The 1968 Byrds album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, for all intents and purposes, kickstarted country-rock into, eventually, the mainstream. In some unholy sleight of hand, newly enrolled Byrd Gram Parsons steered McGuinn and co full pelt into, rather than any earlier dabbling, what might later be called Americana. With the album awash with banjos, pedal steel and fiddle, these were sounds less commonly encountered at the Fillmores, east or west.

You don’t need me to retell the story, do you? It’s all available elsewhere anyway. Today the emphasis is all around Israel Nash Gripka, a singer-songwriter with form, having issued a slew of albums since 2009. Dropping his surname in 2013, he has increasingly made his mark as an accomplished and varied musician, as much at home with a full band as he is alone in a cabin with his guitar. He’s been equally happy espousing much of modern technology, embracing all the attributes of 21st century studio opportunities. He has hit the Cover Me radar on a number of occasions, often to take note of songs from his 2011 EP, Working Class Hero & Other Favorites. Whilst that was little more than his plaintive voice and picked guitar, his release of his own Sweetheart of the Rodeo couldn’t be more different.
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