A jazz buff and recording engineer, Jim Dickson was in the right place at the right time during the early '60s folk-rock boom of L.A. A part-time engineer at World-Pacific studios, by the time Dickson met the fledging Byrds he had already recorded hip comedian Lord Buckley as well as started his own publishing company by launching Dino Valenti's "Get Together" into hit status. Having access to World-Pacific at night, Dickson began recording the folkies who played at the Troubador, people such as David Crosby, Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn. After the three singers assembled a backing band (Chris Hillman on bass and Michael Clark on drums) Dickson became their manager and, through his show business friends such as Jack Nicholson and Albert Grossman, created a grass roots following around the band that was able to catch the attention of radio and record industry heavies.