According to pitchfork.com, Joseph Byrd, the co-founder composer, and bandleader of the psych-rock outfit United States of America, has died, reports The New York Times. His family confirmed the news in a notice to The Los Angeles Times, stating that Byrd died on November 2, at home in Medford, Oregon. He was 87 years old. United States of America wrote songs that were equal parts hypnotic and otherworldly, pushing listeners to reconsider what they could take away from music.
Although the band only released one album during their brief two year run, they earned a cult following and made a traceable impact on the evolution of psych-rock and experimental pop, likely influencing the wave of Krautrock that would follow as well as bands like Stereolab, Broadcast and Portishead. Born on December 19, 1937, in Louisville, Kentucky, Byrd was raised in Tucson, Arizona, where he learned how to play accordion and vibraphone, joined a number of pop and country bands, and tried his hand at writing song arrangements.
He quickly scaled his way through academics, going to University of Arizona to study composition and later, a graduate program at Stanford University before leaping to University of California, Berkeley. Over the years, Byrd studied under Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and eventually John Cage, the latter of whom spent additional time tutoring him in New York City. Byrd felt at home in New York’s flourishing arts scene, debuting his first concert in 1961 in Yoko Ono’s apartment following an introduction from La Monte Young.
Later, Byrd worked as an assistant to composer Virgil Thomson and performed minimal music compositions during his own recital at Carnegie Hall. In 1963, Byrd left for Los Angeles with his then-girlfriend Dorothy Moskowitz. It was there that he joined the communist party, started a blues band with his new friend Linda Ronstadt and began producing experimental arts events.
In 1967, Byrd and Moskowitz co-created United States of America to see what would happen by combining avant-garde rock music with electronic sound, political radicalism, and performance art. Armed with early synthesizers and an eagerness for tape manipulation, United States of America (Byrd, Moskowitz, Gordon Marron, Rand Forbes, Ed Bogas, and Craig Woodson) pushed the boundaries of prog-rock and psych-pop in the name of experimentalism. They recorded their first and only album, The United States of America, in December of that year with producer David Rubinson behind the boards. Byrd co-wrote the majority of the songs and played the electric harpsichord, organ, calliope, piano, and synthesizer, while Moskowitz sang lead vocals.
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