POP REVIEW : Ex-Byrd Soars on His Own at the Cinegrill

Wearing gray tails and tie, Byrds co-founder Gene Clark looked as if he’d come straight from the group’s January induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as he began a five-night run at the Cinegrill on Tuesday.

You couldn’t blame him if he wanted to draw attention to the accolade. He’s been largely shut out of the Byrds’ glory over the years--a secondary figure to Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman and David Crosby, even though he was at least as integral to the band’s pioneering folk-rock in its formative heyday.

But the show Tuesday wasn’t about the past. Clark did make a couple of references to Ciro’s, the Hollywood club where the Byrds played in the mid ‘60s, and made a territorial claim on “Eight Miles High” and “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,” the only two Byrds songs he performed in his 75-minute set.

But that was it for the Byrds ties. Where McGuinn’s recent music has invited us to bask in the eternal youth and freshness of the Byrds, Clark instead reminded of the toll of the time between then and now--his craggy face and tired eyes matched his weathered voice and weary tunes. Yet there was a sense of triumph, confidence, and even freshness in his performance.

First acoustic, then with a loose but solid four-piece band and later in duet with sometimes collaborator Carla Olson, Clark concentrated on material from his 25 post-Byrds years: a catalogue of involved, involving and evocative folk-country songs that may be the richest of the various ex-Byrds’ work.

The biggest toll of the years may be obscurity; the opening-night show drew only a few dozen people. But Clark, who continues through Saturday, took that in stride. Before singing Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” to end the show, he noted, “I remember Ciro’s the first night. The Byrds walked out on stage and there were about 10 people, and they all left. But two weeks later there were lines down the street.”