Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973), known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. He recorded with the
International Submarine Band
The International Submarine Band (ISB) was a country-rock band formed by Gram Parsons in 1965, while a theology (?) student at Harvard University and John Nuese, a guitar player for local rock group, The Trolls. Nuese is credited with having pe ...
,
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
, and
the Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is known for its connection to band f ...
, popularizing what he called "Cosmic American Music", a hybrid of
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
,
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
,
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
,
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk horror
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Fo ...
, and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
. He has been credited with helping to found the
country rock
Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...
and
alt-country
Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...
genres and received a ranking of No. 87 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine's list of the
100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Early life and education
Ingram Cecil Connor III was born on November 5, 1946, in
Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is located about east of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and about southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, with neighboring Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland located to its west. The city's popul ...
, to Ingram Cecil Connor II, aka "Coon Dog", and Avis Snively Connor. He had one sibling, a sister named “Little Avis”. Connor II was a World War II flying ace, decorated with the
Air Medal
The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.
Criteria
The Air Medal was establi ...
, who worked at his father-in-law's company and was a local
Boy Scout
A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...
official. Both parents were alcoholics and both suffered from depression; Cecil II shot and killed himself on December 23, 1958. Avis then married Robert Parsons, whose surname was adopted by Gram and his sister. Avis and Robert would have one child, Parsons’ half-sister Diane.
Avis was the daughter of citrus fruit magnate
John A. Snively, who held extensive properties in Winter Haven FL and Waycross Georgia, where the Connors normally lived. Parsons attended
The Bolles School in
Jacksonville
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
before transferring to the public
Winter Haven High School; after failing his junior year there, he returned to Bolles. On his graduation day, June 5, 1965, his mother died of complications from alcoholism. Robert Parsons had been having an affair with Diane’s nanny; they married shortly after Avis’ death. Gram went on to Harvard, which he attended for one semester. At age 21, he began to receive his annual trust fund income of $30,000.
Career
Parsons developed strong musical interests early in life, particularly after seeing
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
perform in concert in Waycross, on February 22, 1956. Five years later, he was playing in
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
cover bands such as the Pacers and the Legends, headlining in Winter Haven/Polk County clubs owned by his stepfather. By age 16, he had graduated to
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
, and in 1963 he teamed up with his first professional outfit, the Shilohs. Heavily influenced by
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...
and
The Journeymen, the band played
hootenannies,
coffee house
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, Caffè americano, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually ...
s and high school auditoriums; as Parsons was still enrolled in prep school, he performed with the group only in select engagements. Forays into New York City included a performance at Florida's exhibition in the
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activ ...
and regular appearances at the Café Rafio on
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightlife, nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood popular today for music venues and comedy as well as a ...
in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
in the summer of 1964. Although
John Phillips (an acquaintance of Shiloh George Wrigley) arranged an exploratory meeting with
Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and folk ...
, the impresario balked at booking the group for a Christmas engagement at
The Bitter End
The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub
A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually s ...
when he discovered that the Shilohs were high school students. Following a recording session at the radio station of
Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. It is known for its Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical cultural and religious posit ...
, the group reached a creative impasse amid the emergence of
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
and dissolved in the spring of 1965.
The International Submarine Band (1966–1967)
In 1966, he and other musicians from the Boston folk scene formed a group called the
International Submarine Band
The International Submarine Band (ISB) was a country-rock band formed by Gram Parsons in 1965, while a theology (?) student at Harvard University and John Nuese, a guitar player for local rock group, The Trolls. Nuese is credited with having pe ...
. In 1967, after briefly residing in the
Kingsbridge
Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population ...
section of
the Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, they moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. Following several lineup changes, the band signed to
Lee Hazlewood
Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...
's
LHI Records, where they spent late 1967 recording ''
Safe at Home''. The album contains one of Parsons' best-known songs, "
Luxury Liner", and an early version of "Do You Know How It Feels," which he revised later in his career. ''Safe at Home'' would remain unreleased until mid-1968, by which time the International Submarine Band had broken up.
The International Submarine Band appeared in the
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his a ...
film
''The Trip'' (1967) as a performing band in one of the clubs. Their song "
Lazy Days" was offered for the film's soundtrack, but the soundtrack was done by Mike Bloomfield's
Electric Flag. In 1967, Peter Fonda recorded a version of the Parsons' song "November Nights" titled "November Night". The song was released as a single in March 1967, with Donovan's "
Catch the Wind
"Catch the Wind" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan.
Pye Records released "Catch the Wind" backed with "Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?" as Donovan's debut release (Pye 7N.15801) in the United Kingdom on 28 ...
