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MUSICIANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BYRDS
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Jerry Jeff Walker
Kenny Wertz
Jerry Wexler
Roland White
Neil Young
Like several members of the Byrds, Austin singer- songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker melded folk, country and rock in his music. His most famous composition is "Mr. Bojangles," a 1970 hit for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
In the mid-'70s Walker became associated with the outlaw country movement of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Since 1969 Walker has released albums on Atlantic, MCA, Elektra, Ryko, and Vanguard. Former Byrd Michael Clarke played with Walker in the early '80s. Chris Ethridge has also played behind Walker. There is an official Jerry Jeff Walker Home Page.Kenny Wertz
Kenny Wertz started out playing banjo in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers with Chris Hillman and Larry Murray. In 1962 Wertz left, to be replaced on banjo by Bernie Leadon.
In 1971, Wertz joined fiddler Byron Berline and bassist Roger Bush in bluegrass trio Country Gazette. The Gazette was almost immediately absorbed into the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the three appear on their final LP, Last of the Red Hot Burritos (A&M, 1971). Banjo player Alan Munde joined for a tour of Europe in 1971, and the four resumed playing as Country Gazette in 1972, recording Traitor in Our Midst (United Artists, 1972). Wertz soon left, to be replaced on guitar by Roland White, brother of Clarence White. In the '80s, Wertz played on Chris Hillman's Morning Sky (Sugar Hill, 1982).Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler is among the most important record producers in the history of popular music. As a co-owner of Atlantic Records from 1953 to 1978, Wexler produced such R&B artists as LaVern Baker, Joe Turner, the Drifters and Ray Charles. During the '60s, Wexler produced Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin.
In the '70s, Wexler produced such artists as Dr. John, Dusty Springfield, and Bob Dylan. In 1978, Wexler became a vice president of Warner, Atlantic's parent since 1968. Wexler produced the album McGuinn/Hillman (Capitol, 1981). Wexler had family ties to the duo: he was for a time married to a sister of Chris Hillman's wife, Connie.A more complete account of Wexler's stellar career can be found in his recent autobiography written with David Katz, Rhythm and the Blues (Knopf, 1994).Roland White
Clarence White's brother Roland has had a long and distinguished career in bluegrass music, as both a mandolin and guitar player. From 1954 to 1961, he was the mandolinist and the guiding force of the Country Boys and their successor, the Kentucky Colonels.
The Colonels folded in 1965. With brother Eric but not Clarence, Roland briefly mounted a new version of the Colonels in early 1967, but gave that up after getting an offer to join Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, where he worked as a guitarist.After his stint with Monroe, Roland White joined Lester Flatt's band, Nashville Grass. In 1973, Roland and Clarence White toured with brother Eric and Alan Munde as the White Brothers, also known as the New Kentucky Colonels. After the death of Clarence White, Roland replaced Kenny Wertz in Country Gazette. Roland White stayed with that band through many years, albums, and personnel changes.In 1988, Roland White replaced Mike Compton as the mandolinist in the Nashville Bluegrass Band. You can learn more about Clarence's brother on Roland White's Bluegrass Mandolin Page.Neil Young
Of all the musicians to emerge from the Southern California folk rock scene in the mid-'60s, none has remained more vital than Neil Young. In the nearly 30 years since the first Buffalo Springfield album, Young has produced album after album of intelligent and passionate music -- sometimes quiet, sometimes loud; sometimes with Crazy Horse, sometimes solo, sometimes with others; sometimes commercial, sometimes not; sometimes rock, sometimes country, sometimes almost any other genre one could name. By adhering to his own idiosynchratic musical vision, Young has become an icon to several generations of punk bands without losing his fans in the singer-songwriter and "classic rock" camps.
There's just too much to say about Neil Young to do it here, but here's a mini-discography of Young's albums since 1966: Buffalo Springfield (Atco, 1966); Buffalo Springfield Again (Atco, 1967); Last Time Around (Atco, 1967) (with Buffalo Springfield); Neil Young (Reprise, 1968); Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Reprise, 1969) (with Crazy Horse); Déjà Vu (Atlantic, 1970) (with Crosby Stills Nash & Young); After the Gold Rush (Reprise, 1970); Four Way Street (Atlantic, 1971) (with Crosby Stills Nash & Young); Harvest (Reprise, 1972); Journey Through the Past (Reprise, 1973) (compilation/ soundtrack); Time Fades Away (Reprise, 1973); On the Beach (Reprise, 1974); Tonight's the Night (Reprise, 1975) (with Crazy Horse); Zuma (Reprise, 1976) (with Crazy Horse); Long May You Run (Reprise, 1976) (with the Stills-Young Band); American Stars & Bars (Reprise, 1977) (with Crazy Horse); Decade (Reprise, 1977) (3LP anthology); Comes A Time (Reprise, 1978); Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise, 1979) (with Crazy Horse); Live Rust (Reprise, 1979) (with Crazy Horse); Hawks & Doves (Reprise, 1980); Re-ac-tor (Reprise, 1981) (with Crazy Horse); Trans (Geffen, 1982); Everybody's Rockin' (Geffen, 1983) (with the Shocking Pinks); Old Ways (Geffen, 1985); Landing On Water (Geffen, 1986); Life (Geffen, 1987) (with Crazy Horse); This Note's For You (Reprise, 1988) (with the Bluenotes); American Dream (Atlantic, 1988) (with Crosby Stills Nash & Young); Freedom (Reprise, 1989); Ragged Glory (Reprise, 1990) (with Crazy Horse); Weld (Reprise, 1991) (and Arc (Reprise, 1991)) (with Crazy Horse); Harvest Moon (Reprise, 1992); Unplugged (Reprise, 1993); Sleeps with Angels (Reprise, 1994); Mirror Ball (Reprise, 1995) (with Pearl Jam), Broken Arrow (Reprise, 1996).There are lots of Neil Young sites on the Web, of which I prefer HyperRust.[Back to top.]
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