Roger McGuinn sounds like a man who’s been asked the same question about Sweetheart of the Rodeo every Tuesday since 1968, which is basically true. “Yeah, I think it was a bit out of its time,” he shrugs, recalling how an album that once confused people now gets name-dropped in the same breath as Revolver. “It took a while to catch. We’d watch the Rolling Stone 500 chart. Sweetheart kept climbing. I think it hit 117. So yeah, worth celebrating.”
Celebrating, of course, means rolling the album back out for a 50th anniversary tour, dragging Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives into the fray. “Marty can do anything,” McGuinn raves. “He knew all Clarence White’s licks. Had the B-Bender guitar and everything. We met shooting a Dolly Parton movie. Went down to a creek and played. Been friends ever since.”
The pivot from acid-kissed folk-rock to pedal steel–drenched Americana still feels like a miracle. “It was a hard turn,” McGuinn deadpans. “We fell in love with the music. Gram Parsons was the spark plug. The man was George Jones in a sequined suit.”
Of course, there’s the story that the Byrds would have reunited if Tom Petty had lived long enough to make the call. “He’s the only guy who could’ve done it,” Hillman says, laughing at the memory. “Tom was so humble, man. He’d bring the coffee himself every morning in the studio. He told me, ‘We’re not done yet.’ He had other plans for me.” Hillman’s Biding My Time — his 2017 album — ended up being Petty’s final production gift to him. “I told him, ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ He said, ‘What are you talking about? We’re not done.’”
Roger’s less sentimental. “I’ve had everybody try to get the Byrds back together. It’s just not gonna happen. Too many bigwigs. This is different. This is a labor of love. We did it for Chris. The man had his house burn down on his birthday. He needed a win.”
In the end, it’s still about the songs — the ones they stole from Dylan, the ones that turned out to be prophetic. “When I sang ‘Christian Life’ I didn’t know what I was talking about,” Roger says. “I do now. My wife and I came to Jesus in the ’70s.” And the one that never stops being a gut punch: “Wildflowers.” “Tom gave us that song,” Hillman says. “The last verse just... yeah. You belong among the wildflowers.”
So there you have it. Fifty years later, the Byrds can still break your heart — and no reunion tour needed. Tom would’ve understood.
Listen to the interview above and check out some classics below!
