The Byrds – My Way (Volume 6) is a first-hand description of the inner workings of the Byrds and Burrito Brothers and bands and entertainment events: written by James ‘Jimmi’ Seiter (Road Manager, production manager and so much more for many bands and live events). It sets the record and previous assumptions straight as to what was really going on, from detailed personal, first-hand experience. He takes you on his journey which began in 1966; telling his version of events as he lived them in the form of 60 stories. It elaborates on the hard work that went on behind the scenes which few ever saw, to make the magic of music happen on stage in those days. The book series will recount the daily happenings of a few of America’s foremost Rock/Folk/Pop bands of the 1960’s & 1970’s as well as other production stories which the author was personally involved with along the way. This is Volume 5 there are many more to come so stay tuned and visit the website www.jimmiseiter.com which also has many historical photos.
This book is meant to be a series of 10 volumes and more. The series begins with the Byrds, continues on to the Burrito Brothers (which was a spin off band from the Byrds) then back to the Byrds. It moves on to working with Terry Melcher, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson, Alice Cooper, David Cassidy, and back to the Burrito Bros. II, then into the live recording & Studio recording industries with artists. The author’s path has also crossed with many other great artists such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, and John Denver, to name a few.
The main aim of this book is to report the facts as they happened, through the eyes of the author. After being interviewed (and misquoted) by numerous writers over the years, then reading their interpretation of events, it became clear that people could only report what they had been told, because they were not really there. Their writing is presented as fact and soon the general public takes it as such: but if one tries to justify some of the shows and events in the day to day accounts, it becomes obvious that the authors had access to old information or preliminary schedules, not what actually happened. The ‘facts’ many times are simply not accurate, but because it is written, fans believe it. So yes, bits and pieces of this story have been told, but not as this author know it to be. This body of work has been written purely from memory and my diaries, over a period of more than 20 years, directly from someone who lived it. It has been a long time coming because someone had to step up and say it out loud and I guess that had to be me.