Roots of the Byrds

Liner Note Author: Dave Henderson.You have to add one virtue to the many cited for the Byrds -- they knew the best song-bags and catalogs to choose from in their covers, even if not all of the latter were always entirely successful. One is reminded of that anew listening to this collection, which might just as easily have been called "Roger McGuinn's Record Collection" or something of that sort. It's a compelling compilation of songs that, to varying degrees (and sometimes, in all honesty, minimally) became associated with the Byrds in the second half of the '60s and the early '70s. But in the company of Pete Seeger, Porter Wagoner ("A Satisfied Mind"), Wanda Jackson ("My Destiny"), the Louvin Brothers ("The Christian Life"), Merle Travis ("I Am a Pilgrim"), Gene Autry ("Blue Canadian Rockies"), Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys ("Shady Grove"), Leadbelly("Take a Whiff on Me"), Blind Willie Johnson ("John Revelator"), Woody Guthrie ("Pretty Boy Floyd," "Deportee"), et al, the Byrds