The Musician That Prompted David Crosby’s Split From the Byrds

The Byrds might have technically fired David Crosby, but on an emotional and creative level, he had already split from the folk-rock outfit because of one musician in particular. The folk rocker opened Crosby’s eyes to what musical innovation could really look and feel like, and Crosby wanted to be a part of it.

And by 1968, he was.

This Musician Helped David Crosby Split From The Byrds

David Crosby was a rhythm guitarist and vocalist in the original lineup of the Byrds, an American rock band that helped capture the musical essence of the 1960s with songs like “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The harmonies the Byrds became famous for helped lay the groundwork for Crosby’s future creative endeavors, but it would take the arrival of a ripping guitar player to really show Crosby just how much he was artistically diverging from his bandmates.

“What happened is that I encountered Stephen Stills, and he swung really hard,” Crosby later recalled in a 2021 interview with Uncut. “He could play a kind of music that the Byrds couldn’t play, and it appealed to me tremendously. I wanted that, and I really didn’t want to go in the direction that Chris [Hillman, bass] and Roger [McGuinn, lead guitar] wanted to go in, of becoming more country. I’m glad they did go there because they kinda invented that country-rock stuff, and they did a really good job. But it wasn’t where I wanted to go.”

“Could I have done more with the Byrds?” He continued. “Yeah, sure. But human lives do not go on parallel paths, and we’re all always getting closer or further away from the people around us.”

A Starting Point Rather Than The Peak

Although the Byrds enjoyed tremendous success in the mid-1960s, like so many other bands that came before and after them, clashing egos became too much to handle. David Crosby was and continued to be incredibly outspoken, even when it might be better to use more discretion. After making a series of political comments at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, the tensions among the Byrds reached an all-time high. Ultimately, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman decided to fire Crosby. While Crosby would later admit the decision was painful, he also said it turned out to be for the best.

“They gave me a platform to get good,” Crosby said of the Byrds in a 2018 interview with Mojo Magazine. “Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young gave me a shot at having the tools to work with. In Nash, an incredible harmony singer; in Stills and Young, incredible writers and incredible guitar players. They had a lot to give. Roger McGuinn was at least half of what happened with the Byrds. Credit where it’s due, man. Those guys gave me music to work on that was spectacular.”

But, Crosby said, “Stills’ songs? Are you kidding me? Those rock ‘n’ roll hits that we had? A great platform to learn on, great bands to be in.”

Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns