Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Feelings froze.

When The Byrds released Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968, they were a rock band based in LA making a hard turn toward Nashville, Bakersfield, bluegrass, and a little honky-tonk.

And it was so striking, so powerful that many think it helped open the door to what we'd eventually call country rock and later Americana music.

Ooh, we ride me high.

Because, um, 'cause Graham had just such a powerful personality, and just his love of music, his, of country music was so passionate, he got them all excited about cutting all these country songs.

So they ended up, uh, cutting the record, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which is one of the coolest album covers of all time.

Mm-hmm.

Um, cutting it down in Nashville.

I mean, they did have, you know, Columbia had Johnny Cash, but of course, he was a whole different ballgame.

And I mean, even if you ...

I think on the Legacy reissue of Sweetheart of the Rodeo, you can hear the commercial-

Mm-hmm

Mm-hmm.

But famously covered by, um, The Byrds in their classic record, The Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which sometimes considered, like, the first classic rock album.

And Israel Nash is releasing, uh, this Friday, a re-imagination of Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which may or may not ruffle a few feathers because it is, you know, a beloved album.

And, you know, when people cover albums that some consider to be perfect, it's like, uh, you know, people get upset sometimes.

Similarly in the world of country music, there's Louvin Brothers, uh, who were, um, the kind of country gospel duo of, of the '50s, and, um, and they fell out [laughs] re- They're two brothers, one of whom was a, a complete reckless, hard-drinking fool, and the other one was a mild-mannered, you know, church [laughs] going stay-at-home.

And they fell out really badly, you know? And, um, and of course people still sing their songs, you know, If I Could Only Win Your Love and all these kind of things that The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo is half made up of Louvin Brothers songs, I think.

Emmylou Harris did Louvin Brothers songs.

And they're all songs about devotion to each other, which was not reflected in [laughs] any aspect, any aspect of their life.

Graham was trying to get this kind of shit going in The Birds.

He was on the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album.

He was trying to take the birds into, you know, like, sincere country territory.

But Roger McGuinn couldn't help but be ironic and shit and make fun of it all, which is why when you listen to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, McGuinn sings a lot of those songs.

There's actually, I think there's like a deluxe version of this record called um where there's this bonus disc and you can hear these original takes with Graham Parsons singing some of these songs and you can see how Roger McGuinn actually like took over and uh he kind of wanted to you know he kind of wanted to make fun of the whole like it's like you know how Mick Jagger whenever the Stones do a country thing he's always like putting on this voice where he sounds like a hick or something that's that's what Roger McGuinn was doing I think anyways um Graham Parsons also wanted to be a Rolling Stone, but they wouldn't have him.

No one was taking Graham Parsons seriously.

Who knows why we're drawn to the to the music that we are.

But, you know, Merle Haggard records at the same time coming out with the Burrito Brothers doing their version of it and the Birds with the Sweetheart of the Rodeo and the band coming out.

And I was very excited.

Into the Grateful Dead from the first time they played in the East Coast.