On Tuesday I was lucky enough to see the very first 50th anniversary tribute performance of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo at The Theater at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. It was Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman from The Byrds and Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives as backing band. It’s a partnership that made total sense on paper and seeing them work it out live was magical. McGuinn and Hillman handled most of the lead vocals and a good share of harmonies and I’d say they acquitted themselves quite nicely. They’re in their 70s, so some of the top end notes were unavailable, but that’s why you have Handsome Harry Stinson from the Superlatives. He’s there to cover the high harmonies. Roger played acoustic guitar and Rickenbacker, while Chris played acoustic guitar, but started the show on bass. I know this because I remember thinking during the first song, “Chris Hillman on bass – check. Roger McGuinn soloing on his Rickenbacker – check. Bob Dylan cover – check. I’m actually at a Byrds show.”
I have to give McGuinn and Hillman a lot of credit. There were times it was Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman of The Byrds and I’m glad that both men were OK with that. Some guys have egos that need to be fed and they wouldn’t share the spotlight with a Marty Stuart. However, by specifically getting Marty to serve as bandleader and lead guitarist, it was a tacit admission that Clarence White still matters. In fact, in recruiting Hillman to the idea of a 50th anniversary show (or series of shows), McGuinn admitted to Rolling Stone recently that Marty and Clarence’s guitar were major selling points.
“RS: Did you call Chris yourself?
Roger: Yeah, we called Chris and asked him if he’d be interested and then we pitched the idea of getting Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives to back us up, which was a perfect fit because Marty’s got Clarence’s guitar and when it’s played on the Sweetheart songs, it just makes a lot of sense.RS: Was Chris stunned by the offer?
Roger: He was all for it. He jumped at it.
—Rolling Stone, July 27, 2018
Then, this exchange happens.
RS: You have three shows right now and then a long break. Why did you decide to schedule it that way?
Roger: Marty is on a tour with Chris Stapleton and it’s big, 100,000 seaters. (LD: 100,000????) He can’t get out of it. He was signed onto it before we even pitched this Sweetheart thing. He’s got a contract.”
—Rolling Stone, July 27, 2018
This quote says a lot to me. Roger McGuinn is working around Marty’s schedule, not the other way around. Stuart and the Superlatives are the secret sauce and McGuinn is perceptive enough to realize it. He and Hillman could find any number of competent musicians to back them and I’m sure the show would still be entertaining. These songs are so good, you mostly just need to stay out of their way. But, Sweetheart has 50 years of cultural momentum built up. If you’d gonna pay tribute, you have to do it right. McGuinn, Hillman, and Clarence White via Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives is the apex version of the 50th anniversary of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo concept and I respect that McGuinn and Hillman are fighting for it.
In terms of demographics, the vast majority of audience members were males age 60+, which makes sense. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few late 20s/early 30-somethings, including my wife. There was also a decent-sized subset of Gen Xers like myself (born in 1969) who came to this album 20 years after the fact. I remembering reading about Gram Parsons in an obscure, throwaway book called Only The Good Die Young: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Of The Dead, released in 1986 right when ’60s nostalgia was full tilt boogie. At some point thereafter, I heard “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man” and went to a record store to buy it. They had Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, which I was vaguely aware of and was obviously a country album, but it did not have “Drug Store.” The Best Of The Byrds – Greatest Hits, Volume II did, so I bought both. This was probably 1989-90. I liked the records, played them a few times, but I don’t think I was quite ready for the twang.
Then I heard The Jayhawks, Hollywood Town Hall, which came to KCSC in 1992 when I was music director. I immediately fell in love with it and because I was music director I got all the press kits. That’s where I learned about The Byrds, Clarence White, Gram Parsons, Gilded Palace Of Sin and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Of course, Sweetheart was referenced all over the place and I remembered my vinyl. That’s when I was ready. I got it. You can thank The Jayhawks. They sent me ahead to Uncle Tupelo, backwards to The Band and Bob Dylan, Doug Sahm was part of the mix, and next thing you know I’ve written 20,000 words on Clarence White. On any given day, I might like a handful of other country rock/roots rock/alt.country records more than Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, but it’s on the short list.
Structurally, the show was smartly divided into two sets (and an encore) which did a good job of putting the album in context. First set = pre-Sweetheart. Second set = a pair of Stuart songs then Sweetheart. What the two sets demonstrated was that The Byrds may have “gone country” on Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, but only in the sense that they accelerated a process that was there from the start. As he noted, Chris Hillman was in a bluegrass band before joining The Byrds (The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers and The Byrds covered Porter Wagoner‘s “A Satisfied Mind” on their second album (not a great cover, but a cover nonetheless). Thus, the first set was comprised of country songs written and recorded before Sweetheart, the aforementioned “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man” (which was apparently written then, but recorded a few months later after Gram left the band), the Merle Haggard track they were supposed to play on their Grand Ole Opry appearance (March 15, 1968), and two Dylan song. Here’s one of those Dylans, the first song of the set and a meta-theme for the evening.
