STILL SOARING,
Former Byrds celebrate classic album’s 50th anniversary
In1968, Byrds member Roger McGuinn stopped into a Los Angeles country radio station to find a copy of the band's new album, “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” pinned to a bulletin board. McGuinn thought management had put the music into regular rotation. As he walked closer, he noticed someone had written “Do not play, this is not country” across the LP jacket.
“It was like a slap in the face. We couldn't believe it because we loved the music so much. We didn't understand how anyone could not hear that,” he said.
“Sweetheart of the Rodeo” featured the Byrds covering a few favorites (Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie) along with such major country acts of the day as The Louvin Brothers, Cindy Walker and Merle Haggard. Initially, audiences chilled to the idea of a few dirty hippies (who were already rock legends) sullying country music.
“When we appeared on (Nashville country station) WSM, the DJ told pedal steel player Lloyd Green that he shouldn't be playing with us, shouldn't be giving us his talent,” McGuinn said.
Now, a half century on, McGuinn and fellow former-Byrd
Chris Hillman celebrate the
50th anniversary of their groundbreaking album with a national tour, which stops Wednesday at the Colonial Theatre. Over the past 50 years, the album's reputation has gone from blasphemy to sacred. McGuinn felt vindicated when Rolling Stone listed the work at No. 117 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums.
“The Byrds have three or four albums on that list, and `Sweetheart' got the top spot of our albums,” he said. “Now the album's sound has been knit into the fabric of newer indie rock and Americana. People like Jeff Tweedy of Wilco have used it.”
Part of the magic of “Sweetheart” came from then-new member Gram Parsons' contributions. While McGuinn and Hillman had become established stars by 1968, they didn't let their egos stop Parsons from helping steer the band's sound.
“It was Gram's charismatic personality and his enthusiasm that taught us something,” McGuinn said. “We loved the music, but Gram turned us on to some deeper parts of country that we hadn't heard a lot. He contributed a lot to the idea of going to record in Nashville.”
In Nashville, the Byrds worked with many of the city's top session players. To continue that tradition with this tour, McGuinn and Hillman will be backed up by Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. Stuart, an alum of Johnny Cash's live band, has a string of his own hits and has recorded with everyone from Randy Travis to Clint Black to Travis Tritt.
“This is an ace band. They are like the Wrecking Crew, all professional studio musicians,” McGuinn said. “Marty is a ball of fire on both the Telecaster and the mandolin, and he's a great singer. … I met Marty in Nashville, and in 2000, we got together and started jamming on some of the songs from `Sweetheart of the Rodeo' and have been friends ever since.”