The United States of America (band)

Background and formation Composer Joseph Byrd and lyricist and singer Dorothy Moskowitz first met in New York City in early 1963 when Byrd was working on a recording of Civil War period music for Time-Life. A devotee of composer Charles Ives, Byrd had already become a respected and innovative composer, involved in experimental music as part of the Fluxus movement with John Cage, Morton Feldman, La Monte Young, David Tudor, Yoko Ono and others. Later in 1963, Byrd and Moskowitz moved together to Los Angeles, where Byrd started a doctorate in ethnomusicology at UCLA. According to Moskowitz: "Joe brought with him a New York avant-garde cachet... a background in electronic music... and composing skills... He attracted immediate attention. Exciting musicians, dancers and visual artists sought collaboration with him. The talent pool for what eventually became the USA was sourced from this group." Both Byrd and Moskowitz also contributed to an album of Indian raga music by Gayathri Rajapur and Harihar Rao, recorded in 1965 Byrd became increasingly attracted to radical politics, and became a member of the Communist Party, explaining that it was "the one group that had discipline, an agenda, and was willing to work within the existing institutions to educate and radicalize American society." He left UCLA, but continued to stage performance art events, albeit on a reduced budget. After their personal relationship broke down in 1966, Moskowitz returned to New York, but she and Byrd stayed in contact. In early 1967 Byrd started to form a rock band with another politically radical composer, Michael Agnello, together with Moskowitz, bassist Stuart Brotman (previously of Canned Heat and later of Kaleidoscope), and African drumming expert Craig Woodson who had also been involved in the New Music Workshop. Audition recordings by this version of the band, from September 1967, are included on some later CD reissues. However, Agnello left the project on a point of principle when a commercial recording contract with Columbia Records was being considered, and Brotman also left. Among other effects, Marron used an octave divider on his electric violin, and Woodson attached contact microphones to his drum set and hung slinkies from his cymbals for a musique concrète effect. Byrd said: The demo recorded by the band secured the interest of Clive Davis at Columbia. Through their friend David Rubinson—who had started working for Columbia as a record producer, for bands and musicians including Moby Grape and Taj Mahal—they gained a recording contract. Byrd explained: Electronic devices were used live as well as on the album, to process other instruments and Moskowitz's voice as well as providing their own musical textures. The marching bands were arranged and conducted by Byrd, rather than being taken from existing recordings. Break-up The band fell apart shortly after their album was released. One factor was disagreement between Byrd, Marron and Bogas over musical direction, with Marron's promotion of lighter "McCartney-esque" Marron, Forbes and Bogas left the band after their East Coast tour in spring 1968. After Byrd also left, Rubinson and Moskowitz attempted to keep the band name alive, and Moskowitz recorded several tracks in July 1968 with a new and more conventional band of Los Angeles musicians: Jeff Marinell (guitar), Richard Grayson (keyboard), Carmie Simon (bass), and Dennis Wood (drums). Their recordings surfaced on the 2004 CD reissue of The United States of America. However, plans to continue with the band soon came to nothing. ==Reception and legacy==

The album was described by critic Richie Unterberger as "a near classic", "a tour de force (though not without its flaws) of experimental rock that blended surprisingly melodic sensibilities with unnerving blasts of primitive synthesizers and lyrics that could range from misty romanticism to hard-edged irony. For the relatively few who heard it, the record was a signpost to the future with its collision of rock and classical elements, although the material crackled with a tension that reflected the United States of America itself in the late '60s." Describing Moskowitz's vocals as "reminiscent of an icier Grace Slick", he also said that the electronic textures crafted by Byrd "were not simulations of strings and horns, but exhilarating, frightening swoops and bleeps that lent a fierce crunch to the faster numbers, and a beguiling serenity to the ballads." According to Unterberger, "the very fact that the equipment was so primitive... lent a spontaneous resonance and warmth that has rarely been achieved by subsequent synthesizer technology." Producer David Rubinson commented: According to critic Kevin Holm-Hudson, "what distinguishes the United States of America from some of its contemporaries... is the seriousness and skill with which they incorporated avant-garde and other influences into their music." Despite the widespread support of music critics, the album sold poorly and soon disappeared—at least in the US, although in the UK it remained fondly remembered, in part because of one track ("Wooden Wife") being used on a popular budget-price CBS sampler album, The Rock Machine Turns You On. The band was later described as an influence by several British bands, including Portishead and Broadcast. The band's album was first reissued on CD in 1997, and in an expanded edition by Sundazed Music in 2004. ==Later activities==

• Joseph Byrd (1937–2025) went on to record a second album for Columbia, The American Metaphysical Circus, credited to Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, in 1969. Byrd also released a number of additional recordings under his own name, as well as scoring films, writing music for television and commercials, and working as a music producer. In the 1970s he founded the Yankee Doodle Society, dedicated to the popular music of the mid-19th century, and released several albums of songs of the period. He was married, lived in northern California near the Oregon border, and from 2000 had taught music-related classes at the College of the Redwoods. • Dorothy Moskowitz (born 1940) later became a member of Country Joe McDonald's All-Star Band, touring and recording with them and appearing on McDonald's 1973 album, Paris Sessions. She also composed theater music, recorded commercials, and sang jazz in clubs. She has developed a number of other music projects in the San Francisco Bay area and lives in a suburb of Oakland, California. • Gordon Marron (born 1943) became a Los Angeles studio musician on recordings by David Ackles, Carole King, Alice Coltrane, Helen Reddy and others. He co-wrote the Vic Dana song "The Love in Your Eyes", and worked on film soundtracks with composer Reid Reilich. He later moved to Kauai, Hawaii, where he continues to perform on violin and keyboards. • Craig Woodson (born 1943) gained a doctorate from UCLA and recorded with David Ackles, Linda Ronstadt and others before starting a small business making ethnic musical instruments in the 1970s. He also worked as a percussion teacher, lecturer and consultant, as well as presenting educational concerts and touring with the Kronos Quartet. He won several patents for musical instrument technology, and led a three-year project in Ghana producing instruments for use in local schools. He founded Ethnomusic, Inc., a world music education consultancy, in 1976. For two years, he was senior director of education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He later lived in Ohio. In 1998, Woodson arranged a ceremony to apologise for his white ancestors' involvement in the slavery that had oppressed members of Carter G. Woodson's family. Following the reconciliation, both sides of the family developed the Black White Families Reconciliation (BWFR) Protocol, using the creative arts, particularly drumming and storytelling, with the aim of healing racial divides within black and white families who share a surname. • Ed Bogas (born 1942) composed soundtracks for Peanuts and Garfield TV cartoon specials and for Ralph Bakshi's film Fritz the Cat. • Rand Forbes (January 28, 1947–December 23, 2020) became a software engineer. He worked as an Oracle database administrator, and owned a software development company. He later lived in the Cleveland, Ohio area, close to Craig Woodson. He died in 2020 following a lengthy illness and after contracting COVID-19. ==Discography==

Studio albums : Singles • "The Garden of Earthly Delights" / "Love Song for the Dead Ché" (CBS 3745, UK, 1968) • "Hard Coming Love" / "Osamu's Birthday" (Sundazed, 2004) ==References==