The Byrds with Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives – My Back Pages
The Theater at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
July 24, 2017
Roger McGuinn – lead vocal, electric guitar (1st solo)
Chris Hillman – bass, harmony vocal
Marty Stuart – electric guitar (2nd solo), harmony vocal
Kenny Vaughan – electric guitar
Chris Scruggs – acoustic guitar
Harry Stinson – drums, harmony vocal
Granted, the video is not the best. But, the audio clearly lets you know how good the band sounded all night. You get the aforementioned McGuinn/Hillman interplay, Stuart’s Clarence White homage/StringBender master class, and the Superlatives as the fabulously sympathetic rhythm section. While I think everyone warmed up and got a little more comfortable as the night progressed, they were good from the get go. And for all the love justifiably thrown toward the headliners, let me give a shout out to Handsome Harry Stinson on drums (and high harmony vocals) and Chris Scruggs on electric and standup bass (as well as pedal steel and acoustic guitar), and Cousin Kenny Vaughan on both acoustic and electric guitar and occasional harmony vocals.
Suffice to say, the pocket was in full swing on Tuesday night. I think Stinson was the secret MVP of the first set, pushing the rest of the band forward, offering great accents and fills throughout, and carrying the top end of the vocal harmonies. There were a couple moments where he was hitting triplets on the hi-hat, in 2/4 on the snare, and singing perfect high harmony. What a weapon. Scruggs was probably the secret MVP of the second set when he switched over to pedal steel for the Sweetheart Of The Rodeo songs. It’s hard to imagine “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” or “Hickory Wind” without that keening pedal sound. That said, I was a little surprised there was no piano and no banjo. Not complaining, but those instruments were various degrees of important to Sweetheart. “You’re Still On My Mind,” for instance, is anchored by Earl Poole Ball‘s nimble-fingered honky tonk piano. Not having it here changed the dynamics, so it’s still great, but for different reasons.

L-R: Chris Scruggs, Chris Hillman, Harry Stinson, Roger McGuinn, Marty Stuart, Kenny Vaughan
Photo: Lance Davis
I liked that they played Sweetheart out of sequence. It’s not that doing it in order would’ve been bad, but doing it out of order allowed each song to breathe a little bit on its own, without the expectation of a specific song coming next. If nothing else, saving “You Don’t Miss Your Water” for the end of the second set was a masterstroke. On a night full of high points, that was the highest for me, and I never would’ve guessed it going in. The arrangement was so spare, so skeletal, because the point of the arrangement was to showcase the voices of Stuart, McGuinn, Hillman, and Stinson winding around each other in delicate four-part harmony. Their voices were bouncing off the walls and high ceiling of the Ace Hotel and there came a genuine moment of transcendence when the four men were harmonizing with the room itself. I don’t see it on YouTube, but I really hope it was recorded by somebody.
Here’s another moment of transcendence. For all of the mythology about Gram Parsons, on one level he was just a guy who wrote songs. This is one of his best and to hear Chris Hillman breathe life into it melted my cold, cold alt.country heart.
The Byrds with Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives – Hickory Wind
The Theater at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
July 24, 2017
Chris Hillman – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Roger McGuinn – electric guitar, harmony vocal
Marty Stuart – acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
Chris Scruggs – pedal steel (solo)
Kenny Vaughan – bass
Harry Stinson – drums, harmony vocal
At the risk of stating the obvious, these guys aren’t gonna be around forever. “Hickory Wind” will last forever, of that I am certain. But, how many more chances do you think you’re gonna get to hear Chris Hillman sing it? With Roger McGuinn next to him on stage???
I am reminded of seeing The Replacements three years ago at the Hollywood Palladium. I was cautiously optimistic to see two original members of a rock group, wondering if the show could possibly meet the legend. And I’ll be damned, over the course of the night I got more and more swept up until there was nothing left to sweep. I was in. What can I say? I’m normally not an audience participation kinda guy, but I was happy to help Roger with the “Ooo wee, ride me highs” in the “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” reprise that closed out the second set.

