Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band the Byrds and was released in August 1968 on Columbia Records.[6] Recorded with the addition of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, it became the first album widely recognized as country rock[2] as well as a seminal progressive country album,[3] and represented a stylistic move away from the psychedelic rock of the band's previous LP, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.[7] The Byrds had occasionally experimented with country music on their four previous albums, but Sweetheart of the Rodeo represented their fullest immersion into the genre up to that point in time.[8][9][10] The album was responsible for bringing Parsons, who had joined the Byrds in February 1968 prior to the start of recording, to the attention of a mainstream rock audience for the first time.[10][11] Thus, the album is an important chapter in Parsons' crusade to make country music fashionable for a young audience.[12]
This article is about the album by The Byrds. For the country music duo, see Sweethearts of the Rodeo.Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The album was conceived as a history of 20th century American popular music, encompassing examples of country music, jazz and rhythm and blues, among other genres.[8] However, steered by the passion of the little-known Parsons, this concept was abandoned early on and the album instead became purely a country record.[8][13] The recording of the album was divided between sessions in Nashville and Los Angeles, with contributions from session musicians including Lloyd Green, John Hartford, JayDee Maness, and Clarence White.[14] Tension developed between Parsons and the rest of the band, guitarist Roger McGuinn especially, and some of Parsons' vocals were re-recorded, partly due to legal issues.[15][16] By the time the album was released Parsons had left the band.[17] The Byrds' move away from rock and pop towards country music elicited a great deal of resistance and hostility from the ultra-conservative Nashville country music establishment, who viewed the Byrds as a group of hippies attempting to subvert country music.[13]
Upon its release, the album reached number 77 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, but failed to reach the charts in the United Kingdom.[18][19] Two attendant singles were released during 1968, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", which achieved modest success, and "I Am a Pilgrim", which failed to chart.[19][20] The album received mostly positive reviews in the music press, but the band's shift away from psychedelic music alienated much of its pop audience.[21] Despite being the least commercially successful Byrds' album to date upon release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo is today considered to be a seminal and highly influential country rock album.[8]
Legacy[edit]
Released at a time when the Byrds' surprising immersion in the world of country music coincided with their declining commercial appeal, Sweetheart of the Rodeo was an uncommercial proposition.[8] However, the album has proved to be a landmark, serving not only as a blueprint for Parsons' and Hillman's the Flying Burrito Brothers, but also for the entire nascent 1970s Los Angeles country rock movement. The album was also influential on the outlaw country and new traditionalist movements, as well as the so-called alternative country genre of the 1990s and early 21st century.[8][12] Among fans of the Byrds, however, opinion is often sharply divided regarding the merits of the album, with some seeing it as a natural continuation of the group's innovations, and others mourning the loss of the band's trademark Rickenbacker guitar jangle and psychedelic experimentation.[54] Nonetheless, Sweetheart of the Rodeo is widely considered by critics to be the Byrds' last truly influential album.[12][55]
Although it was not the first country rock album,[9] Sweetheart of the Rodeo was the first album widely labeled as country rock to be released by an internationally successful rock act,[2][54][56] pre-dating the release of Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline by over six months.[57][58] The first bona fide country rock album is often cited as being Safe at Home by Parsons' previous group, The International Submarine Band.[9][11][59] However, the genre's antecedents can be traced back to the Rockabilly music of the 1950s, the Beatles' covers of Carl Perkins and Buck Owens' material on Beatles For Sale and Help!, as well as the stripped down arrangements of Dylan's John Wesley Harding album and the Byrds' own forays into country music on their pre-Sweetheart albums.[57][60][61] The Band's debut album, Music from Big Pink, released in July 1968, was also influential on the genre, but it was Sweetheart of the Rodeo that saw an established rock band playing pure country music for the first time.[54][56][57]
The album was included in "A Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[62] In 2003, the album was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[63] 120 in a 2012 revised list,[64] and 274 in a 2020 revised list.[65] Stylus Magazine named it their 175th favorite album of all time also in 2003.[66] It was voted number 229 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).[67]
Sweetheart of the Rodeo went on to inspire the name of the 1980s country duo, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, who paid tribute to the Byrds' album with the sleeve of their 1990 album, Buffalo Zone.[68]
In 2018, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman reunited for a U.S. tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sweetheart of the Rodeo.[69] The duo, who were backed on the tour by Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, performed all of the songs from the album and told stories about its creation.[70]
A live album of recordings from the 50th Anniversary concerts will be released for Record Store Day 2024.[71]