Byrds, The: Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (Vinyl LP)

After Chris Hillman dragged new friend Gram Parsons into The Byrds, they made an album as close to a country masterpiece as a rock act could ever make. In fact, the only tunes better than the definitive covers here of songs by Bob Dylan ("You Ain't Going Nowhere"), Guthrie ("Pretty Boy Floyd") and the Louvin' Brothers ("The Christian Life") are Parsons's originals, especially the incomparable "Hickory Wind".

Sweetheart... wasn't the first country-rock album, but with its gorgeous three-way harmonies and sweet pedal steel, it remains the best.

1. You Ain't Going Nowhere
2. I Am a Pilgrim
3. The Christian Life
4. You Don't Miss Your Water
5. You're Still On My Mind
6. Pretty Boy Floyd
7. Hickory Wind
8. One Hundred Years from Now
9. Blue Canadian Rockies
10. Life In Prison
11. Nothing Was Delivered