Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist born Ingram Cecil Connor, III. A solo artist as well as a member of both The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, he is best known for a series of recordings which anticipate the so-called country rock of the 1970s and the alt-country movement that began around 1990. Parsons described his records as "Cosmic American Music". He died of a drug overdose at the age of 26.

Biography

1946-1968

Parsons was born Ingram Cecil Connor, III in Winter Haven, Florida, the grandson of citrus fruit baron John Snively, with extensive properties both there and in Waycross, Georgia, where he was raised. A sister, Little Avis, soon followed. Despite all the material advantages of old Southern money, he was surrounded by a dysfunctional family in which alcoholism was rife. His father, "Coon Dog" Connor, suffered mood swings and abruptly committed suicide two days before Christmas Day 1958. His wife, Avis, subsequently married a pseudo-grifter named Robert Parsons, whose surname was adopted by young Ingram, the elder Parsons going as far to have new birth certificates drawn up for his stepson and stepdaughter. Henceforth he would be known as Gram Parsons. For a time, the family found a stability of sorts until Avis rapidly descended into alcoholism, leading to her death from cirrhosis of the liver.

As his family disintegrated around him, Gram developed strong musical interests, particularly after seeing Elvis Presley perform in concert, in 1957. Five years later, but while barely in his teens, he played in rock and roll cover bands such as the Pacers and the Legends, headlining in clubs owned by his stepfather in the Winter Haven/Polk County area. By the age of 16 he graduated to folk music, and in 1964 teamed with his first professional outfit, the Shilohs. Heavily influenced by the Journeymen, the band played hootenannies, coffee houses and high school auditoriums. Forays into New York City's Greenwich Village included appearances at the Bitter End.

After the band folded he attended Harvard University, studying theology but departing after a semester. Despite being from the South, he first became serious about country music during his time in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1966, he and others from the Boston folk scene formed the International Submarine Band. The band relocated to Los Angeles the following year, and in 1968 released the album Safe at Home, which contains one of his best-known songs, "Luxury Liner," as well as an early version of "Do You Know How It Feels", which he would reprise on the first Flying Burrito Brothers album. Of course, young Parsons had already moved on to bigger things by the time of the album's release.

1968-1970

By 1968, Parsons had come to the attention of Chris Hillman of The Byrds who, depleted by the firing of David Crosby and the departure of Michael Clarke, were seeking new members. Originally conceived as a history of twentieth-century music, beginning with traditional country, taking in jazz, R&B, and rock, and ending with the most advanced (for the time) form of electronic wizardry, Sweetheart of the Rodeo was their only album with Parsons as a member. As recording plans were made, Gram--originally hired as a jazz pianist--persuaded the Byrds to leave Los Angeles and record the album in Nashville. Along the way McGuinn's plan was jettisoned in favor of a full-fledged country and western project, and included Parsons' songs such as "One Hundred Years from Now" and "Hickory Wind," along with compositions by Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard. However, due to contractual issues, most of Parsons's vocals were removed from the final product. Parsons left the band after refusing to play in apartheid-ridden South Africa, and during this period he became friendly with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. It's been suggested that Gram was not political at all, had not even any awareness at all of Apartheid; he just wanted to stay in England and hang out with Keith.

Returning to Los Angeles, Parsons was soon joined by Hillman (both as rhythm guitarists), and the two formed the Flying Burrito Brothers with bassist Chris Ethridge and pedal steel player Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Their 1969 album The Gilded Palace Of Sin was a modernized version of the Bakersfield style of country music made popular by Buck Owens, and the band appeared on the album cover wearing Nudie suits emblazoned with all sorts of hippie accoutrements. Along with the Parsons-Hillman originals "Christine's Tune" and "Hot Burrito #2" were versions of the soul music classics "The Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman", the latter featuring David Crosby on high harmony. Though not a commercial success, Gilded was acclaimed by rock critic Robert Christgau as "an ominous, obsessive, tongue-in-cheek country-rock synthesis, absorbing rural and urban, traditional and contemporary, at point of impact." Recorded without a permanent drummer, the group soon added Michael Clarke on drums. After recording the non-album single "The Train Song", which also flopped, bassist Ethridge departed and was replaced by Bernie Leadon, whose joining on lead guitar moved Hillman back to bass.

