Sweetheart Of The Rodeo [Remaster]

Performer: The Byrds
Engineer: Roy Halee; Charlie Bragg
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: The Byrds: Roger McGuinn (vocals, guitar, banjo); Gram Parsons (vocals, guitar); Chris Hillman (vocals, bass, mandolin); Kevin Kelley (drums). Additional personnel: John Hartford (guitar, banjo); Clarence J. White (guitar); Lloyd Green, Jaydee Maness (steel guitar); Earl P. Ball (piano); Roy M. Huskey (bass); Jon Corneal (drums). Producer: Gary Usher. Reissue producer: Bob Irwin. Includes liner notes by David Fricke and Johnny Rogan. In the same year that Bob Dylan stepped back from his electric pilgrimages by releasing an album of roots-oriented morality tales, the Byrds took a symbolic flight to Nashville. Gone was Roger McGuinn's singular 12-string guitar sound and the acid rock that had influenced everyone from the Monkees to the Velvet Underground. McGuinn now played banjo, and bassist Chris Hillman doubled on mandolin, both seemingly reconsidering their musical approaches. And while Dylan remained the songwriter of choice, his tunes now sat alongside a rearranged hymn ("I Am a Pilgrim"), a bluegrass version of a famous outlaw tale (Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd"), and a cover of the Louvin Brothers ("The Christian Life"). This was a musical turn, turn, turn, indeed. The obvious catalyst for all this reconstruction was the arrival of young Gram Parsons, and SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO played as if it was his coming-out party. He introduced McGuinn to a musical world that seemed totally foreign to these predecessors of the Summer of Love, but one which lay a scant hundred miles outside their L.A. windows, in Bakersfield. Parsons' most important act was to help shape the overall sound of the album, but he contributed two original songs as well--"One Hundred Years From Now" and his signature compostion "Hickory Wind." SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO caused an entire musical community to reconsider the musical traditions of America.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.124) - Ranked #117 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "[D]ressing Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard songs in steel guitar and rock & roll drive, setting the stage for country rock." Rolling Stone (6/12/97, p.114) - "...Remixed and reshuffled, with Gram Parsons' vocals front and center, this sparkling reissue gives revisionist history a good name..." Rolling Stone (9/14/68, p.20) - "...The material they've chosen to record, or rather, the way they perform the material, is simple, relaxed and folky. It's not pretentious, it's pretty. The musicianship is excellent..." Entertainment Weekly (4/4/97, pp.81-82) - "...sounds sharper [than the original pressing]...and outtakes featuring Gram Parsons add a rustic postscript. Anyone taken with the '90s alt-country of Wilco should visit this more authentic RODEO..." - Rating: A Q (9/00, p.134) - Included in Q's "Best Alt.Country Albums Of All Time". Q (4/97, p.140) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...their most influential album, a landmark at a crucial junction on pop's long, dusty road..." Q (1/04, p.130) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[S]pawning several generations of rockers who were a lil' bit country." Down Beat (8/97, p.61) - 1/2 stars (out of 5) - "...the best of the pack....a full immersion into bluegrass, country and gospel..." Dirty Linen (12/03, p.59) - "...Without a doubt the album most influential for generations of musicians interested in fusing country and rock..." Musician (6/97, p.86) - "...there was a time before the Eagles, when the Byrds made the steel guitar acceptable to hippies...The 20-bit remastering seems to add overtones to everything without adding anything to the price, and the five extra cuts...offer an illuminating glimpse into how they worked..." Blender (Magazine) (p.82) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t now sounds like a prophecy of the way Nashville and L.A. embraced each other in the '70s."

Adding ringing electric guitars to Bob Dylan songs, the Byrds helped invent folk-rock, as well as becoming early proponents of psychedelia and popularizing country-rock with the help of alt-country saint Gram Parsons. Led by Roger McGuinn and his distinctive Rickenbacker guitar sound, the mid-1960s lineup--also featuring David Crosby, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman--achieved fame with their unique take on Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." Personnel changes resulted in a core band of only McGuinn and Hillman, but the short-lived addition of Parsons allowed for the creation of the landmark SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO album. Ultimately, McGuinn assumed full control of the Byrds legacy, and their harmonies and jangly guitars have influenced countless younger bands.

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