Roy Orbison's version polishes country's plainness into an urbane, singable melody — the traditional country “vocal heart” and harmonies entering the merge.
The Byrds' standardized jangle of 12-string electric guitar and a tight 8-beat band ensemble — the folk-rock drive West Coast musicians bring into the merge.
After folk-rock, Gram Parsons guided The Byrds into 1968's 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo', folding pedal steel and fiddle homesick into an electric band — a defining step for country rock.
The historic turn where a folk-rock generation irreversibly merged with traditional country vocabulary.