By this time, Parsons's own use of drugs had increased to the extent that the recording of the followup, 1970's Burrito Deluxe, was slow and acrimonious, and it was no surprise that Parsons was frequently absent from the sessions. The album is considered less inspired than its predecessor, but it is notable for the Parsons-Hillman-Leadon song "Older Guys" and for its take on Jagger and Richards' "Wild Horses" -- the first recording released of this famous song.

The group attempted a follow-up full of unique interpretations of country standards, including "Six Days on the Road" and "Sing Me Back Home". However, after the failure of Burrito Deluxe, these plans were shelved. Parsons soon left the group, who limped on through two more LPs.

Parsons is also widely rumoured to have penned the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" during this time period--although Ry Cooder is on record as saying the song was copied from his own style.

1970-1972

The remainder of 1970 was largely wasted by Parsons, and his penchant for cocaine, heroin and other indulgences resulted in the abandonment of sessions for what was to have been a solo record for A&M, after which Gram returned to hanging out with the Stones, first in London and later France, during the recording of Exile on Main St., allegedly appearing amongst the faceless, boozy choir that inhabits various songs.

After leaving the Stones' camp, Parsons married in 1971, for the first and only time, to girlfriend Gretchen Burrell at his stepfather's New Orleans estate. Allegedly, the relationship would be far from stable.

1972-1973

Parsons returned to the US for a one-off concert with the Burritos, and at Hillman's instigation went to hear Emmylou Harris sing in a small club in Washington, D.C. They became friends and, within a year, he asked her to join him in Los Angeles for another attempt to record his first solo album. GP, 1973, utilized the guitar-playing of James Burton (sideman to Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson), and featured Parsons songs such as "Big Mouth Blues" and "Kiss the Children," as well as a superb cover of Tompall Glaser's "Streets of Baltimore."

Parsons, by now featuring Harris as his duet partner, played dates across the United States as Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. For his next and final album, 1974's Grievous Angel, he again used Harris and Burton. The record, which was released after his death, received even more enthusiastic reviews than had GP, and has since attained classic status. Among its most celebrated songs is "$1000 Wedding," which was covered by one of the many groups influenced by Parsons, the Mekons, and "Brass Buttons," which addresses his mother's alcoholism.

Death

Parsons died September 19, 1973 in Yucca Valley, California at the age of 26 from an overdose, purportedly of morphine and tequila. In a story that has taken on legendary stature, Parsons' body disappeared from the Los Angeles International Airport, where it was being readied to be shipped to Louisiana for burial. His former road manager, Phil Kaufman, claimed that Gram had remarked after Clarence White's funeral in July of that year that he (Gram) did not want to be buried when he died, but instead would rather be taken out to Joshua Tree and cremated. Kaufman and a friend managed to steal Parson's body from the airport and, in a borrowed hearse, drove Parsons' body to Joshua Tree where they cremated it. The site of the cremation is today marked by a small concrete slab and is presided over by a large rock flake known to rock climbers as 'The Gram Parsons memorial hand traverse'. The two were arrested several days later and fined $700 for burning the coffin, since stealing a body was not a crime. [http://www.gramparsons.com/faq/ The burned remains were eventually returned to Parsons' stepfather and interred in New Orleans. A version of these events is depicted in the 2003 comedy Grand Theft Parsons; they are discussed at length by several people, including Kaufman, in the documentary Fallen Angel: Gram Parsons.

Discography

Safe at Home : International Submarine Band (1968)
Sweetheart of the Rodeo : The Byrds (1968)
The Gilded Palace of Sin : Flying Burrito Brothers (1969)
Burrito Deluxe : Flying Burrito Brothers (1970)
GP : Gram Parsons (1973)
Grievous Angel : Gram Parsons (1974)
Early Years (1963–1965) : Gram Parsons (1979)
Live 1973 : Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels (1982)
The Gram Parsons Anthology : Gram Parsons/Various (2001)
The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons : Sundazed Music (2002)
The Complete Reprise Sessions : Gram Parsons (2006).

Samples

Miller'sCave.ogg of "Miller’s Cave" from Safe at Home

References

Christgau, Robert. 1990. Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide. (New York: Da Capo Press). ISBN 0-306-80409-3.

External links

A Fan Page with many links
Parsons biography on a Byrds-oriented web site
Another Parsons biography with a lot of graphics, high-school pictures, album covers, International Submarine Band logos and band pictures, and more.
Gram Parsons Project, a page with interviews from those in the know
Gram Parson's Gravesite
Publisher site for Moody Food, a novel inspired by the life of Gram Parsons

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