Gram Parsons

[Troubadour]

I don't think we have a thread for Gram, so I thought I'd start one. Not sure if we have many fans here, but he is one of my favourite musicians. I have been listening to him a lot lately. He has so many beautiful songs, but I still think Hot Burrito #1 (with the Flying Burrito Brothers) is an example of how raw and vulnerable his vocals could be. This just kills me!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKplna3hWtc[/ame]

I love the part on the Hotel California documentary where someone (it may be Bonnie Raitt, I can't quite remember) says that Gram obviously had a huge love for country music and that it influenced all of them - he sat them down and made them listen to all of the great country artists (Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, etc) until they "got it".

Here are a few of my favourite pics of Gram. I love this first one of him with Keith Richards. He was sweet and gorgeous. If anyone has any more thoughts, pictures, favourite songs to share, please do!

[Troubadour]

Lastly, it shouldn't be a surprise that I love cowboy Gram!

[Freypower]

I have Safe At Home, GP & Grievous Angel plus the first Flying Burrito Brothers album as well as Burrito Deluxe & Dim Lights...

In my opinion his masterpiece is Return Of The Grievous Angel. My other favourites of his are $1000 Wedding, Ooh Las Vegas, The New Soft Shoe, Hearts On Fire, Hot Burrito #1, Sin City, In My Hour Of Darkness, Streets Of Baltimore. I am less impressed with his attempt to cover the Rolling Stones. The truth is I don't like this type of music as much as I did when I first became an Eagles fan.

[Troubadour]

$1,000 Wedding is another of my favourites.

This is Gram's version of Green, Green Grass of Home. I just can't get enough of his voice. So vulnerable!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7yoXjUMG-4&feature=relmfu[/ame]

[Troubadour]

Another one of my faves...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Ow_Jav_eo&feature=related[/ame]

[sodascouts]

Quite a colorful guy. I never really listened to him outside of the Flying Burrito Brothers. I'll have to give him more attention!

[luvthelighthouse]

Love the photo's. What's odd is that, I have been thinking about Gram lately... probably because Sweetheart of the Rodeo has been starting at me from the shelf for a few weeks now.

Had he have lived, I can only imagine the impact he would have had on music.

[Brooke]

What a looker he is! So cute! I have a couple cds and haven't listened to them for a while. Must dig them out!

Such a tragedy that he died so young.

[Topkat]

I really didn't know much about Gram at the time, but I knew he was in the Flying Burrito Brothers, & I think also the Byrds for a very short time. What freaks me out is the story about his death & how his friends stole the casket at LAX & took it to the Joshua Tree & tried to cremate him there! That story just creeped me out!

[TimothyBFan]

This has always been my favorite picture of him. He was such a cutie!!! I also not a fan of his kind of music much, as everyone's aware, but I sure can appreciate what he did for music in such a short lifetime. It's hard to imagine, had he lived a much longer life, what he could have achieved in music.

As for the story of his friend's stealing his casket---I've always thought I'd want friends like that myself. They were trying to honor his wishes, (which I always thought was strange that he had said how he wanted to be cremated at the Joshua Tree since he was so young--perhaps knew, because of his drug use and wild lifestyle, he may not live long?).

For those who aren't familiar with the story, here's what wiki has to say about it:



In the late 1960s, Parsons became enamored of Joshua Tree National Monument (now Joshua Tree National Park) in southeastern California. After splitting from Burrell, Parsons would frequently spend his weekends in the area with Margaret Fisher and Phil Kaufman. Before his tour was scheduled to commence in October 1973, Parsons decided to go on one more excursion. Accompanying him were Fisher, personal assistant Michael Martin, and Dale McElroy, Martin's girlfriend.
Less than two days after arriving, Parsons died on September 19, 1973, in Joshua Tree, California, at the age of 26 from an overdose of morphine and alcohol. According to Fisher in the 2005 biography Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons, the amount of morphine consumed by Parsons would be lethal to three regular users and thus he had likely overestimated his tolerance considering his experience with opiates. Fisher and McElroy were returned to Los Angeles by Kaufman, who dispersed the remnants of Parsons' stash in the desert.
Parsons' body disappeared from the Los Angeles International Airport where it was being readied to be shipped to Louisiana for burial. Prior to his death, Parsons stated that he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree and his ashes spread over Cap Rock, a prominent natural feature there; however, Parsons' stepfather arranged for a private ceremony back in New Orleans and neglected to invite any of his friends from the music industry. Two accounts claim that Bob Parsons stood to inherit Gram's share of his grandfather's estate if he could prove that Gram was a resident of Louisiana, explaining his eagerness to have him buried there.
To fulfill Parsons' funeral wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole his body from the airport and in a borrowed hearse drove it to Joshua Tree. Upon reaching the Cap Rock section of the park, they attempted to cremate Parsons' corpse by pouring five gallons of gasoline into the open coffin and throwing a lit match inside. What resulted was an enormous fireball. The police gave chase but, as one account puts it, "were encumbered by sobriety," and the men escaped. The two were arrested several days later. Since there was no law against stealing a dead body, they were only fined $750for stealing the coffin and were not prosecuted for leaving 35 lbs of his charred remains in the desert.

Parsons' makeshift memorial in Joshua Tree, California


The site of Parsons' cremation was marked by a small concrete slab and was presided over by a large rock flake known to rock climbers as The Gram Parsons Memorial Hand Traverse. The slab has since been removed by the U.S. National Park Service, and relocated to the Joshua Tree Inn. There is no monument at Cap Rock noting Parsons' cremation at the site. Joshua Tree park guides are given the option to tell the story of Parsons' cremation during tours, but there is no mention of the act in official maps or brochures. Fans regularly assemble simple rock structures and writings on the rock, which the park service sand blasts to remove from time to time.


Morbid, yes but they meant well, I believe!