In 1968, The Byrds released the legendary Sweetheart of the Rodeo, a deeper exploration of the country music they had begun to explore on earlier releases. This shift was brought on in large part by the entrance of Gram Parsons whose association with the band would introduce his sound and songwriting to a vast audience.
In addition to the contributions of Parsons, Sweetheart of the Rodeo received much of its authenticity from a pair of country-music steel-guitar wizards: Lloyd Green and Jay Dee Maness. Green, an in-demand Nashville session player (George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, and Charley Pride) and Maness, a young gun on the L.A. scene, gave Sweethearts its unforgettable twang and down-home pedal-steel hooks – and forever put their stamp on country-music history…