Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock Vol. 3: 1970

On the third volume of 's seven-entry country-rock chronicle , the label moves into 1970, a year that saw a nascent, long-haired Americana gain popularity but also get a bit weirder. Thanks to 's success -- turned heads in 1968, but 1969's found its way onto the Billboard Top 10, bringing the group to the cover of Time in the opening weeks of 1970 -- there were now hordes of fellow travelers, including hippies like , trying on overalls for size. brought in to play steel on "The Farm," one of the 38 tunes featured on this double-disc set, a collection of songs that also includes two cuts from 's twin '70 releases, and . If the San Franciscan hippies were embracing roots, so were the blissed-out Los Angelenos. Led by , who spent much of 1970 closing out his run with the , these creatures of the Canyon included , who was just breaking free from , and , continuing the path they started in 1969 -- a journey that can be heard on the second volume of Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels -- but the '70s saw the rise of idiosyncratic singer/songwriters like , , along with Nashville rebels , the latter also seeing success via a cover of "Me and Bobby McGee" from . A new wrinkle came in the form of the wooly, hard-driving rockers from the south, a breed typified by but also encompassing . A lot of the lesser-known names here -- -- fall outside of these parameters, skewing closer to the bright, wide-open sound of , a feel that might typify how country-rock felt at the start of the '70s: after all the heaviness of the '60s, it seemed like a new day was dawning. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine