Artist:  The Byrds

Title:  Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Date:  1968

Label:  Columbia Records

Cover Illustration:  Jo Mora, copyright 1933

Photography:  Bill Grimes

Notes:  One of the first "country-rock" albums to grace the bins of my youth. And what a collection of talent, just run down the roll call: McGuinn, Hillman, Parsons, Hartford and on and on. Leaving the folk leanings of earlier efforts and getting a little dirt on their hands the band stakes a claim to such classics as Hickory Wind and Pretty Boy Floyd. Banjos, mandolins and steel guitar grace the back porch of our mind and it feels like the neighbors are coming over for a little picking and drinking. And the choice of Jo Mora's cover illustration was and still is brilliant. Such a work isn't seen around these parts very often. This isn't any soft-rock country pap, this is the real stuff right here.

Line Up: 

Roger McGuinn - Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
Gram Parsons - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Hillman - Bass, Mandolin, Guitar (Bass), Vocals
Roy M. "Junior" Husky - Bass
John Hartford - Banjo, Guitar
Jon Corneal – Drums
Earl Poole Ball - Piano
Lloyd Green - Guitar (Steel)
Clarence White - Guitar
Kevin Kelley - Drums
Jaydee Maness - Guitar (Steel)

Track Listing

Side 1

You Ain't Going Nowhere
I Am a Pilgrim
The Christian Life
You Don't Miss Your Water
You're Still on My Mind
Pretty Boy Floyd

Side 2

Hickory Wind
One Hundred Years from Now
Blue Canadian Rockies
Life in Prison
Nothing Was Delivered