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Colt1861Navy

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Re: Colt1861Navy post# 693

Sunday, 06/23/2002 11:10:02 PM

Sunday, June 23, 2002 11:10:02 PM

Post# of 1767
Rock 'n' Roll Artists A-Z...Gram Parsons

http://www.gramparsons.com/

Born Ingram Cecil Connor III on November 5, 1946, in Waycross, Georgia. Died on September 19, 1973, Joshua Tree National Monument, California. "The Father of Country-Rock Music"...

Gram is often referred to as the worlds first Country/Rock Star. Gram has developed a considerable cult following due to his efforts to blur the line between Rock & Roll and Country music during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Gram's influence was key in the development of such early 1970's bands as The Byrds, The Eagles and The Rolling Stones, as well as such new 1990's Gram inspired bands as Son Volt, The Jayhawks, The Lemonheads, Wilco and Dash Rip Rock.

Gram's father died when Gram was very young and his mother remarried Bob Parsons, legally changing his name to Gram (short for Ingram) Parsons.

Did Gram invent Country-Rock?

Although Gram is often credited for inventing Country-Rock, Gram was simply the first Country musician to "act" like a Rock star (i.e. Flashy Nudie suites, excessive drink and drugs, etc.) and was often found in the company of the Rolling Stones. Gram was the inspiration of the Country-Rock movement which involved such bands as The Eagles, Pure Prairie League, The New Riders Of The Purple Sage and The Desert Rose Band to name a few.

What in the world is "Cosmic American Music?"

Throughout Gram's career, people were (and still are) trying to find an appropriate label for the music that Gram played. Gram despised most of the labels that the various music publications were calling his music, such as "Progressive Country", "Continental Country" and "Country Rock", preferring instead to call his style "Cosmic American Music". Despite Gram's attempts to popularize the name "Cosmic American Music", it was never taken seriously by the mainstream music industry and fell into obscurity. Today the title is rarely seen but is occasionally used between long time Gram fans and/or music historians.

Gram did not write Wild Horses although he was the inspiration for the song. Wild Horses was actually written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger (it is widely held that the song was originally written for Gram to sing, an idea that was refused by the record label). The Rolling Stones did allow Gram to record the song before the Stones themselves had recorded it (a first for the Rolling Stones). Gram did however arrange the version of Honky Tonk Woman that the Stones later called Country Honk and was also the key inspiration for The Stones' "Country-ish" movement following Exile On Main Street.

Where is Gram now?

Gram died September 19, 1973 in Joshua Tree, California, a part of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, at the age of 26.

During the funeral ceremony for Gram's close friend Clarence White, Gram was overheard stating that when he died, rather than being buried in the ground, he would like to be taken out to The Joshua Tree desert of southern California and burned. After Gram died in The Joshua Tree Inn, his body was taken to the Los Angeles International Airport in preparation for being flown to Louisiana for burial. Gram's road manager Phil Kaufman and a friend, Michael Martin, got very intoxicated, borrowed a broken down hearse and drove to LAX to retrieve the body. When they arrived, they told the shipping clerk that Gram's remains were to be sent out of another airport, flashed some bogus paperwork and falsely signed for the body. After crashing into a wall and almost being arrested, Phil, Michael and Gram drove back to The Joshua Tree Desert, stopping only to buy more beer and a container of gasoline. They took Gram's remains into the desert, poured gasoline inside the coffin and set him ablaze. The two were arrested several days later and fined $700.00 for stealing and burning the COFFIN (it was is not against the law to steal a dead body). Gram's partially burned remains were finally laid to rest in a modest cemetery near New Orleans, LA.

Emmylou Harris was discovered in 1971 by Chris Hillman and Rick Roberts when Hillman brought Gram to hear her sing in a small club in the Washington D.C. area. In 1972, Emmylou answered the call from Gram to join him in Los Angeles to work on his first solo album, GP and later joined his band Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. After Gram's death, Emmylou retained many of the members of the Fallen Angels and many of the session musicians from the GP and Grievous Angel sessions to form her own "Hot Band".

After David Crosby left The Byrds, they performed as a trio for a while but felt they needed another player to round out their sound. Chris Hillman asked Gram to join The Byrds shortly after meeting him in a bank. Their next album was all country and they recorded in Nashville. The album, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, was a breakthrough in pop music. Now more than 25 years later it is considered a classic. Gram quit working for the Byrds in London only six months after Chris and Roger had hired him following Gram's decision not to tour with the Byrds in South Africa.

When Art Clokey started creating a series of 130 surreal six minute Gumby episodes, he commissioned a theme song from a young musician named Pete Kleinow. Pete is the famed "Sneeky" Pete who later became the steel guitar player of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Gram had nothing to do with the theme song.

Despite the passion in their vocals and their steamy glances while performing, Gram and Emmylou remained strictly platonic friends throughout their relationship. Although Gram's marriage to Gretchen was quite unstable and was saturated with jealousy, Gram and Emmylou always managed to keep their relationship a professional one.

Although many continue to claim otherwise, after several years of digging, I have been unable to verify that GP and Emmylou were actually involved romantically. There is no doubt that the two were very much in love with each other, but the prospect of a secret romance between them will just have to remain a delicious mystery.

The Byrds' "The Ballad Of Easy Rider" has an arrangement of an old Dixie hymn called "Jesus Is Just All Right With Me." Although it was originally thought that this arrangement was introduced to Roger McGuinn by Gram Parsons, in fact it was fellow Byrd member GENE Parsons (no relation) who was responsible for this introduction. Several years later, the Doobie Brothers had a hit with the song.

The Pacers (1960)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Others?...

