Like Hank Williams before him, Gram Parsons lived a country life the rock n roll way. Drinking and drugging left him dead at 26, but in this short period he managed to produce some of the most influential music of the 60s and 70s. He termed his original blend of country folk psych rock Cosmic American Music, and it can be viewed as the roots of today’s popular alt-country movement. I’ve perused a couple of biographies of Gram, but David Meyer’s Twenty Thousand Roads : the ballad of Gram Parsons and his cosmic American music is probably the best I have read. It’s well researched, but if you are not a fan of extensive musical family trees and long digressions, stick with one of the lesser biographies.
Gram’s troubled adolescence preceded a stint at Harvard, where he discovered country music, his big influences being Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. He played in a few groups before joining the already successful Byrds, where his influence was immediately felt on Sweetheart of the Rodeo. After Gram and Chris Hillman departed The Byrds, they formed The Flying Burrito Bros and recorded The Gilded Palace of Sin. Not a huge commercial success, the album attracted a following with other musicians, probably for Gram the most important of these being Keith Richards. The passages in the book about Gram and Keith are nicely handled, and Meyer has interviewed extensively to give a well rounded picture. It’s also about this time that Parsons’ trust funded drug habit escalated. The failure of the second Burrito’s album and his increasing problems meant Gram was spending a lot of the early 70s in the desert looking for UFOs. Luckily someone introduced him to Emmylou Harris, and they went on to record some of the most beautiful harmonies in popular music. There has always been a lot of interest in the true nature of their relationship, and the book makes no definite statement. The two albums with Emmylou hint at great things to come, but Gram couldn’t give up his addictions, and he was found dead of an overdose in 1973.
Meyer’s account of the funeral of Gram’s friend Clarence White is depressing and moving. The service was such a debacle that Gram decided he wanted his body cremated. After his death, friends stole the body, drove out to the desert and set fire to the coffin. The pair were caught and arrested, and Gram’s partially burned body was eventually buried in New Orleans. This episode is recreated in the movie Grand Theft Parsons (which I haven’t seen and I’d be interested to hear what it is like).
Just about every Gram album is patchy, but the good stuff is really good. If you are new to him, you can’t go past the anthology Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels as a starting point.
20 April 2008 at 12:30 am
Nice review. I was introduced to the Byrds musical family tree in 2000. I was particulary mesmerized by the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album. It’s timeless.
Grand Theft Parsons movie is worth the watch. Best, Jim
23 April 2008 at 4:31 pm
Thanks Jim, I will take a look at that movie.
3 May 2008 at 3:43 am
Sounds similar to a few bad boy releases in the last year. I really enjoyed the Booky Wook. It wasn’t the best written creation but was just so different to anything I had read before. Russell Brand is funny but he’s more entertaining.
I thought that all these characters are similar to “The 17th Earl of Rochester” (Johnny Depp) and Captain Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Carrbean” – anyone think he’s typecast yet?
These guys are only following in the footsteps of several famous Restoration-era dandies including “Champagne Charlie” who frittered away the family silver on girls, booze and theatre.