What does it sound like?:
Few of his fans would have predicted that Israel Nash’s next project would be a complete reimagining of The Byrds’ seminal Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Faced with that fact, if you were expecting a respectful homage to the 1968 album or even a faithful rendition of its iconic songs you will get neither of those things. Not only does Nash’s version of Sweetheart sound nothing like the original album, it also doesn’t sound much like any of his own. For starters the running order is substantially changed and the instrumentation is completely different. Many of the songs are barely recognisable. Nash plays fast and loose both with the melodies and phrasing. ‘Blue Mountain Rockies’ may not be one of the most memorable tracks from the original; Nash’s take slows it down and buries the tune under washes of synthesiser. It took me almost until the end of the song to realise which one it was. Programmed electronic ambience is the norm rather than the exception here. That scourge of the worst 80s synth excess, the electronic drum sound that mimics a handclap even makes an insidious appearance on “You’re Still on My Mind’. So is this all a series of inexcusable steps too far? Well yes, and then again no. Many of these songs are so good that they are practically unbreakable, although if this kind of reinvention isn’t your cup of tea you might be forgiven for thinking that Nash is wilfully perverse in having a damn good try. For my traditionalist ears the songs that work best are those that, however different to the originals, are guitar based rather than drowned in electronic bells and whistles – ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ and ‘Nothing Was Delivered’ for instance, and ‘The Christian Life‘ which features reassuring lashings of pedal steel and a lengthy guitar outro. Nash’s reedy Neil Young-ish voice can become tiresome after a long listen, and is sometimes curiously unengaging and antiseptic on some of the songs.
All of which hoopla begs the question, what is the point of this re-recording of an album that many would argue was pretty damn perfect to start with? Clearly Nash starts with the premise that nothing is untouchable, but does any of it actually work? Sweetheart of the Rodeo is nearly 60 years old. Plenty of people taking a casual interest in music today probably won’t have heard of it, even if they know of The Byrds as someone their grandparents used to listen to. That was then and this is now. Perhaps that’s the point. These songs don’t need to be anchored to their original versions to still enjoy relevance and shelf life.
What does it all *mean*?
Good music is good music whenever it’s recorded. If that was Israel Nash’s intention in his reimagining of Sweetheart of the Rodeo, he may at least have been successful in that. Listen without prejudice, as someone once said. Whether the result improves on, or adds anything new to the original is debatable. Then again, maybe it doesn’t need to.
Goes well with…
A Nudie suit and a synthesiser.
Release Date:
Streaming now, out on CD and LP 9th October
Might suit people who like…
Cosmic American Music. The Byrds circa 2026.
Well I really liked that rendition. Trouble is, I’m asking myself how representative that track is of the rest of the show. Judging from the OP here, and retro’s review linked below, it may well be the only track on the album that I’d enjoy enough to invest.
File, for now anyway, under ‘interesting’ and ‘wait to see what others think’.
Pros….
….and cons….
Thanks for the extended samples. I confess I’d never heard a note of this guy’s music until today, so I have no idea what his songs usually sound like.
With ears that have not heard my own copy of the original Byrds album for, oh, about 25 years, I found all three of these interesting and agreeable, without any reference to what their corresponding originals sounded like.
I’m not sure that I approve of the album from a conceptual perspective but I do rather like what I’ve heard.
For me, it would have been a much more attractive proposition if he had written new songs and delivered them in the way he has done with these. Cosmic American music is a good description. Do it again chum, but this time write some new!
To be fair, he has a decent back catalogue of new, as in his own songs. All decent, old money, country rock, varying from full bands to solo cabin fare. Nothing to warn of this.
I think it’s (largely) a wonderful approach and hits a lot of unsought targets. Here’s my opinion from elsewhere, for balance:
https://www.covermesongs.com/2026/09/israel-nashs-sweetheart-of-the-rodeo.html
Interesting. One of my favourite gigs in recent years was seeing McGuinn, Hillman with Marty Stuart and his band doing the album in full as well as many other Byrds and others songs (Albany, NY in 2018), strangely I had seen Gene Clark’s son Kai leading a tribute band to his dad 2 nights earlier
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/mcguinn-and-hillman/2018/the-egg-kitty-carlisle-hart-theatre-albany-ny-23e980ff.html
I’ve seen Roger McGuinn three times on his solo tours of smallish UK venues. On the first occasion I was in the front row, almost within touching distance of the great man and his Rickenbacker. I distinctly remember having something in my eye during several songs.
