A Pilgrim and a Stranger

In August of 1968, the Byrds (reformed by Roger McGuinn after the departure of David Crosby and under the spell of the late Gram Parsons) released the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo to polite but tepid reviews. Speaking personally, however, the album was a watershed. I was a child of nine when first introduced to the record by my older (college age) cousin in the summer of 1969, but I will never forget the impact of McGuinn and Chris Hillman's arrangement of the Appalachian traditional "A Pilgrim and a Stranger" (recorded as "I Am A Pilgrim"). I heard the song and recognized myself in it. Forty-four years later, the album as a whole (and that song in particular) continue to resonate with me.



Part Irish, part Dervish, and a practicing Tolstoyan, from an early age I have sensed myself as one who is just passing through this wearisome land. It matters not where I happen to find myself on the planet--presently in the wonderful carnival called Istanbul--I've got a home in/That yonder city, good Lord/And it's not/Not made by hand...