Michael Nesmith of the “Monkees” performing in Grass Valley on May 3

By The Center for the Arts

The comparatively level-headed member of ’60s teen sensation the Monkees, Michael Nesmith was the most proficient instrumentalist in the group and wrote their best in-house songs, rootsy pop numbers like “Papa Gene’s Blues,” “You Told Me,” “You Just May Be the One,” and “Tapioca Tundra.”

In fact, he had written many songs before even joining the group, and one of his compositions, “Different Drum,” was a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys in 1968.

After he left the Monkees one year later, it wasn’t a surprise that he became the only one of his bandmates to sustain a solo career; in fact, his ’70s LPs were among the most groundbreaking country-rock recordings of the era.

Throughout the 1970s and into the ’80s, Nesmith continued to record sporadically, though his communications company Pacific Arts began taking up more of his time by the early ’80s. Pacific Arts proved to be an important pioneer in the development of music video, the concept he had furthered in the rough-and-tumble pace of the Monkees’ TV show.

Nesmith, born in 1942 in Houston, listened to the blues and played saxophone while growing up. After spending two years in the Air Force, however, Nesmith became fascinated with folk music and learned to play the guitar.

He played around the area, but then moved to Memphis to play backup on recordings for Stax-Volt. Nesmith was in Los Angeles by the mid-’60s, and formed the folk-rock duo Mike and John with John London. He also recorded several singles as a solo act before auditioning to join the Monkees in 1965.

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