Did you know that The Byrds backed Jackie DeShannon on a 1965 demo of “Splendor in the Grass?” It was the only female-fronted Byrds recording ever put to tape. (You can hear it in the box set Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets (1965-1968).) Just over 40 years later, the similarly jangly Beachwood Sparks backed Los Angeles chanteuse Ileen Goldsmith. Her 2006 album Bride opens with “Will You,” as Farmer Dave Scher's keyboard sorcery and lap-steel prowess work their dusty desert magic around Goldsmith’s demure croon. Guitarist and singer/songwriter Neal Casal also lends his six-string skills to Bride. Check out the spacy effects he pumps through an old tube-driven amp in “One Year,” a prime example of Gram Parsons’ vision of cosmic American music thriving in the 21st century. The haunting “Graveyard (Alight in Right)” puts a country waltz over shadowy piano parts as Goldsmith sings with an innate understanding of restraint and subtlety. “Forward March” closes with acoustic, lo-fi grit.