Beat Rodeo

Beat Rodeo was a country-rock band from New York City during the 1980s. They released at least two albums, "Home in the Heart of the Beat" and "Staying Out Late With Beat Rodeo". They were mentioned in the acknowledgements of Elizabeth Wurtzel's memoir "Prozac Nation".

Following the breakup of the Suicide Commandos (in which he played bass), Minneapolis' Steve Almaas moved to New York, turned to guitar and formed the Crackers; the band's ep "Sir Crackers!" indicates the rough-hewn melodic rock direction Almaas would later pursue.

After working with The Bongos, Almaas headed down with boss Bongo Richard Barone to North Carolina to visit Mitch Easter at his Drive-In Studio, where the three of them put together the "Beat Rodeo" EP.

Almaas almost immediately formed a quartet named for the EP but not including any of its other participants. "Staying Out Late" (originally issued in Germany in 1984) shows a country bent implicit in its name and integrates it (countryish guitar sound, even a dash of fiddle) into the already established pop-rock context.

"Staying Out Late" was produced by Don Dixon (with two tracks by Richard Gottehrer). Scott Litt produced the second Beat Rodeo ep, "Home in the Heart of the Beat".