“This doesn’t feel like a tribute record, because the songs have always felt personal. Here Without You is a singular achievement and finds common ground in the same generosity of spirit found in both Clark’s songs and more than 25 years of Skydiggers music. “Skydiggers have always enjoyed including covers in our live shows, but there is something about Gene Clark’s songs that struck a deeper chord with us,” observes Maize.
He never enjoyed the level of success or recognition he deserved during his lifetime, but his songs endure and it is a privilege to interpret his work.”
Eight miles high chords free#
The tricky, staccato lyrical flow of “Set You Free This Time” is expertly negotiated by Maize and Jessy Bell Smith.įinlayson says, “it’s Gene’s sense of melody, his use of chords, his way with a lyric that we connected with so strongly. “So You Say You Lost Your Baby” takes on a sinister treatment with simmering feedback and white noise rumbles. “One In A Hundred”, written for a 1970 scuttled Byrds reunion LP, is propelled by acoustic guitar with shadings of electric guitar. The title cut “Here Without You” is remade as a piano lament between Maize and singer Jessy Bell Smith. The record also shines a light on Clark’s lesser-known solo work. One of the goals of the record was to peel away the Sunset Strip sound of his best known recordings and rediscover the traditional core of the music.” Singer Andy Maize adds, “Gene first found fame with The Byrds, but he cut his musical teeth as a folk singer. But as we pulled the songs apart and listened to some demo versions of his songs, we began to hear how innovative and unusual his approach was the way he could go from major to minor chords, the way the chords are suggested by the melody, his turns of phrase. Guitarist Josh Finlayson explains, “the timelessness of Gene’s work is built on a traditional music foundation. Kanye West even sampled The Turtles’ version of Clark’s “You Showed Me” on his record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Life. Everyone from The Eagles and Tom Petty to This Mortal Coil Linda Ronstadt to Paul Weller Robert Plant & Alison Krauss to Teenage Fanclub have recorded his songs. Since his death in 1991 at 46, compilations and collections of unreleased material have added to his song catalog and songwriters and singers have been effusive in praising his work and raiding his songbook.
He was a founding member of iconic 60s group, The Byrds, and went on to make many more solo records after parting with the band. Our album Here Without You is our attempt to capture the essence of our roots as distilled through Gene Clark's songs.”Įven if you’re not familiar with the name Gene Clark, there’s a good chance you know his music. “In this discovery we have made a connection to our roots not just to the roots of folk rock and the Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, or Gene Clark in the New Christy Minstrels, style of folk singing but back to the Appalachians and across the ocean to the songs of the Brits and the Scots. “It seems like we've been fans of The Byrds forever, so to say that we've just discovered Gene Clark's songwriting contributions to the band makes it seem like he's been hiding in plain sight all of these years,” says Skydiggers.