feature Gene's son Kai Clark, local alt-country legend Paula Frazer of Tarnation fame, honky tonk crew Noelle & The Deserters, indie-pop band the Moore Brothers, noted songwriters Derek See, Jill Olson Graham Norwood, Andrés Miguel Cervantes and Tom Heyman (Go To Blazes, the Court and Spark, Chuck Prophet, John Doe), and Ride the Blinds and Sweet Chariot guitarist Chris Guthridge fronting his group Sour Flower. The benefit will raise funds for Nuçi's Space, a nonprofit based in Athens, GA (where Shea has relocated) that works on suicide prevent with an emphasis on the mental health of musicians.
Here Tonight 5: A Tribute to the Music of Gene Clark
Friday, April 21, 8 p.m. $20-$25
The Chapel