Christian Parker has six albums of his own to his name, but he’s about to follow up last year’s ‘Sweethearts‘ with a second album of Byrds songs, ‘Change Is Now.‘ Where ‘Sweethearts‘ had ‘Sweethearts of the Rodeo‘ as its inspiration ‘Change Is Now‘ chooses from a broader span of albums – the focus this time around is on Roger McGuinn, whether as writer or as guitarist or even putting in the guitar that got left out before. There is, therefore, no shortage of 12 string jangle on this album. Christian Parker was also joined, once more, by pianist Earl Poole Ball, one of the original Byrds studio players. Christian Parker explaines the focus on McGuinn, the constant Byrd, saying “Growing up, there were always these dividing lines. Either you were a McCartney fan, or you were a Lennon fan. I always thought Dave Crosby was a cool cat, but I was never like Dave Crosby musically; I related more to Roger McGuinn. I wanted to honor that childhood hero on ‘Change is Now’”
Christian also told Americana UK that: “When I first heard ‘Change Is Now’ by the Byrds, I thought it was psychedelic country music. It started with a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar hook and three-part harmonies, and then the chorus came in with a pedal steel guitar. Wow, that was a left turn, I thought! Gary Jacob and I worked on it for two months until it was done. I was excited to track the electric guitar solo, which takes you to outer space and then brings you back to the next verse. We were both proud of this song and agreed it would be the album’s name and the opening track! ”
