Album Roots: The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo

The Roots of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Original versions of the songs that inspired the Byrds' landmark country rock album.

Bob Dylan & The Band • Merle Travis • The Louvin Brothers

William Bell • George Jones • Woody Guthrie

Gene Autry • Merle Haggard

I've always loved the Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Over the years, I've come to appreciate it in different ways, but one thing I've always enjoyed doing is seeking out the original versions of the songs and compiling them into the playing order of the album. So for today's post, that's what I've done. Since there are two original Gram Parsons songs on the album, those songs have been omitted.

The source material for the album is quite varied. Though there are a number of country songs and artists that the band drew from, as they often did, they also culled a couple of songs from the pen of Bob Dylan. The two songs they covered for Sweetheart were both newly written and recorded songs from Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes sessions. The Byrds probably weren't the first artists to record songs from those sessions, but they were certainly among the earliest. As they had also done before, they drew from older folk material as well, in this case Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd," and "I Am A Pilgrim" from Merle Travis's Folk Songs Of The Hills album. Though the Byrds had not previously looked to the world of R&B for cover material, for Sweetheart they took Stax artist William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water" and made a southern soul ballad into a credible country song.

It's interesting to hear the wide variety of influences that made up this groundbreaking album. I think it also makes for a very enjoyable listen. I hope you do too...

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (6/11)

George Jones - 48 years ago

Monday, June 11, 1962

Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville 3, TN

George Jones: vocal, guitar, other musicians unknown.

Producer: Pappy Daily

Any session that produces three top 20 hits (and two of them top 10) would have to be considered a pretty successful session. And that's just what George Jones did on this day in 1962. George was pretty fresh into his new label association with United Artists, and it was off to a great start. His first single for the label ("She Thinks I Still Care"/"Sometimes You Just Can't Win"), had both sides chart at #1 and #17 respectively, and he nearly repeated that success with a single released from today's session ("A Girl I Used To Know"/"Big Fool Of The Year") which charted at #3 and #13 respectively. That, and "Not What I Had In Mind" charted at #7 as well. That's a lot of numbers, but the point is, during this era George was really knocking them out of the park, and this session was particularly productive. "A Girl I Used To Know" was a song that George would revisit as a duet with Tammy Wynette in 1980, as "Just Someone I Used Know" which previously had been a #5 hit for Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in 1969. There are those numbers again. The bottom line is, this is a really fruitful and enjoyable George Jones session. I hope you enjoy it too...

The three hits from this session, as well the rest of his United Artists singles are contained on Omnivore Recordings' recent release The Complete United Artists Solo Singles.