Skydiggers Announce Here Without You – The Songs Of Gene Clark
Iconic Toronto Band Interpret The Work Of Byrds Songwriter For New Album, Out May 13
Album Release Shows On May 12 & 13 At Hughโs Room
Latent Recordings
On Skydiggersโ new album, Here Without You โ The Songs of Gene Clark, one of Canadaโs most treasured bands interprets the work of one of the worldโs most treasured songwriters.ย The album, to be released May 13 via Latent Recordings, is an eight song collection which covers, and in some cases radically reinvents, such timeless Gene Clark compositions as The Byrdsโ classics โEight Miles Highโ and โFeel A Whole Lot Betterโ in the JUNO Award winning Skydiggersโ equally timeless folk pop style. Delivered in a stark, haunting manner, the intimate album was recorded by Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies), who serves as producer.
โIt 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,โ says Skydiggers. โIn 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. Our album Here Without You is our attempt to capture the essence of our roots as distilled through Gene Clark’s songs.โ
Even if youโre not familiar with the name Gene Clark, thereโs a good chance you know his music. 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. 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. 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. Kanye West even sampled The Turtlesโ version of Clarkโs โYou Showed Meโ on his record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Life.
Guitarist Josh Finlayson explains, โthe timelessness of Geneโs work is built on a traditional music foundation. 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. Itโs so unique.โ
Singer Andy Maize adds, โGene first found fame with The Byrds, but he cut his musical teeth as a folk singer. 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.โ
The record also shines a light on Clarkโs lesser-known solo work. The title cut โHere Without Youโ is remade as a piano lament between Maize and singer Jessy Bell Smith. โOne In A Hundredโ, written for a 1970 scuttled Byrds reunion LP, is propelled by acoustic guitar with shadings of electric guitar. โSo You Say You Lost Your Babyโ takes on a sinister treatment with simmering feedback and white noise rumbles. The tricky, staccato lyrical flow of โSet You Free This Timeโ is expertly negotiated by Maize and Jessy Bell Smith.
Finlayson says, โitโs Geneโs sense of melody, his use of chords, his way with a lyric that we connected with so strongly. 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.โ
Here Without You is a singular achievement and finds common ground in the same generosity of spirit found in both Clarkโs songs and more than 25 years of Skydiggers music.
โSkydiggers have always enjoyed including covers in our live shows, but there is something about Gene Clarkโs songs that struck a deeper chord with us,โ observes Maize. โThis doesnโt feel like a tribute record, because the songs have always felt personal. Itโs hard to explain, but they feel like something we would have or could have written โ weโre just very glad Gene Clark did write them.โ
Tour Dates
April 30 – Bayfield, ON – Ashwood Bourbon Bar (Sold Out)
May 12/13 – Toronto, ON – Hughโs Room (On Sale Thursday, March 24)
The Skydiggers
Here Without You – The Songs Of Gene Clark
(Latent Recordings)
Release Date: May 13, 2016
Here Without You – The Songs Of Gene Clark Tracklist
1. 8 Miles High
2. Here Without You
3. One in a Hundred
4. Set You Free This Time
5. Feel a Whole Lot Better
6. The World Turns All Around Her
7. So You Say You Lost Your Baby
8. She Don’t Care About Time
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