Sweetheart of the Rodeo
| The Byrds
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band the Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968, on Columbia Records (see 1968 in music). Recorded with the addition of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, it became the first major album widely recognised as country rock, and represented a stylistic move away from the psychedelic rock of the band's previous LP, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. The Byrds had occasionally experimented with country music on their four previous albums, but Sweetheart of the Rodeo represented their fullest immersion into the genre thus far.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
1968- The new Byrds do not sound like Buck Owens & his Buckaroos. They aren’t that good. The material they’ve chosen to record, or rather, the way they perform the material, is simple, relaxed and folky. It’s not pretentious, it’s pretty.
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Pitchfork
2003- The actual album is a blindingly rusty gait through parched weariness and dusted reverie. It's not the natural sound of Death Valley or Utah, but rather, a false portrait by people who wished it was, which makes it even more melancholy and charismatic.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
2018- Little surprise then that Sweetheart stalled outside of the Top 75 on the albums chart. But in the years since its release, this project has become a landmark record in the evolution of country-rock, with ties to everything from the Eagles to the traditional country movement of the mid ‘70s to the rise of alt-country and Americana music over the past couple of decades.
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Soundblab
2018- Whatever your take on Parsons or The Byrds, Sweetheart ended up being the flawless face that launched a thousand ships. Its eleven tracks over a scant thirty minutes are a collection of perfectly cut diamonds that sparkle hard.
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All Music
But no major band had gone so deep into the sound and feeling of classic country (without parody or condescension) as the Byrds did on Sweetheart; at a time when most rock fans viewed country as a musical "L'il Abner" routine, the Byrds dared to declare that C&W could be hip, cool, and heartfelt.
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NPR
2019- When The Byrds released "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" in 1968, it was a commercial failure. A half century after its debut, the album has become a classic.
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The Vinyl District
2014- Sweetheart of the Rodeo was a brief, jukebox-bright flash of pure country light in The Byrd’s discography. Still, Sweetheart of the Rodeo was the first album to ask the children of Aquarius “Are you ready for the country?” And it remains one of the finest.
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Best Classic Bands
Fifty years after its creation, Sweetheart of the Rodeo looms as a cornerstone of country-rock and point source for alt-country and Americana, The Byrds’ most consequential stylistic stroke since the band’s pioneering folk-rock debut three years earlier.
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Clash Music
2018- Marking the 50th anniversary of a problematic yet game-changing album.
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In Kansas City
2018- The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo album was not a first-of-a-kind album by any measure. It most certainly wasn’t the first country-rock album, as it was heralded by some upon its release. Sweetheart has since become one of the most beloved and influential albums of its time, a collection of mostly covers that chronicles the Byrds’ sharp, full-bore swerve from psychedelic rock to a sound that was pure country.
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Pop Matters
2003- Recorded in Nashville, Sweetheart of the Rodeo was indeed a huge bust for the once-massively popular band, peaking at a dismal Number 77 on the album charts, and yielding not one hit single. A classic example of a timeless album that nobody appreciated at first, the record is a real treasure.
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Rock Cellar Magazine
2018- An unmitigated bomb upon its release — it topped out at a lowly #77 on the Billboard charts upon its release, which was unheard of for an act as big as the Byrds — Sweetheart slowly gained a following, first among musicians, then among critics and the general public.
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Enjoy the Music
This album single-handedly made country music hip by melding rock and roll and country into something even longhair hippie dope fiends could love.
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Sundazed
With one mighty swing of the axe, the Byrds changed not only the face of rock 'n' roll but country music, as well, with their sixth album, 1968's Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.
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Uncut
2003- For those unfamiliar with the onetime hipsters’ descent into Rednecksville, this was a career move that sold beans but realigned US musical topography forever.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
Somewhat legendary among country-rock fans, for two reasons. First, it's the earliest full-blown effort in that genre that I can identify, featuring a host of Nashville session players. Second, Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons promptly quit after cutting it to form an influential hippie country-rock act (the Flying Burrito Brothers). Unfortunately for Byrds fans, it's so countrified that hardly a smidgen of the Byrds' original sound remains.
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The Sound of Vinyl
Recorded with the addition of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, it was influential as the first major country rock album by an established act and represented a stylistic move away from the psychedelic rock of the band's previous LP, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
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Don Ignacio's Music Reviews
This was one of the original albums to push country into the rock world in 1968 thus igniting the roots-rock movement. . . . . This marked a period of major transition for The Byrds. This wasn't just their big push into country-western music, but David Crosby and Michael Clarke had both left the band.
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My Kind of Country
2014- Sweetheart of the Rodeo was originally supposed to be a reflection of American popular music incorporating elements of Jazz and R&B but Parsons steered the project into a pure country album instead. This move was highly controversial, as Nashville had little interest in embracing a band they thought of as longhaired hippies attempting to sabotage country music. If you don’t own your own copy of this album I suggest you run out and buy one as Sweetheart of The Rodeo is a must own for any fan of country or roots music.
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The Guardian
2003- Sweetheart of the Rodeo was originally released in September 1968, and while critics and fans were bewildered by its Grand Ole Opry-ish banjos and steel guitars, today's alt-country brigade recognise it as a pivotal album in the development of country rock.
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The Music Box
2003- In the end, Sweetheart of the Rodeo turned out to be the perfect culmination of the experience, a country album with a rock attitude that left an impressionable mark on music, changing its landscape forever.
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Classic Rock Review
2018- Right from the jump on the opener “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”, it is clear that the Byrds are moving in a different direction with the heavy use of steel guitar, and good country melody and harmonies.
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Analog Planet
2007- Predictably, the record flopped but over time it has gathered strength. Today the Nashville-recorded set is considered one of the most important and influential LPs among the second wave of “country-rock” albums.
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George Starostin's Reviews
This isn't even country-rock - it's just pure country, with pedal steel guitar as the only prominent instrument in existence. The result is that it gets boring. And boy, does it get boring . . .
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Daily Republic
2012- The move to country rock is an unexpected twist from The Byrds, but they handle it well, layering vocal harmonies with precision. It doesn’t pack any of The Byrds’ more well-known singles, but “Sweetheart” has its charms.
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John McFerrin's Music Reviews
The songs are so unbelievably unentertaining and cliched that they almost end up sounding like deliberate self-parodies of the country genre.
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