(I searched for a similar thread. Most GP threads are either closed or very subject-specific -- some are both. So... Here we go) A thread for all things GP: his various bands ands teamings, solo work, life and times, and enduring influence on music.
about 30 years ago I went Gram crazy but I have to say, over time he has not worn well with me. we all have our opinions, this one's mine I think the 'live fast die young' type ethic is fine as entertainment but silly to aspire to. I do feel he was talented and had influence with something of a vision for a Country Rock hybrid. I also detect pretense and snobbery as well, it wasn't like he was some poor country boy who just by sheer talent wowed everyone.... Bringing us Emmylou on a grand scale is probably his most important contribution, as well as inspiring the Eagles. Not a single thing he released while alive was a big hit, as I recall everything he was on sold rather poorly in the day. Not that sales are everything but they are an indication of influence in that time and space. I feel his heart was in it but the booze and drugs were too much of a distraction. To me it's not a pretty picture and one best avoided these days. In My Hour Of Darkness still remains fine with the trio of Gram Emmy and Linda.
Gram Parsons is like a plethora of other musical artists whose lifestyle I would not want to emulate but whose beautiful music I wouldn't want to avoid. I'm thankful that I can listen to music without becoming personally involved in the musician's possibly twisted life. If I limited myself to listening to music from exemplary people, I'd also have to give up Beethoven, Wagner, The Beach Boys, The Who, Hole, Ramones, Phil Spector, Fleetwood Mac and many other of the artists whose music I most love.
I discovered Gram about 15 years ago. I never heard him as a kid, as I could not afford to buy records and he was never played on the radio (as you imply in your comment about his lack of success) even in my redncck hometown. I think I was 18 before I'd even heard of GP -- I mentioned Graham Parker to a guy and he asked, "Do you mean Gram Parsons"? I heard a couple of cuts a few years later: "Wild Horses", which I liked (especially surprising since I dislike the Stones' version) and "How Much I['ve] Lied", where I didn't care for Gram's lackadaisical attitude, as I'd first heard the brilliant remake by Elvis Costello, which I still consider one of the greatest covers ever done. I also heard "Hickory Wind" and "You're Still On My Mind" around this time, and liked them, but they didn't make a major impact on me. It was only some years later when I accidentally heard (of all things) the FBB's cover of "Sing Me Back Home", that I finally got Gram Parsons. I could hear the vulnerability in his voice, the devil-may-care posturing undercut by fragility. I can even treace it to one specific moment: right after the second verse, when Gram throws in a simple "Awwwww...". For some reason, that was an epiphany for me (I've read that others have had similar experiences with the same moment!).
No!! I don't want to hear it. Next you're going to tell me John Fogerty wasn't born on the bayou. Well that's one mark against him (I hate The Eagles)
i think gram parsons had his place in the annuals of musical history.i too like most other "rockers" went through the rough and tumble phase including a "country rock" phase. have i listened to his music recently? no. does his influence still linger in my mind and my creative process (which is now writing as i have retired from playing music) yes indeed. who can forget his turn with the byrds and "sweetheart of the rodeo"(one of he greatest records ever made)does the bottle let me down as often as it once did? no way. does it still rear it's head every now and again? indeed it does.
One of my favorite singers of all time, probably top 5 for me. What Gram lacks in vocal range and chops he makes up for in soul and personality. Hard for me to describe but listening to his and Roger's vocal takes of "The Christian Life" from Sweetheart, I'll take Gram's version every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I always thought Parsons was better in theory than execution. The vast majority of his records have major flaws on them mostly as a result of his own excesses.
McGuinn admits that he didn’t have a grasp on the song. I thought he had a much better run at it on the live Fillmore disc.
If nothing else he gave us Hot Burrito #1 and Hickory Wind. The later being one of the most beautiful heartbreak songs ever.
Went through a huge GP phase, but as I’ve gotten older and read more widely, some of the sheen has worn off the myth. He could be warm and personable and have moments of sheer brilliance in both songwriting and performing, but he was also incredibly lazy and selfish - he’d drop you cold, personally or professionally, if he saw something he liked better a little further down the road. Not someone you’d want to be in a band with, in other words. (Chris Hillman tried twice, and he’s got lots to say on *that* subject...) The songs themselves are great, although he is the sole songwriter on a lot fewer of them than people think — a lot of stuff he’s associated with was heavily co-written with others.
Gram Parsons had one of the most beautiful, soulful voices of any singer and the coolest Nudie suit ever! It's not true as some have claimed that he was the the originator of country rock but Gram, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmylou made some of the most beautiful country rock of all time. He did not live the life he portrayed in his music, but he felt it. Most importantly he made his audience feel it.
I've read Einarson's book on the FBB, which is essentially a memoir by Hillman, who used it as a hatchet job on Parsons. CH even denigrates "Wild Horses", IMHO the FBB's greatest track, b/c it's so identified with Gram. Obviously Parsons was no saint, but Hillman's wildly out of proportion attack doesn't help his argument.
Those major flaws is what lifts his work from excellence to perfection. And yes you wouldn't want to be in the same band as him but that could also be said about Crosby, Clark, Clarke & McGuinn. I'm not sure where the jury sits with Hillman.
No album is flawless but I think the only album with major flaws is Burrito Deluxe. Even that has some great songs. The rest, Sweetheart of The Rodeo (except for some of Roger's vocals), Gilded Palace of Sin, GP and Grievous Angel are jewels.
