US pioneering folk-rock group 1964-73.
Remembered for their 12-string guitar sound
and the hits `Mr Tambourine Man' (a 1965
version of Bob Dylan's song) and `Eight Miles
High' 1966, they moved towards country rock
in the late 1960s. The Byrds formed in Los
Angeles at the time of the Beatles' greatest
influence, and initially comprised Roger
McGuinn (1942- ), David Crosby (1941-), Gene
Clark (1941-), Chris Hillman (1942-), and
Michael Clarke (1944-), most of whom had a
folk-music background. Before long they went
free-form psychedelic, then country and
western, and dissolved 1973 after many
changes of line-up that left only the
guitarist McGuinn of the original members.