The Legends I(1961 - 1962)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Jim Stafford - guitar
Jim Carlton - bass
Lamar Braxton - drums

The Legends II(1962 - 1963)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Jim Stafford - guitar
Jim Carlton - bass
Lamar Braxton - drums
Jesse Chambers - guitar
Kent LaVoie - guitar/vocals - formerly with The Rumors.
Jon Corneal - drums
Jim Stafford later goes solo. Kent LaVoie later forms Lobo.

The Shilos(1963 - 1965)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Paul Surratt -
Joe Kelly -
George Wrigley -

Album:
"Gram Parsons: The Early Years, 1963-1965" (1979)

The Like (1965)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Tom Snow - keyboards
Others?...

Gram Parsons And The Like I(1965)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Tom Snow - keyboards
John Nuese - guitar - formerly with The Trolls.
Ian Dunlop - bass/sax - formerly with Happy Pantaloon And The Buckles.

Gram Parsons And The Like II(1965 - 1966)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Tom Snow - keyboards
John Nuese - guitar
Ian Dunlop - bass/sax
Mickey Gauvin - drums

Album:
"Another Side Of This Life: The Lost Recordings Of Gram Parsons, 1965-1966" (2000)

The International Submarine Band I (1966 - 1967)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
John Nuese - guitar
Ian Dunlop - bass/sax
Mickey Gauvin - drums

Single: "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" (1966)
Ian Dunlop and Mickey Gauvin form The Flying Burrito Brothers.

The International Submarine Band II (1967 - 1968)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
John Nuese - guitar
Jon Corneal - drums
Joe Osborn - bass
Jay Dee Maness - pedal-steel guitar
Earl "Les" Ball - keyboards
Chris Ethridge - bass

Album:
"Safe At Home" (1968)
Group disbands.

The Byrds(February 1968 - July 1968)

The Flying Burrito Brothers (1968 - June 1970)

Gram Parsons And The Fallen Angels I (1973)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Emmylou Harris - guitar/vocals
Gerry Mule - guitar
Kyle Tullis - bass
Neil Flanz - pedal-steel guitar
N. D. Smart II - drums - b. Norman Smart, Dayton, Ohio - formerly with The Mark V, The Knights/Thee Rubber Band, The Remains, The Bait Shop/Bo Grumpus, Kangaroo, and Ian and Sylvia's band Great Speckled Bird.

Gram Parsons And The Fallen Angels II (1973)

Gram Parsons - guitar/vocals
Emmylou Harris - guitar/vocals
Kyle Tullis - bass
Neil Flanz - pedal-steel guitar
N. D. Smart II - drums
Jock Bartley - guitar - b. Kansas - formerly with Zephyr.

Album:
"Live 1973" (1994)
N. D. Smart II later joins Todd Rundgren's band, and Mountain. Jock Bartley later joins Firefall.

Solo albums:

"GP" (1973)
"Grevious Angel" (1974)
"GP / Grevious Angel" (2-fer) (1990)

Compilations:

"Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings, Bottled Blues: 1963-1973" (1992)
"Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology" (2-CDs) (2001)

"DESPERADOS: The Roots of Country Rock" - by John Einarson; published by Cooper Square Press - Let me say right up front that I have been a big fan of country rock music ever since hearing the "Pickin' Up The Pieces" single from Poco's debut album. Poco has remained a favorite of mine through the years, although I always believed they were overlooked as a significant influence on popular music into the 1970s and the "new country" movement in the 1990s. Thankfully, this oversight is corrected by John Einarson in his book, "DESPERADOS: The Roots of Country Rock", which traces the history of country rock's rise in Southern California from the early days in the late 1960s up to The Eagles (unquestionably the most commercially-viable country rock band of all time). Having previously read one of Mr. Einarson's biographies on The Guess Who, I was anxious to see how he approached my favorite type of music...I was not disappointed. "DESPERADOS: The Roots of Country Rock" is an intricate tale of musicians struggling to be heard amidst the psychedelic and hard-rock sounds flooding the airwaves at the time...and these early country rockers did make themselves heard...The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Poco, Buffalo Springfield, Clarence White, The Eagles, Michael Nesmith (remember The Monkees?...Nesmith made some great country rock music after that gig was over), The Dillards, Rick Nelson and The Stone Canyon Band, The Dillard and Clark Expedition, Linda Ronstadt, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band...the list could go on and on. This book covers the early days of country rock from it's beginnings in the late 1960s to the tragic year of 1973 (when the music world lost two country rock pioneers: guitarist-extraordinaire Clarence White and Gram Parsons) and examines the influence this music has had on second-generation country rock bands such as Pure Prairie League and Firefall. In addition, the impact of these early country rockers on the "new country" music of the 1980s and the "alternative country" movement of the late-1990s and beyond is explored from a "roots" perspective. This is a tale masterfully woven by Mr. Einarson, based on more than 60 exclusive interviews with the originators and innovators of country rock. The amount of information and level of detail contained in these 288 pages is astounding, and there are 31 black and white photographs (some of which I've never seen before). The only improvement that I would recommend is the inclusion of a comprehensive index in the next edition (this would really help in finding information on specific artists). Even though I've been following country rock music for years, I learned a lot from this book. The quotes gleaned from Mr. Einarson's interviews during research for this book are particularly helpful in understanding the origin and development of country rock. "DESPERADOS: The Roots of Country Rock" is required reading for all fans of country rock or anyone interested in late-1960s to early-1970s music. Highly recommended.

Discography

http://www.gramparsons.com/disc/

Photo Gallery

http://www.gramparsons.com/photo/



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