Artist: The Byrds
Album: Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Year: 1968
For the final installment of The Byrds, we take a look at their foray deep into the heart of country music. On this album the band (with new member Gram Parsons in tow) completely abandons their usual blend of folk-rock, pop, and psychedelia and replaces it with a full-blown C&W album. The amazing thing about it is not that it succeeds, but more that it is generally regarded as one of the finest country albums of all-time. Not bad for a bunch of kids from California.
Myself, I'm not going to pretend that I love this album or anything. I've documented my general distaste for straight-up C&W music...preferring a blend of country with pop or soul or rock, something to give it a little more flavor. Overall, the genre just feels a little bland to me. Artists like Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash have appealed to me some, because they bring a certain attitude to the proceedings, a certain dark affability that makes the music more palatable to me.
But I will say that if I had to listen to bonafide twangin' country music, this is the album I would choose to listen to 99 times out of 100. The songs are really impeccably crafted, well-played by McGuinn and Co. The harmonies are really pretty and the melodies offer a freshness that the genre seems to generally lack. There are some legitimately great songs here: "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," "You're Still on My Mind," and the original "One Hundred Years from Now" (which sounds most similar to the usual Byrds and reminds me of some of their songs on The Notorious Byrd Brothers--my favorite of the band's albums).
I'm not the target audience for this album, but this is absolutely essential for anyone who likes country music.
Rating: Worth repeated listens
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