This year’s End of the Road festival (29 – 31 August 2014) has 34 great acts lined up including some FRUK favourites including Chad Vangaalen, David Thomas Broughton, Felice Brothers, Jenny Lewis, Lau, The Rails, Robert Ellis, Samantha Crain, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, tUnE-yArDs, Wye Oak and Zachary Cale.
If that wasn’t enough they have just announced their final act, the Gene Clark No Other Band.
The Gene Clark No Other Band sees Beach House’s Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen and ex-Fairport Convention member Iain Matthews come together with members of Wye Oak and Celebration to reconstruct the Byrds’ Gene Clark’s 1974 masterpiece No Other.
The output of this all-star cast is one I’d love to see as ‘No Other’ combines many magical moments from the breadth of influences ranging from country rock and folk to gospel and soul to the incredibly poetic song-writing of Gene Clark who is considered by many the father of Americana.
Despite being recognised now as Gene Clark’s masterpiece containing some of his best compositions ‘No Other’ was a commercial failure at the time of its release in 1974. There was a sour reception from many critics who claimed it was “an exercise in studio and financial excess”. Ironically Fleetwood Mac followed the same path just a year and a half later with their self-titled album and then later with Rumours which critics applauded. Both Gene Clark and this album have been grossly under-appreciated through musical history but this is a glowing tribute to the man and his music.
To complement the Gene Clark No Other Band’s performance, the festival has confirmed a special screening of The Byrd Who Flew Alone, 2013’s acclaimed documentary film about the extraordinary life and work of Gene Clark.
http://www.endoftheroadfestival.com/