Gene Clark is the first essay author Ray Robertson tackles in his fine new book: Lives of Poets (With Guitars). In it, the accomplished author describes the songwriter as follows:
“Gene Clark, if he could be bothered to read at all, stuck to comic books and the Bible. And whether with the Byrds, Dillard & Clark, or on his own, no one wrote grievy minor-key masterpiece melodies married to Rorschach-test tell-tall lyrics that even come close.”
It’s these masterpiece melodies with unexpected chord changes that first drew The Skydiggers to Clark’s compositions. The Canadian roots-rock band’s main songwriters (Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson) have been fans of The Byrds since they first started playing music in their teens; but, for some reason, Clark’s songs were never on their radar until more recently. This newfound love for an underrated artist is the focus of The Skydiggers new disc: Here Without You: The Songs of Gene Clark, which drops May 13 via Latent Recordings.
“In this discovery we have made a connection to our roots,” explains Maize. “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. Here Without You is our attempt to capture the essence of our roots as distilled through Gene Clark’s songs.”
When Finlayson and I connect, he’s getting set to jet from his Toronto home to Nashville, TN for some songwriting sessions. I ask what prompted the band to take on Gene Clark beyond their love-in for The Byrds? “A lot of those early Byrds’ songs were written by Clark and his background story is very interesting. The New Christy Minstrels discovered Clark in Missouri, in between sets they saw him singing and hired him. That’s how his career was launched in a ‘commerical’ way. The idea was not to do a tribute album, but record and reinterpret some of his songs as fans first.”
Finlayson says his generation was exposed to all of these incredible songwriters – from Hank Williams to Clark – all of who influenced – and continue to have an impact on – the Skydiggers’ roots-rock, country-folk sound.
“The timelessness of Gene’s work is built on a traditional music foundation,” the songwriter explains. “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, and his turns of phrase. It’s all so unique.”
It’s always a challenge for a singer to perform and record another writer’s songs; deep down, you need to feel a connection to the lyric to make your version authentic and heartfelt. Listening to Clark’s songs and the chosen eight that made the final cut on Here Without You, there was this connection that allowed Maize to sell these songs in a new way, to a new audience.
“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,” he observes. “This doesn’t feel like a tribute record, because the songs have always felt personal. It’s hard to explain, but they feel like something we would have or could have written … we’re just very glad Gene Clark wrote them.”
Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies), a long-time collaborator and friend of the Skydiggers produced the project. Listen to the first single: “Eight Miles High” to get a sense of the essence of this project; the haunting, sparse arrangement – featuring a baritone ukelele – shows how the Skydiggers took this Clark classic and reimagined it. Add in the killer harmony by Jessy Bell Smith and some weird, otherworldly synth and this song oozes cool.
“It doesn’t get more bare bones than that,” Finlayson says.
As a songwriter, the Skydiggers’ guitarist is always curious about how other writers approach their craft. “Clark’s writing is fascinating,” Finlayson adds.
Clocking in at only 30 minutes, and featuring eight choice Clark cuts, Here Without You is short and sparse record. Take time to listen though and you’ll want to spend a lot more time with this disc to fully appreciate Clark’s compositions and the way The Skydiggers have masterfully reinterpreted some of the songs he left behind. The brefivity is also appropros to match Clark’s short-lived life; for his death at 46 in 1991 was yet another tragic story of an artist whose time expired far too soon.
“It was an interesting project,” Finlayson concudes. “The songs were already written, so our energy was spent trying to reinterpret and rearrange these songs and figure out how to deliver and sell them. We welcomed this challenge. We’ve been a band for nearly 30 years and these are songs we dug. We wanted to interpret them in a barebones way. We hope it’s interesting to our fans because it was interesting for us. We also hope it exposes more people to Gene Clark. We believe he is underappreciated as a songwriter and he left behind a rich legacy of songs.”
Listen to: “Set You Free This Time.”
Here Without You Track List:
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