" on the B side.
The Byrds (1968)

By 1968, Parsons came to the attention of
The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
'
bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...
,
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his w ...
, via business manager Larry Spector, who was looking for a new band member following the departures of
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...
and
Michael Clarke.
In February 1968, Parsons passed an audition for the band, being initially recruited as a
jazz pianist
Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the Musical ...
but soon adding
rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
and vocals.
Although Parsons was an equal contributor to the band, he was not regarded as a full member by the band's label,
.
Consequently, when the Byrds' recording contract was renewed on February 29, 1968, it was only original members
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (; born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician, best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the band. As a so ...
and
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his w ...
who signed it.
Parsons, like fellow new recruit
Kevin Kelley, was hired as a
sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo o ...
and received a salary from McGuinn and Hillman. In later years, this led Hillman to state, "Gram was hired. He was not a member of the Byrds, ever. He was on salary; that was the only way we could get him to turn up." Parsons and Kelley were given equal billing alongside McGuinn and Hillman on the ''
Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' album, and in press coverage.
''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' was conceived by McGuinn as a double-album history of
American popular music
American popular music (also referred to as "American Pop") is popular music produced in the United States and is a part of American pop culture. Distinctive styles of American popular music emerged early in the 19th century, and in the 20th ...
.
It was to begin with
bluegrass, then move through
country and western,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
,
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
, and
rock music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
, before ending with
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
.
However, as recording plans were made, Parsons persuaded the other members to leave Los Angeles and record the album in
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
.
McGuinn's concept was jettisoned in favor of a country project, which included Parsons' songs "One Hundred Years from Now" and "
Hickory Wind", and songs by
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered to be one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American Left, A ...
and
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...
.
Recording sessions for ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' commenced at Columbia Records' recording studios in the
Music Row
Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as ...
area of Nashville on March 9, 1968.
Mid-way through, the sessions moved to Columbia Studios, Hollywood and were completed on May 27, 1968.
However, Parsons was still under contract to LHI Records and Hazlewood threatened legal action over Parsons' appearance on the album.
As a result, McGuinn replaced three of Parsons' lead vocals with his own; in 1973, in an interview with
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American filmmaker and journalist. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Grammy Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. Crowe started his career a ...
, Parsons said that McGuinn "erased it and did the vocals himself and fucked it up." Parsons remained as lead vocalist on the songs "You're Still on My Mind", "Life in Prison", and "
Hickory Wind".
While in England with the Byrds in the summer of 1968, Parsons left the band over a planned concert tour of South Africa and his opposition to
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
.
During this period Parsons became acquainted with
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...
and
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
of
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
. After leaving the band, Parsons stayed at Richards' house and the pair developed a close friendship, with Parsons reintroducing the guitarist to country music.
The Flying Burrito Brothers (1969–1970)
Returning to Los Angeles, Parsons sought out Chris Hillman, and the two formed
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is known for its connection to band f ...
with bassist
Chris Ethridge and
pedal steel player
Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Their 1969 album ''
The Gilded Palace of Sin'' marked the culmination of Parsons' post-1966 musical vision: a modernized variant of the
Bakersfield sound that was popularized by
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the frontman for The Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' country music chart. He pioneered what came ...
amalgamated with strands of soul and
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
. The band appeared on the album cover wearing
Nudie suits emblazoned with hippie symbols, including
marijuana
Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
,
Tuinal, and
Seconal-inspired patches.
Along with the Parsons-Hillman originals "Christine's Tune" and "Sin City" were versions of the
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...
classics "
The Dark End of the Street" and "
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", the latter featuring David Crosby on high harmony. The original songs were the result of a productive songwriting partnership between Parsons and Hillman, who were sharing a bachelor pad in the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
. The pronounced gospel-soul influence on this album likely evolved from the ecumenical tastes of bassist Chris Ethridge, who co-wrote "Hot Burrito No. 1/I'm Your Toy" and "Hot Burrito No. 2" with Parsons.
Original drummer
Eddie Hoh was unable to perform adequate takes due to a substance abuse problem. He was dismissed after two songs and the band used session drummers, including former International Submarine Band drummer Jon Corneal and
Popeye Phillips. Before commencing live performances, the group settled on original Byrds drummer
Michael Clarke.
