Walk on By: The Story of Popular Song S01E06 - After the Gold Rush

This week's edition begins with the transition period at the end of the drug-fuelled, psychedelic sixties when some of the more innovative groups in America took on a new direction. The country rock they pioneered was typified on the East Coast by the Band while in the West the Byrds embraced the steel guitars of Nashville. The sound of California mellowed out and the best of the folk singers returned as singer-songwriters and Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Bill Withers suddenly found themselves centre stage. Gram Parsons was another of the pioneers and it was his legacy which inspired the biggest band of the seventies – the Eagles.