David Crosby, one of three living original members of the Byrds, says he’s ready to reunite the legendary jangle-rock group — but erstwhile leader Roger McGuinn isn’t interested.
Crosby, a member of the group over its career-making first four years and then again over three other stints, last took the stage with McGuinn and fellow co-founder Chris Hillman as the Byrds in 2000. Original songwriter Gene Clark died in 1991; drummer Michael Clarke passed two years later. Over that time, Crosby has made several key returns with his other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame outfit, the typically-bickering Crosby Stills Nash and Young.
But not the Byrds. McGuinn, it seems, is happier on his own. “I’d love to work with Roger again,” Crosby tells Radio.com. “He doesn’t want to do it. If he doesn’t want to do it, I’ve got to respect that. You know, he wants what he’s doing — and I do respect it.”
McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman briefly reunited in the late 1980s, principally in a failed effort to secure the copyright for the Byrds’ name. The same trio also recorded four new tracks for inclusion on 1990’s Byrds box set, though all five took part in the group’s 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A one-off reunion in support of an ailing friend followed in 2000, even as Crosby finally secured the rights to the Byrds.
So far, however, that impromptu gathering at a August 8, 2000 tribute concert for an LA music srore owner remains the Byrd’s last collective statement. “I know that Chris and I would love to do it, because there’s music there still to be made,” Crosby adds, laughing. “And I know exactly how to fly wingman to Roger. I’ve got that down.”
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Bummer !