''
The Gilded Palace of Sin'' was commercially unsuccessful. Critic
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
called it "an ominous, obsessive, tongue-in-cheek country-rock synthesis, absorbing rural and urban, traditional and contemporary, at point of impact." Parsons suffered from fear of flying and the band toured via train. The band members lost most of their money in a perpetual poker game and their concerts were met with bewilderment. Parsons was taking
psilocybin
Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...
and
cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
, so his performances were erratic. The most successful appearance was in Philadelphia, where the group opened for the reconstituted Byrds. Midway through their set, Parsons joined the headline act and fronted his former group on renditions of "Hickory Wind" and "
You Don't Miss Your Water".
After returning to Los Angeles, the group recorded "The Train Song", written during an increasingly infrequent songwriting session on the train and produced by 1950s R&B legends
Larry Williams
Lawrence Eugene Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist from New Orleans. He is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to ...
and
Johnny "Guitar" Watson
John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), often known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned 40 year ...
. Despite a request from the Burritos that the remnants of their publicity budget be diverted to the promotion of the single, it also flopped. During this period, Ethridge departed, saying that he did not share Parsons' and Hillman's affinity for country music. He was replaced by lead guitarist
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Matthew Leadon III ( ; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of thr ...
, while Hillman reverted to bass.
By this time, Parsons's drug use had increased to the point where new songs were rare, and much of his time was spent partying with the Rolling Stones, who were in America finishing ''
Let It Bleed
''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 28 November 1969 by London Records in the United States and on 5 December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. Released during the ba ...
''. As the Stones prepared to play the nation's largest venues, the Burritos played to dwindling nightclub audiences. But they were booked as one of the acts at the
Altamont Music Festival. They played a short set, including "
Bony Moronie" and "
Six Days on the Road
"Six Days on the Road" is an American song written by Earl Green and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio songwriter Carl Montgomery, made famous by country music singer Dave Dudley. The song was initially recorded by Paul Davis (not the same as the bett ...
", which was included in the event's documentary ''
Gimme Shelter''.
With mounting debt incurred, A&M hoped to recoup some of its losses by marketing the Burritos as a straight country group. Manager Jim Dickson instigated a session where the band recorded honky tonk staples and contemporary pop covers in a countrified vein, but this was scrapped in favor of a second album of originals on an extremely reduced budget.
Faced with a dearth of new material, most of the album was hastily written in the studio by Leadon, Hillman, and Parsons, with two ''Gilded Palace of Sin'' outtakes thrown into the mix. The resulting album, ''
Burrito Deluxe'', was released in April 1970. Although it is considered less inspired than its predecessor, it is notable for the song "Older Guys" and for the band's take on "
Wild Horses".
Like its predecessor, ''Burrito Deluxe'' under-performed commercially but also failed to carry the critical cachet of the debut. Disenchanted, Parsons left the Burritos in mutual agreement with Hillman; under Hillman, the group recorded one more album before dissolving in 1971.
Solo career and touring with Emmylou Harris (1970–1973)
In early 1970, Parsons signed a solo deal with A&M Records and moved in with producer
Terry Melcher
Terrence Paul Melcher (; February 8, 1942 – November 19, 2004) was an American record producer, singer, and songwriter who was instrumental in shaping the mid-to-late 1960s California Sound and folk rock movements. His best-known contribution ...
. The two shared a penchant for cocaine and heroin, and the sessions were largely unproductive, with Parsons eventually losing interest in the project. The master tapes were lost; it is unclear who took them.
Parsons accompanied the Rolling Stones on their
1971 U.K. tour in the hope of being signed to the newly-formed
Rolling Stones Records. He lived at Richards' French villa
Nellcôte
Villa Nellcôte (often referred to as Nellcôte) is a 16-room mansion built during the Belle Époque on a headland above the sea at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Côte d'Azur in Southern France. Among rock music fans, it is known as the recording ...
during the recording of ''
Exile on Main Street'', though he contributed little to the process. His drug use and constant quarrelling with his girlfriend, Gretchen Burrell, led to a request to leave by Richards' girlfriend,
Anita Pallenberg. Parsons attempted to rekindle his relationship with the band on their
1972 American tour, to no avail.
Parsons returned to the US for a one-off concert with the Burritos. In
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, he met
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
and asked her to join him in Los Angeles to record his first solo album. It came as a surprise to many when Parsons was signed to
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
by
Mo Ostin in mid-1972. The ensuing ''
GP'' (1973) featured several members of
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
's
TCB Band
The TCB Band is a group of musicians who formed the rhythm section of Elvis Presley's band from August 1969 until his death in 1977 (depending on the context, the nickname may also extend to Presley's background vocalists during that same perio ...
. It included six new songs from Parsons alongside several country covers, including
Tompall Glaser's "
Streets of Baltimore" and
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
' "
That's All It Took".
