 On January 20 , 1965 , the Byrds entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record " Mr. Tambourine Man " for release as their debut single on Columbia . Since the band had not yet completely gelled musically , McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on " Mr. Tambourine Man " and its Gene Clark penned B @-@ side , " I Knew I 'd Want You " . Rather than using band members , producer Terry Melcher hired a collection of top session musicians , retroactively known as the Wrecking Crew , including Hal Blaine ( drums ) , Larry Knechtel ( bass ) , Jerry Cole ( guitar ) , and Leon Russell ( electric piano ) , who ( along with McGuinn on guitar ) provided the instrumental backing track over which McGuinn , Crosby and Clark sang . By the time the sessions for their debut album began in March 1965 , however , Melcher was satisfied that the band was competent enough to record its own musical backing . However , the use of outside musicians on the Byrds ' debut single has given rise to the persistent myth that all of the playing on their debut album was done by session musicians . 
