Joseph Byrd - Additional Information

Additional Information

In 1975, Byrd released a record of synthesized Christmas Carols, A Christmas Yet to Come (Takoma C-1046) and in 1976, Yankee Transcendoodle (Takoma C-1051) an LP of synthesized patriotic music in conjunction with the United States Bicentennial. The irony of the latter release, in particular, in comparison to Byrd's musical broadside against President Lyndon Johnson on The American Metaphysical Circus less than a decade earlier, is a topic for consideration, however, Byrd has a long-standing interest in American patriotic and popular music.

In the early 1970s Byrd taught at California State University, Fullerton, where he introduced one of the first courses in American music (offered as part of the American Studies curriculum). He also did extensive research into the history of American popular music, culminating in a third Takoma LP "Sentimental Songs of the Mid-19th Century," by the American Music Consort (Joseph Byrd, Director - Takoma A-1048 - 1976). and the 6-sided LP set "Popular Music In Jacksonian America" (Musical Heritage Society MHS834651 - 1982).

He also has scored a number of films, including Agnès Varda's 1969 "Lions Love", Bruce Clark's 1971 "The Ski Bum" with Charlotte Rampling and Zalman King, "The Ghost Dance" (1980) and Robert Altman's ill-fated "H.E.A.L.T.H.", which was originally shot in 1979, but had its U.S. release delayed until 1982 because of a shakeup in the management of 20th Century Fox.

Joseph Byrd arranged and produced Ry Cooder's critically acclaimed 1978 Jazz album, and provided an arrangement and electronic music for "Crucifixion" from the 1967 Phil Ochs record Pleasures of the Harbor. Byrd also wrote commercially for advertising and television, including a theme for the "CBS Evening News", developed sounds used in Mattel toys, and created the electronic/modified voice sound effects for the drones in Douglas Trumbull's Silent Running (which may have been later adopted for the "voice" of R2D2 in the first Star Wars movie). In the late 1990s Byrd produced and recorded two albums of klezmer music.

Byrd has recently been active working in collaboration with the Norwegian improvisation group Spunk and UK sound art unit Dreams of Tall Buildings. For White Elephant, a collaboration between these three parties, he created a graphic score to be performed by Spunk alongside electroacoustic sounds by Dreams of Tall Buildings. White Elephant was premiered at Sonic Arts Network's Expo festival in Manchester, UK on 24 June 2006.

In the present day, Byrd's fan base in the U.S. is likely exceeded by his following in Europe, particularly the UK, where he has been cited as a spiritual mentor to such important contemporary British bands as Radiohead, Broadcast, and Portishead.

He presently lives in northern California, where he teaches music history and theory, and has also taught songwriting under the supervision of Dr. Ed Macan at College of the Redwoods. He also writes a regular food column for the North Coast Journal in Humboldt County, California.