L-R: Chris Hillman, Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson, Roger McGuinn, Mike Campbell, Marty Stuart, Chris Scruggs
Photo: Lance Davis
An encore was a given. The crowd was going nuts and justifiably so. As I said above, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo has 50 years of cultural momentum built up and you could feel the weight of those expectations being met and then exceeded at the Ace Hotel on Tuesday night. The main feeling I had was gratitude. I was grateful to be there, taking in a moment that I’m pretty sure won’t repeat itself in my lifetime. McGuinn says as much in that same Rolling Stone feature.
RS: Are you going to add more dates?
Roger: Yeah, there’s still flexibility, though I feel it should end by the end of 2018 because 1968 to 2018 is a 50-year span. It don’t want it to be a permanent thing.RS: So there’s no chance of more dates next year?
Roger: There are people involved who would like it to continue, but I feel that’s not really the right way to go.
—Rolling Stone, July 27, 2018
Frankly, the encore could’ve been almost anything and I think we would’ve been satisfied. That it was basically a four-song Tom Petty tribute and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” made a great night even better. If the first set was what led up to Sweetheart and the second set was Sweetheart itself, the encore paid tribute to The Byrds’ greatest advocate. The fact that “So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star” is associated as much with Petty as it is The Byrds — a point McGuinn conceded — testifies to this as much as anything. To then have Mike Campbell come out and play lead guitar on “American Girl” … too good.
The Byrds with Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives & Mike Campbell – American Girl
The Theater at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
July 24, 2017
Roger McGuinn – lead vocal, electric guitar
Chris Hillman – acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
Marty Stuart, Kenny Vaughan – electric guitar
Mike Campbell – electric guitar (solo)
Chris Scruggs – bass
Harry Stinson – drums, harmony vocal
In an interview with Steve Baltin published a few days ago, Hillman had an interesting (and correct) observation about Petty. He said, “‘American Girl,’ one of (Tom’s) first singles, was all Byrds. He was emulating The Byrds and he admitted it, but he took it five notches up the ladder. He went from being an imitator to an innovator. That’s what you want to shoot for. We all learn from the ones that went before us” (Forbes, July 25, 2018). Appropriate then, that “American Girl” was followed by Chris Hillman’s poignant reading of “Wildflowers,” the final song on his recent solo album, Bidin’ My Time, itself produced by Petty. By coincidence, Marty Stuart’s most recent album, Way Out West, was produced by Mike Campbell. They repped that record at the start of the second set, just before the Sweetheart songs kicked in, by playing “Time Don’t Wait.” They actually started the set with “Country Boy Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a 1956 track by Don Reno, Red Smiley, and the Tennessee Cut-Ups, a song I’ve written about before due to its profound influence on a teenage Clarence White. Marty and the Superlatives followed Chris’ “Wildflowers” with another Petty cover and again brought the house down. Props to my wife, who captured this moment for posterity.
The Byrds with Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives – Runnin’ Down A Dream
The Theater at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
July 24, 2017
Video: Sarah Davis-Espinoza
Marty Stuart – lead vocal, mandolin (1st & 2nd solos)
Kenny Vaughan – acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
Chris Scruggs – standup bass
Harry Stinson – snare drum, harmony vocal
Roger McGuinn – electric guitar
Chris Hillman – acoustic guitar
“You’d have to be insane to play this song with Mike Campbell in the house, but we’re insane.”
Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives transform Petty’s ubiquitous radio anthem into a chugging bluegrass locomotive. They were so perfect for this gig. Beyond the fact Stuart plays White’s guitar, the band is a country, rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass, and gospel jukebox. They can play anything, which was part of the spirit of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. The album is both highly respectful of country tradition and pushing the genre’s boundaries. Think about it. Nashville could barely handle Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the late ’60s and they were relative insiders. They had no idea what to do with The Byrds and Bob Dylan. Fast forward 50 years and there’s something counter-revolutionary about Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives repurposing Tom Petty for bluegrass purposes and making it sound more traditional than Porter Wagoner. Will the circle be unbroken indeed.
Counting tonight’s performance at Mountain Winer in Saratoga, California, there are only eight shows left in the 50th anniversary tour with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. Here is the remainder of the tour as of July 29.
July 29 – Saratoga, CA
September 17-18 – Albany, NY
September 20 – Hopewell, VA
September 24 – New York City
September 26 – Boston
October 3 – Akron, Oh
October 8 – Nashville
October 10 – Roanoke, VA
I cannot stress this enough. If you’re a fan of Sweetheart, The Byrds, or country rock/alt.country in general, you have to make an effort to see this show. Whatever number of gigs they end up playing, yuu will regret not trying to go.
Wonderful piece. Here’s hoping they add some more dates before the end of the year.