John York (musician)

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John York
Birth nameJohn York Foley
Born (1946-08-03) August 3, 1946 (age 76)
White Plains, New York, U.S.
GenresRock, country rock
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Bass guitar, guitar, oud, vocals
Years active1965–present
LabelsTribe, Columbia, Debris, Taxim
Website www.johnyorkmusic.com

John York Foley (born August 3, 1946) [1] is an American bassist and guitarist. He is best known for his work with the Byrds.

Contents

History

Prior to joining the Byrds, John York was a member of the Bees and the Sir Douglas Quintet, and also worked as a session musician for the Mamas & the Papas and Johnny Rivers. [2] He was also the bassist in ex-Byrd Gene Clark's touring band. [2]

York joined The Byrds in September 1968, as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. [3] He remained with the group until September 1969, when he was replaced by Skip Battin. [4]

Despite only being with the Byrds for a year, his bass playing and singing appear on two of the group's studio albums, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde and Ballad of Easy Rider , as well as on the non-album single "Lay Lady Lay". [1] He wrote "Fido", which appears on Ballad of Easy Rider, and co-wrote "Candy", which is included on Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. [4] [5] He also appears on the Columbia/Legacy Byrds' live album Live at the Fillmore - February 1969 . [6]

Following his departure from the Byrds, York worked with Clark during the mid-1980s, along with Pat Robinson, in the group CRY. [7] He served as an integral member of the Tribute to the Byrds band along with Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, Rick Roberts and others in the mid to late 1980s.[ citation needed ]

York has maintained a lengthy career as a guitarist and bass player, and since the 1980s has worked with artists including Chris Darrow, Katie Trickett, Steven T., Nick Binkley, and Carla Olson, among others. [8]

In 1988, he recorded a number of songs with fellow ex-Byrds bass player Skip Battin, and these recordings were issued as the Family Tree album in 2001. [8] He released three solo albums, Sacred Path Songs (1991), Claremont Dragon (1998), and Arigatou Baby (2006), [8] and recorded the albums Clan Mother Songs with Jamie Sams, and Koto with Yukiko Matsuyama. [9] In 2008, York teamed-up with singer-songwriter Barry McGuire for a live tour entitled Trippin' the 60's.

Selected discography

The Bees

Sir Douglas Quintet

The Byrds

The Museuns

John York

CRY

Family Tree

Selected album guest appearances

Related Research Articles

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<i>Ballad of Easy Rider</i> (album) 1969 studio album by the Byrds

Ballad of Easy Rider is the eighth album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in November 1969 on Columbia Records. The album was named after the song "Ballad of Easy Rider", which had been written by the Byrds' guitarist and singer, Roger McGuinn, as the theme song for the 1969 film, Easy Rider. The title was also chosen in an attempt to capitalize on the commercial success of the film, although the majority of the music on the album had no connection with it. Nonetheless, the association with Easy Rider heightened the Byrds' public profile and resulted in Ballad of Easy Rider becoming the band's highest charting album for two years in the U.S.

<i>Turn! Turn! Turn!</i> (album) 1965 studio album by the Byrds

Turn! Turn! Turn! is the second studio album by American rock band the Byrds, released on December 6, 1965, by Columbia Records. Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar. The album's lead single and title track, "Turn! Turn! Turn!", which was adapted by Pete Seeger from text in the Book of Ecclesiastes, had previously been arranged in a chamber-folk style by the Byrd's lead guitarist Jim McGuinn for folk singer Judy Collins' third album, but the arrangement he used for the Byrds' recording of the song utilizes the same folk-rock style as the band's previous hit singles.

<i>Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde</i> 1969 studio album by the Byrds

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<i>Byrdmaniax</i> 1971 studio album by the Byrds

Byrdmaniax is the tenth album by the American rock band the Byrds. It was released in June 1971 on Columbia Records at a time of renewed commercial and critical success for the band, due to the positive reception that their two previous albums, Ballad of Easy Rider and (Untitled), had received. The album was the second by the Byrds to feature the Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gene Parsons, and Skip Battin line-up of the band and was mostly recorded in early 1971, while the band were in the midst of an exhausting tour schedule. As a result, the band had little time to hone their new songs before recording commenced and thus, much of the material on the album is underdeveloped. Byrdmaniax was poorly received upon release, particularly in the United States, and did much to undermine the Byrds' new-found popularity.

<i>Farther Along</i> (The Byrds album) 1971 studio album by the Byrds

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The Best of The Byrds: Greatest Hits, Volume II is the third greatest hits album by the American rock band the Byrds, but only the second to be released in the United States, since the earlier The Byrds' Greatest Hits Volume II had only been issued in the UK. The album was released in the U.S. by Columbia Records on November 10, 1972 in lieu of any new Byrds' product during that year. It spent a total of thirteen weeks on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and peaked at number 114.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eight Miles High</span> 1966 single by the Byrds

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">She Don't Care About Time</span> 1965 single by the Byrds

"She Don't Care About Time" is a song by American folk rock band the Byrds. It was released on a non-album single in October 1965, as the B-side to "Turn! Turn! Turn!". The song was written by Gene Clark, the Byrds' main songwriter between 1964 and early 1966. "She Don't Care About Time" was recorded during sessions for the group's second album Turn! Turn! Turn!. The song is on most of the band's hits compilations.

References

  1. 1 2 "John York Biography". Taxim Records. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House. p. 279. ISBN   0-9529540-1-X.
  3. Hjort, Christopher (2008). So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965–1973). Jawbone Press. pp. 190–191. ISBN   978-1-906002-15-2.
  4. 1 2 Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House. pp. 295–299. ISBN   0-9529540-1-X.
  5. Rogan, Johnny (1997). Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (CD booklet). The Byrds. Columbia/Legacy.
  6. Fricke, David (2000). "Knights on the Road". Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 (CD booklet). The Byrds. Columbia/Legacy.
  7. Einarson, John (2005). Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark. Backbeat Books. pp. 264–265. ISBN   0-87930-793-5.
  8. 1 2 3 "John York Discography". Byrds Flyght. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  9. "John York Bio". johnyorkmusic.com. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  10. "John York on Outsight Radio Hours" . Retrieved July 19, 2015.