Geffen told Roberts he was ultra-ready to start an agency of his (or their) own. Roberts’ list shifted Geffen’s gears from medium up to high. Talking again to Geffen, who now worked in the Ashley Famous agency, Roberts showed him a list of folk-rock names he’d come up with, musicians to form a new band with David Crosby. (Geffen had helped Roberts before, when Elliot was signing Neil Young to Reprise’s Mo Ostin.) To assemble that new group, Elliot turned to his agency colleague, David Geffen. Then Roberts had grown to “manage” David Crosby, but now that The Byrds, for Crosby anyway, were over, Elliot sought to assemble another group for his client. Joni and David Crosby became even closer.īoth Elliot Roberts and another young “wanna-be” named David Geffen had worked in the same spot: the mail room at Hollywood’s William Morris Agency, a hot spot for movie stars, less hot for record business stars. She really hadn’t felt like she ever needed a manager, so she and Elliot just became close friends. So, he bought a boat.Ĭrosby also had a manager who hung with him: a wry guy named Elliot Roberts.Įlliot Roberts had earlier come into music with a major fascination named Joni Mitchell. He already had a VW bus with a Porsche engine. Upon exit, Crosby even got a buy out fee of $10,000. It bought Crosby out of his contract without a whimper. The Byrds’ record label, Columbia, was not upset. To his fellow Byrds, Crosby became a pain. He made no secret about his dissatisfaction, being just a Byrd with no jet engine. He wanted his Byrds to be in one of those hard-sound bands, like Jefferson Airplane. Crosby found the San Francisco scene addictive, more so than Laurel Canyon’s sweet passivity. In 1967, The Byrds played at the Monterey Pop Festival. Tambourine Man.” The Byrds’ version came out in folk- rock, with amps and speakers plugged into folk guitars. If there was one act that might have been of interest, that one was The Byrds, David Crosby’s folk- rock group, which back in 1965 had a hit on Columbia with Bob Dylan’s “Mr. The folkies up there were not making big bucks enough to interest agents or managers. They seldom had music agents or career managers. In the late ‘60s, living up in Laurel Canyon, most folk music folks hung loose. Records executive and industry insider Stan Cornyn ruminates on the past, present, and future of the music business. Every Tuesday and Thursday, former Warner Bros.

Crosby stills and nash album list