Sweetheart of The Rodeo - Background (January–March 1968)

Background (January–March 1968)

The initial concept by Roger McGuinn for the album that would become Sweetheart of the Rodeo was to expand upon the genre-spanning approach of The Byrds' previous LP, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, by recording a double album overview of the history of American popular music. The planned album would begin with bluegrass and Appalachian music, then move through country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock music, before culminating with futuristic proto-electronica, featuring the Moog modular synthesizer.

But with a U.S. college tour to promote The Notorious Byrd Brothers looming, a more immediate concern was the recruitment of new band members. David Crosby and Michael Clarke had departed the band in late 1967, leaving Roger McGuinn as de facto leader of The Byrds, along with Chris Hillman, the only other remaining member of the band. To address this problem, McGuinn hired Hillman's cousin, Kevin Kelley (formerly a member of the Rising Sons), as the band's new drummer, and it was this three-piece line-up, with McGuinn on guitar and Hillman on bass, that embarked on the early 1968 college tour. It soon became apparent, however, that The Byrds were having difficulty in performing their studio material live as a trio, and so it was decided that a fourth member was required. McGuinn, with an eye still on his envisaged American music concept album, felt that a pianist with a jazz background would be ideal for the group.

A candidate was found by Larry Spector, the band's business manager, in the shape of 21-year-old Gram Parsons. Parsons, a marginal figure in the L.A. music scene, had been acquainted with Hillman since 1967 and he auditioned for the band as a piano player in February 1968. His faux-jazz piano playing and genial personality at audition was enough to impress both McGuinn and Hillman; so Parsons was recruited as the fourth member of the band, although he quickly switched to playing guitar instead of piano. Although Parsons and Kelley were considered full members of The Byrds, they both received a salary from McGuinn and Hillman, and did not sign with Columbia Records when The Byrds' recording contract was renewed on February 29, 1968.

Unbeknownst to McGuinn or Hillman, Parsons had his own musical agenda in which he planned to marry his love of traditional country music (which he saw as being the purest form of American music) with youth culture's passion for rock. He had already successfully attempted this fusion as a member of the little known International Submarine Band, on the album Safe at Home, but Parsons' new status as a Byrd offered him an international stage from which to launch his bid to reclaim country music for his generation.

Following his recruitment, Parsons began to lure Hillman away from McGuinn's proposed concept album idea and towards a blend of what Parsons would later term "Cosmic American Music". In essence, this was a hybrid of various roots music forms, primarily oriented towards honky tonk country music but also encompassing American folk, soul, rhythm and blues, rock ’n’ roll and contemporary rock. Hillman, who had come from a musical background firmly rooted in bluegrass, had himself successfully persuaded The Byrds to incorporate country influences into their music in the past, beginning with the song "Satisfied Mind" on their 1965 album, Turn! Turn! Turn! Many of Hillman's songs on the Younger Than Yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers albums also had a pronounced country feel to them, with several featuring Clarence White (a renowned bluegrass guitar player and session musician) on lead guitar, rather than McGuinn. During time spent singing old country songs with Parsons, Hillman became convinced that Parsons' concept of a country-oriented version of The Byrds could work.

Parsons' passion for his country-rock vision was so contagious that he even convinced McGuinn to abandon his plans for The Byrds' next album and follow Parsons' lead in recording a country-rock album. Parsons also persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to record the album in the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee, as Bob Dylan had done for his Blonde On Blonde and John Wesley Harding albums. Although McGuinn had some reservations about the band's new direction, he decided that such a move could expand the already declining audience of the group. After long-time Byrds' producer Gary Usher, who had little interest in producing McGuinn's proposed concept album, indicated a preference for the country concept, McGuinn finally acquiesced. On March 9, 1968, the band decamped to Columbia's recording facility in Nashville, with Clarence White in tow, to begin recording sessions for Sweetheart of the Rodeo.