The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo

The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo

1968

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl & Compact Discus

Track Listing: 1. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere  2. I Am a Pilgrim  3. The Christian Life  4. You Don't Miss Your Water  5. You're Still on My Mind  6. Pretty Boy Floyd  7. Hickory Wind  8. One Hundred Years from Now  9. Blue Canadian Rockies  10. Life in Prison  11. Nothing Was Delivered
Bonus Tracks: 12. You Got a Reputation  13.  Lazy Days  14. Pretty Polly  15. The Christian Life (Rehearsal – Take #11)   16. Life in Prison (Rehearsal – Take #11)  17.You're Still on My Mind" (Rehearsal – Take #43)  18. One Hundred Years from Now (Rehearsal – Take #2)  19. All I Have Are Memories (Instrumental)


We're going to kick today off with a quick list of my favorite cowboys...

Cowboy Curtis...

  Slim Chipley...

Crazy Cowboy Don...

Troy Aikman... 

 ...and why are we discussing cowboys today? Because we're listening to "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" by the Byrds...This is the album where the band is joined by druggy cowboy Gram Parsons, who brings his signature "Cosmic American Music" style to the Byrds....Originally he even sang a great deal of the songs, but his vocals were replaced by Roger McGuinn, although Gram does still provide vocals on three songs...Most notably the sweet, nostalgic, slow-country jam "Hickory Wind" which pretty much steals the show...

It's remarkable, the degree to which Gram hi-jacks the Byrds for this one album...Their distinctive jangle is completely absent, replaced by country-rock twang and pedal steel guitars...Hell, the only original songs on the albums are written by Gram...But don't fear the covers...Reinterpretation of others material was always an area where the Byrds excelled...And it's no different here...



The album starts with a stupendous cover of the "Basement Tapes" highlight, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," and I swear to God this is the group's hands-down best Dylan cover...I think it's the only time the Byrds version is truly superior...This works well as an opener, bridging the gap between the more psychedelic "Notorious Byrds Brother" and the more straightforward C&W sound of the remainder of the album...The album also closes with another "Basement Tapes" cover..."Nothing Was Delivered," which is probably the most rocking moment on the record and a killer closer to boot...

 In between those towering moments, we mostly have the band tackling old country tunes and some Woody Guthrie folk...County music isn't a genre I'm very knowledgeable about, so most of these songs were new to me...If I didn't have the liner notes to tell me otherwise, I'd probably just assume the Byrds wrote 'em all...

I love their take on the Louvin Brothers "The Christian Life." See, I know next-to-nothing about the Louvin Brothers...The only thing I know about them is that they made one of my favorite album covers of all time...



But apparently the Louvin Brothers wrote a great song called "The Christian Life," and the Byrds do a  hilariously pious version of it that's incredibly catchy to boot...

"I won't lose a friends by heeding God's call
For what is a friend who'd want you fall?
Others find pleasure in things I despise
I like the christian life..."

It just sounds so funny coming from the Byrds, and McGuinn sings it in an exaggerated, cartoonish  drawl...Kind of a close relative to the cartoonish twang Mick Jagger used on the more rustic material on "Beggar's Banquet" which was released later the same year...

Come to think of it, most of the popular bands were doing country-rock in '68...



The Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet

The Beatles: White Album (on certain tracks like "Rocky Raccoon" they tackle pretty much the same brand of old timey country)



Neil Young"Neil Young (which kicks off with a mighty hoe-down...)




...and shortly afterwards Dylan would release "Nashville Skyline," although I would argue the rustic, woodsy feel of 1967's "John Wesley Harding" probably kicked this whole country-rock thing off in the first place...



So yea, something was definitely in the water in 1968, and the Byrds arguably drank the best of it...I still hear "Sweetheart of the Rodeo's" strong influence to this day, whenever a rocker busts out a pedal steel, it can usually be traced back in some way or another to this album, and just about every alt-country band I've ever heard owes more than a small debt to what Gram Parsons and the Byrds accomplished here, so let's check out "Hickory Wind" by the Byrds...Enjoy...