Yeah, it was that sort of evening in 2018.
I’ve also seen Roger McGuinn in similar venues in fact I turned down the chance to meet him when I saw him at The International, Manchester. One of his roadies came over to me and my girlfriend after the show and asked if we’d like to go backstage and meet him, I said no thank you. I’m a fan of McGuinn but I’d have asked him about his treatment of Gene Clark and I don’t think that would have gone down well, anyhow I think he saw me recording the show, the Sony tape recorder was on the table we sat at front row.
Back to Israel Nash and SOTR, I’m also a fan and I was surprised when this was announced as the new album. SOTR* is an album I do like but is .my least favourite of The Byrds albums up to and including Untitled. So I’m looking forward to hearing Nash’s interpretation.
*@dai I’d have loved to see that show with McGuinn, Hillman & Marty Stuart. I do have the album recorded on the tour and I think it’s extremely better than the original.
You couldn’t have maybe met him and not asked him something inflammatory?
Gene Clark was my favourite member of The Byrds and I would certainly have brought him up. However like I said to my girlfriend “he probably saw the tape machine and would have wanted to keep the tape”.
The recording was excellent seeing as you were going to ask, it disappeared in the great cassette purge.
Have you seen The Byrd Who Flew Alone documentary @pyramid? It’s probably a safe bet that you have, as it’s been around for a while, but if not it’s available in full on YouTube. Good stuff.
I am a huge Gene Clark fan, only became aware of his generally amazing solo catalogue about 20 years ago. In fact I was credited as an “associate producer” on this album:
https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/16584
Basically I invested financially so that it could come out (with many others)
He was treated badly by McGuinn (and other original members), I think they were jealous of his songwriting talents (which also made him more money) and kept some of his great songs off the first few albums. However I can also imagine that he was a bit of a nightmare to deal with in general.
My name’s on that release also although the release was a bit prolonged if I remember correctly but well worth the wait.
Yes, the guy doing it (John Delgatto) had some health issues, not sure if he’s ok now or indeed still around
I have the documentary on DVD @Boneshaker so the answer is yes.
He emailed me once
Unfortunately, this prompts the second story of the day about my old man and his 60s exploits.
As a callow teenager he and his mates snuck down to London, saw the Byrds play the Middle Earth Club in Covent Garden, hung around the stage door after, met both Roger McGuinn and Gram Parsons, stayed out all night and got the first train home.
He hasn’t seen sombr play live though, so at least I have that over him.
Anyway, great thread – I love Sweetheart of the Rodeo and will therefore be listening to this.
Israel has been posting his reasons for recording this album in three parts. – The Ghosts Of Sweetheart.
I have the album on order. Thankfully it’s available in Europe (unlike his last, Moods, with Eric Swanson, which was only available from the USA). I know I can stream it, but I like physical artefacts.
Many thanks for posting these links – as I said above, I’d never heard any of this guy’s music before, so this context is valuable for me.
I’ve gone back and found his back catalogue now, so the SOTR cover/reworking now makes a lot more sense.
I was unaware of Moods @Carl I wonder why it wasn’t released over here. Thanks for those links I’ll investigate later.
@Pyramid, it wasn’t just Moods. The 10th anniversary re-release of Rain Plans, with bonus material also hasn’t been released in Europe.
I had hoped to get them both on CD, when he toured Europe earlier this year, but they were only selling vinyl.
Interesting stuff, thanks for posting. He comes across as a very thoughtful kind of guy.
I have been avoiding streaming it and waiting for the twice delayed CD to turn up but, based on the one track I have heard, I was expecting it to have the ‘Lifted / Topaz’ treatment. After reading this think I will stream it in case I don’t want it, so thanks for the review.