About Gram Parsons

Though perhaps not as familiar, country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons probably did as much to shape modern American roots music as Hank Williams. And while his “Cosmic American Music” would go on to influence artists as diverse as the Eagles, Elvis Costello and R.E.M., Parsons’ greatest influence was felt in the 1990s as the touchstone of the contemporary “Alternative Country” movement.

Inspired by a 1956 performance by Elvis Presley, Gram pursued music with a will, playing in numerous rock and folk combos in his teens. By the age of eighteen, both of his parents were dead and he found himself gravitating to the music of country legends like Hank Williams and George Jones, whose tales of heartbreak and loss seemed to speak to his own experience.

After his first official country outfit, The International Submarine Band, released one unsuccessful album, 1968’s Safe At Home, Parsons was asked to join the retooled lineup of The Byrds. His influence is strongly felt on that group’s country-tinged 1968 opus Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, though he soon left the group over a planned show in South Africa. A short time later, he formed The Flying Burrito Brothers with fellow ex-Byrd Chris Hillman—the group’s first album, 1969’s Gilded Palace of Sin, further explored Parson’s country-rock vision, garnering the group a strong cult following. By the time the follow-up was released (1970’s Burrito Deluxe) Parsons had been kicked out of the group, again due to his erratic “rock star” behavior and increasing reliance on drugs—an indulgence that his hefty trust fund afforded.

Following a two-year “lost weekend,” Parsons was determined to get closer to the source of the traditional country music that had originally inspired him. Enlisting the help of Elvis’s backup band, as well as the high and lonesome sound of a young singer named Emmylou Harris on backup vocals, Parsons recorded two career-defining studio albums: GP (1973) and the posthumously released Grievous Angel (1974). Featuring classics like “A Song For You,” “$1000 Wedding,” and a definitive cover of Boudleaux Bryant’s “Love Hurts,” Gram had finally found his voice as a solo artist, creating a twist on country music that gave a nod to tradition, but remained firmly rooted in the present in both lyrics and attitude.

Sadly, as Gram’s artistic life was peaking, his personal life was spinning out of control; like many of his honky-tonk idols, Parsons medicated his inner demons with the same intensity that he played music. Few were surprised when he was found dead of a drug overdose in 1973 a few months before Grievous Angel was to be released. The bizarre incidents following Parson’s death—in which a friend stole the body and burned it in Joshua Tree National Park—only fueled the legend of this troubled, complex musical maverick. Today, Parsons’ legacy looms larger than ever through numerous tribute records and the vigilant proselytizing of his former friends and collaborators, particularly Emmylou Harris, who has made a mission of bringing Parsons’ music to the public at large.