Compiling every known oddity, including a 1968 radio spot, this collection ought to thrill every existing fan of this work. But this new four-LP edition, originally compiled for compact disc in 2003, is the absolute mother lode of outtakes, alternate versions, and work tapes. A significant number of alternate masters featuring Parsons’ vocals began to trickle out on the 1991 The Byrds box set and the 1997 remastered CD of Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The 11 tracks on the original LP offer up a sublime cross-section of traditional standards, country classics, a Stax/Volt cover, two songs from Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, and two Parsons originals. Ostensibly, Parsons was still under contract with the International Submarine Band to Lee Hazelwood’s LHI label when recording commenced, and thus many of his original contributions to Sweetheart of the Rodeo were removed. After an era of producing and refining psychedelic music during 1965–67, Sweetheart of the Rodeo was perhaps the most surreal adventure the Byrds had ever embarked upon. The fact that a bunch of pot-smoking longhairs were playing music typically espoused by so-called rednecks made for a rich confluence that confounded most listeners at the time. It certainly would have taken a far more circuitous route to arrive at Poco, Workingman’s Dead, the Eagles, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, or countless others who added a rock ‘n’ roll backbeat to the pedal steel twang and close harmonies of traditional country music. Sweetheart of the Rodeo has been cited as one of the first “country rock” albums, a designation that Parsons hated-he preferred to call his unique synthesis of C&W, R&B, soul, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll “Cosmic American Music.” Whatever you call the sounds on Sweetheart of the Rodeo there is no denying that it served as a substantial game changer for anyone who considers themselves part of the “Americana” movement from the last three decades. And if that fact has been somewhat obscured by the 11-track version of the LP that originally came out in August of ’68, this revised 50th anniversary four LP Legacy edition for Record Store Day proves beyond a doubt what sort of influence Parsons had over the Byrds musical direction, if only for a season or two. Whether he was officially a Byrd or not, there is absolutely no denying that the musical direction of Sweetheart of the Rodeo was directed lock, stock, and barrel by Gram Parsons. It was an exercise for us-Country Music 101.” But I loved it, ‘cause it was my kind of music.
He was not a member of the Byrds, ever-he was on salary, as was my cousin, but he just took over. The powerbase of decision-making within the Byrds rested with McGuinn and Hillman, with Hillman asserting how “Gram was a hired. With the addition of Hillman’s cousin Kevin Kelley on drums, this is the quartet that went to Nashville in the spring of ’68 to record the revolutionary Sweetheart of the Rodeo LP. When Hillman happened upon singer/songwriter Gram Parsons, a kindred spirit hailing from Waycross, Georgia, Parsons convinced McGuinn to drop the overreaching concept and stick to making a straightforward country album. Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn! Turn!, Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday, and The Notorious Byrd Brothers-they had already accomplished that in a less concise manner. In actuality, if you trawl through the first five Byrds LPs- Mr. But when guitarist Roger McGuinn and bassist Chris Hillman were reduced to a duo after drummer Michael Clarke also left the fold, it was time for a serious re-evaluation of where the band’s future lay.Īfter signing a new contract with Columbia Records, McGuinn wanted to pursue a double LP concept, tracing the development of American music through pre-Civil War folk tunes, jazz, blues, country/western, rock ‘n’ roll, and electronic synthesizer experimentation: space rock. When founding member David Crosby was ousted from the Byrds toward the end of 1967 due to conflicting agendas/egos within the group, it was the second significant departure from the quartet that had managed to thrive after vocalist/songwriter Gene Clark’s exit the year before.
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