Lee Hazlewood had the International Submarine Band under contract, and considered Parsons bound by that contract. The Opry appearance at the end of the week was an omen that all would not be well, but the problems began before that. They recorded for one week with a few session guys and guests, including John Hartford and steel guitarist Lloyd Green. “George Jones in a big sequin suit.”Both McGuinn and Hillman were versed in folk and bluegrass, so country wasn't as much of a stretch as McGuinn implied.Hillman's cousin, drummer Kevin Kelley, rounded out the new Byrds, and they found twelve songs, cut their hair, and headed for Nashville. “We hired a piano player and he turned out to be Parsons, a monster in sheep's clothing,”McGuinn told Fusionmagazine. McGuinn had a vision for the Byrds' new LP, but Parsons overrode it. Hillman met Gram Parsons and invited him to join as a backing musician rather than group member. By February '68, Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, and David Crosby had gone, leaving just Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman as the Byrds. In contrast, Bob Dylan's 'Nashville Skyline,' released eight months later, was hailed as boldly iconoclastic and became a best-seller. It alienated the Byrds' core audience without finding them a new one. Neither hailed as an instant classic nor seen as polarizing, 'Sweetheart Of The Rodeo' was largely ignored upon release on August 30, 1968.
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