Gram Parsons and "Cosmic American Music"

Came across this article this morning...

What Is Cosmic American Music? (And a List of Examples)

I really like most of these artists and the music style associated with it, but I'm not sure it's actually a genre. Been seeing a lot of stuff lately about something called "Yacht Rock", and wondering if people just make these things up.

Is it an actual genre, and if so, who would you include as part of it?

 

I thought Parsons came up with the term. The list in the article is what comes to mind. I'd also add much of Gene Clark's output.

 

Well that article was as pretentious and wrong-headed as I'd feared.

I'm not even gonna post in the big thread:
There is something I must tell you, you must know - the Gram Parsons thread

 

ohhkayy, moving right along...

 

I always just thought "cosmic American music" was Parson's description of his own personal blend of soul, country and rock. It's basically a post-hippie stoner version of Elvis' musical mix. Like when you think of Elvis in his comeback period playing everything from "Johnny B. Goode" to "From a Jack to a King" to "Any Day Now" to "Precious Lord" to originals the blended all those influences together, played with a rocking band with Ron Tutt and James Burton and Glen Hardin, but now imagine it played by people 10 or 15 years younger who were like 18 when the Beatles hit and took different drugs from Elvis.

 

That's helpful, thanks. My limited understanding is that this music was partly a push back against all of the long, psychedelic jamming of the sixties. In that context I wondered whether The Band would maybe fit this genre, but probably not.

 

It was pretty contemporaneous with the long jamming (which continued as a trend well after this) so not really a reaction to that. For example The Byrds got into the long jams only after Parsons left. Maybe more a reaction to the baroque pop with overdubs of non rock instruments ala Pepper, Ruby Tuesday, Notorious Byrd Bros, etc.

 

Got it, thx

 

You'll notice that a lot of the TCB players show up on the Parsons solo albums and the Emmylou Harris albums -- Hardin, Tutt, Burton... The big difference is the "cosmic" part, not so much the "American music" part. I never really heard the phrase in conjunction with anything but Parsons (I always assumed Parsons just coined it to describe his own music), but as Parsons has become more and more of a kind of celebrated figure, and Americana has become more an more of a distinct subgenre, it seems like artist and critics have adopted the phrase and put it to their own uses.

 

Yup. Interesting. That was one heck of a band. Backed Roy Orbison on the Black & White thing, right?

 

In the late '60s and earliest '70s, Elvis and the TCB band were the best rock act on the road, before Elvis let it all go. Forget the Stones tours in that stretch, Elvis and the TCB band were killing it and they had that grand catholic vision of blending all this different kind of American music (Ray Charles kinda had the same vision too). But theirs was kind of the opposite of the hippie "cosmic" counterculture sensibility.

 

Yes. In fact I just recently saw a studio clip of Elvis and TCB Band doing Little Sister and Get Back. Ripping good stuff.

 

Yeah, I didn't realize that, original TCB band, yeah.

 

I’d throw one of Delaney & Bonnie’s albums into the conversation.....

 

I always thought "Cosmic American Music" was a misnomer. Cosmic makes me think of space-rock, psychedelia, etc.

 

Yep. "Cosmic American Music" was simply Parsons' term for blending modern rock, country, and soul. It's nothing more complex than that, and trying to make it more complex or create criteria which include or exclude certain songs is silly. It's telling that 6 of his "top 15" Cosmic American Music" albums are the six albums Parsons released in his lifetime... the implication is that everything Parsons touched is CAM. Which is silly too. Safe at Home is pretty much a direct copy of the Buck Owens formula, with nothing new added. If that album is Cosmic American Music, so is everything Buck released in the 60s.

 

Well, to be technical, the original TCB band circa 1969 had Larry Muhoberac on keys/piano. Glen D. Hardin joined for the February 1970 Las Vegas engagement.

 

My own very personal take on the matter is if it has Sneaky Pete Kleinow's wacked out steel harmonics, it's probably "Cosmic American Music."

 

Ok, not a genre. Carry on..

 

Parsons to my ears was a case of execution not living up to ambition.

 

This is the perfect definition of Cosmic American Music, folks.
I'm not even going to fuss with that article in the original post now.

 

I always felt that a lot of Mike Nesmith's solo work fit the description, particularly Tantamount to Treason. As for newer artists, Sturgill Simpson's last two albums are in the same vein.

 

Outside of Gram, when I think of "Cosmic American Music," I think of Elvis' output from '69 on (though even some of his earlier music fits), and to maybe a lesser extent, Charlie Rich.

 

I thought about Simpson a few minutes ago, when I was trying to form a response to this thread. If Cosmic American Music is an actual genre, he would be a current proponent of it.

While the article is a little too contorted to take seriously, I'll walk away with the notion that Cosmic American Music is another subset of country rock, one that existed primarily in the early '70's. Not really an actual full genre all by itself, but something in the 'hippie/country' crossover zone.

The list provided didn't really help. I understand 15 was the numerical limit, but some of those decisions were kinda arbitrary. Listing 'American Beauty' but not 'Workingman's Dead' is slightly bizarre. Leaving off anything by Commander Cody might be a real omission. Gene Parsons 'Kindling' would fit the bill too. Ah well, everyone can make this up however they choose....

 

If I may be so bold, here's my nomination for the quintessential "Cosmic American Music" piece:



Ethereal arrangement...dreamy subject matter...you can feel the universe breathing between every note. I rolled through Death Valley for a couple days listening to this and music like this and it was a very real and rewarding experience.