The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Brock Pfaff -

Artist: The Byrds

Album: Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Released: August 30, 1968

Label: Columbia

Artist: The Byrds

Album: “Sweetheart of the Rodeo”

Released: August 30, 1968

Label: Columbia

Band Members

  • Roger McGuinn - acoustic guitar, banjo, vocals
  • Chris Hillman - electric bass, mandolin, acoustic guitar, vocals
  • Gram Parsons - acoustic guitar, piano, organ, vocals
  • Kevin Kelley - drums

Additional Personnel

  • Lloyd Green – pedal steel guitar
  • JayDee Maness – pedal steel guitar
  • Clarence White - electric guitar
  • John Hartford - banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitar
  • Roy Husky - double bass
  • Earl P. Ball - piano
  • Barry Goldberg - piano

Growing up, there were very few times when I had an appreciation for country or folk music. Sometime in high school that began changing when I started doing deeper dives into artists I enjoyed and their influences. Artists like Jack White had me going down rabbit holes of delta blues and American roots music. I would follow those bread crumbs forwards in time taking me down roads that passed Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan and then going back and finding the exits I missed that introduced me to Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and the nearly infinite styles of jazz. But, the one thing that solidified my now love for country and western music was the soundtrack to the movie Easy Rider.

Without going on too much of a rant on how much I love Easy Rider and it’s soundtrack (because I am supposed to be telling you about an entirely different album but definitely go watch that movie if you haven’t seen it) songs like Fraternity of Man’s “Don’t Bogart Me”, The Holy Modal Rounders’ “If You Want to be a Bird” and The Byrds’ “Wasn’t Born to Follow” had me questioning why I had waited so long to check out old school country music. I didn’t know much about the Byrds other than “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” so I committed to seeing what they were all about.

I started where all good information seeking journeys start, Wikipedia. I saw that the one constant member of the band was founding member Roger McGuinn. I had only seen that name in one other place before then and that was as the artist that sings “The Ballad of Easy Rider”. That pretty much hooked me in for a full examination of The Byrds. The next thing that grabbed my attention was reading about how when Gram Parsons joined the band he started pushing them to try out a little more country and a little less psychedelic elements in their songs. Parsons' influence was what ultimately led to the recording of Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

Though most sources list this album as “country rock”, it is a whole lot more country than anything else. More songs than not have some very Bakersfield pedal steel guitars or more Appalachian style instruments like fiddles and banjos. The vast majority of tracks are either covers of classic country songs or country reimaginings of other popular songs. Despite a lack of original material, The Byrds capture an authentic and quintessentially country sound on this album.

Top Tracks:

3: “The Christian Life”

I would definitely say taking on a Louvin Brothers song is a BOLD move but The Byrds manage to maintain the original spirit of the track while giving it a little more rugged and peppy feel. The Byrds are one of the few groups from the psychedelic sixties that can do the harmonies on this track any justice. They mostly manage that by doing it in their style and not trying to do the impossible task of sounding like Charles and Ira Louvin.

4: “You Don’t Miss Your Water”

Sticking with the theme of this album, The Byrds put their own spin on another already incredible song. In this instance, the original is a soul song from William Bell. This is far and away my favorite song on this album and one of my favorite country songs period. It has all the stuff you’d want to hear when you are looking for classic country music. There is a bouncy honky tonk piano, a waltzy backbeat, some high lonesome vocals, and a velvety pedal steel guitar part (played by JayDee Maness, the guy who plays pedal steel on all three of my “Top Tracks”). It all comes together into a masterclass in, let me say it one more time, COUNTRY MUSIC.

5: “You’re Still on My Mind”Like “The Christian Life” The Byrds rework this well known and often covered song and give it the Sweetheart treatment. Luke McDaniel’s original work is sped up and filled out with all of the ingredients that make the rest of this album so iconic sounding. The main thing that puts this song above others is that the lyrics are incredibly stereotypically country and I love it. It is just a song about being heartbroken and getting drunk and there isn’t anything much more country music than that.