Gram's Swan Song

In life there is death.  I was born on September 20th 1973.  On September 19th 1973 a musician that change the face of Rock and Roll and Country music died at Joshua Tree.  He was only 26 years young and for me changed the way I listened to some classic albums of the 1960's. Cosmic American Music was what Gram called it.  Hearing Sweetheart Of The Rodeo and Gilded Palace Of Sin are extremely profound in my musical listening.  Everyone from Emmylou Harris to Elvis Costello sight Gram as a huge influence on their musical influences.  I personally heard one of his songs and put him in one of my personal favorites.  Keith Richards wrote a song about him.  You know the song well because the Rolling Stones have put that song in tons of set lists at their live shows. "Wild Horses" is a wonderful tribute to the legacy of Gram.

At some point I will talk about Gilded Palace Of Sin and Sweetheart Of The Rodeo on how super those albums are.  What I will talk about is his classic posthumous album that came out four months after his death.  He recorded Grievous Angel is a wonderful swan song and a wonderful album for people who love his music and his reach with such resonance in both Rock and Roll and Country genres.  If I could turn back time I surely would find a way to see him in live performance and I wish I was around when he played with The Flying Burrito Brothers.

I stumbled upon his music by accident when I was trying to complete my Byrds cassette collection.  I had the 1990 Box Set and all the cassettes of their back catalog.  It was Sweethearts Of The Rodeo that took a while to find.  After reading the liner notes of the box set I was on the quest to find it.  The Box Set had ten songs from Sweethearts... and that was enough for me to get a grasp on the talent of Gram Parsons.  I was told by a teacher that if I liked that "twangy" music I should get The Flying Burrito Brothers compilation Farther Along. The book I used as a 60's reference mentioned both albums as must owns in anyones collection.

Both bands made the "twang" I needed to keep me happy and curious.  The second accident was finding that Farther Along compilation at the record store in the tape cut out bin for $2.99.  The cassette had a little nick on the back of the cassette case.  My luck was continuing when I went to tag sale and found the twofer of Gram's solo albums GP and Grievous Angel on cassette.  The cassette looked barely used and had a sticker on it that said $1.00.  I made out, for less then $10.00 I got all I needed of Gram Parsons.  The book filled me in on the major details about Gram, but it was now time for the music.

Gram's music had an interesting reaction to me at first listen.  It was like he was confessing his sins or stories to me.  Once in a while the song would be upbeat and other times it would be really sad.  When I put Grievous Angel on it was again soaked in sadness and his words resinated even more.  The music was great and the assistance of Emmylou Harris made the album shine.  It was this boost as it were from Emmylou Harris that made all the songs shine and gave Gram a great singer to help with his sorrows.  All the songs did a great job of keeping my attention.  It was Gram's music that made me understand his songwriting and his gift of explaining his pain with all of us.

Gram should have lived longer, but that is where it was more like meant to be.  If anything his legacy will always live on.  His mix of Country and Rock was unheard of until he came along.  His calling it Cosmic American Music with it's mix of not only Country and Rock he peppered it well with R&B and Soul.  Not many people could figure it out, but when it's done right it'a amazing.  Grievous Angel is an amazing and album and Gram's vision was what he wanted and sadly it did not catch fire like he wanted.  I think that lead him to an early death.  He was so caught up in what he wanted to do, it killed him.  I really wish we had more material from him so I can see if there was more to this great musical direction.  If you like CSN, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, The Byrds. Poco and countless others then you need to hear Gram Parsons.  He was a true legend in the short time he was on this earth.  Maybe he did not understand that, and that lead to his death.  Take a Gram trip and you will understand the true genius he was.  Enjoy!!