Parsons, now featuring Harris as his duet partner, toured across the U.S. as Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels in February–March 1973. Unable to afford the TCB Band, the group featured guitarists
Jock Bartley and
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...
,
Neil Flanz on pedal steel, bassist Kyle Tullis, and drummer
N.D. Smart. The touring party also included Parsons' new wife, Gretchen Parsons, who was envious of Harris and her young daughter. Coordinating the spectacle as road manager was
Phil Kaufman, who had served time with
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...
on
Terminal Island
Terminal Island, historically known as , is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington, Los Angeles, Wilmington and San Pedro, Los Angeles, San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles ...
but who ensured that the performer stayed clear of drugs and limited his
alcohol
Alcohol may refer to:
Common uses
* Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds
* Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life
** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages
** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
intake during shows. At first, the band was under-rehearsed and played poorly; however, they improved with steady gigging and received rapturous responses at several counter-cultural venues, including
Armadillo World Headquarters in
Austin
Austin refers to:
Common meanings
* Austin, Texas, United States, a city
* Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
,
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists, and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Dece ...
in New York City, and
Liberty Hall in
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, where
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
and
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
sat in for a filmed performance. Nevertheless, the tour failed to galvanize sales of ''
GP'', which never charted in the ''Billboard'' 200.
For his next and final album, 1974's posthumously released ''
Grievous Angel'', Parsons used Harris and members of the TCB Band. The record received more enthusiastic reviews than ''GP''. Although Parsons only contributed two new songs to the album ("In My Hour of Darkness" and "
Return of the Grievous Angel"), he was reportedly enthusiastic with his new sound and seemed to have finally adopted a diligent mindset to his musical career, limiting his intake of alcohol and opiates during most of the sessions. ''Grievous Angel'' peaked at number 195 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' chart.
Before recording, Parsons and Harris played a preliminary four-show mini-tour as the headline act in a June 1973
Warner Records
Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
country rock package with the
New Kentucky Colonels and
Country Gazette. A shared backing band included
Clarence White,
Pete Kleinow and
Chris Ethridge. On July 15, 1973, White was killed by a drunk driver in
Palmdale, California
Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south.
On August 24, 1962 ...
, while loading equipment in his car for a concert with the New Kentucky Colonels. At White's funeral, Parsons and
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Matthew Leadon III ( ; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of thr ...
performed a rendition of "
Farther Along"; that evening, Parsons reportedly informed Phil Kaufman of his final wish: to be cremated in
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...
.
Personal life
In 1971, Parsons married Gretchen Burrell (nee Gretchen Lisl Berrill) at his stepfather's New Orleans estate.
Parsons and Burrell went to England, where they visited their friend
Ric Grech. With the help of Grech and his friend
Hank Wangford
Samuel Hutt (born 15 November 1940), known by the stage name Hank Wangford, is an English country and western songwriter.
"Hank is a good smoke screen. He can do things I can't do. He's my clown," says Dr. Hutt, who has been struggling to ba ...
, Parsons stopped using heroin.
In the summer of 1973, Parsons'
Topanga Canyon home burned to the ground, the result of a stray cigarette. Nearly all of his possessions were destroyed with the exception of a guitar and a prized
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
. The fire proved to be the last straw in the relationship between Burrell and Parsons, who moved into a spare room in Kaufman's house. Parsons rekindled his relationship with Margaret Fisher, a high school sweetheart from Waycross.
Parsons had one child, born to Nancy Ross in 1967, a daughter named
Polly Parsons.
Death
In the late 1960s, Parsons began to vacation at
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...
in southeastern California, where he used
psychedelics
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...
and said he experienced
UFO sightings. After splitting from Burrell, Parsons often spent his weekends there, with Margaret Fisher and Phil Kaufman. Scheduled to resume touring in October 1973, Parsons decided to go on another recuperative excursion on September 17. Accompanying him were Fisher, his assistant Michael Martin, and Martin's girlfriend Dale McElroy.
On both nights of their stay, Parsons retreated to the desert, consuming large amounts of alcohol and
barbiturate
Barbiturates are a class of depressant, depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medication, medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological a ...
s, while the rest of the group visited bars in nearby
Yucca Valley. On September 18, Martin drove back to Los Angeles to resupply the group with marijuana. That night, Parsons challenged Fisher and McElroy to drink with him–Fisher didn't drink and McElroy was recovering from illness. Parsons said that he'd drink for the three of them and drank six double tequilas. The three then went to the Joshua Tree Inn, where Parsons purchased
morphine
Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...
from an unknown woman; after being injected by her in Room #1, he overdosed. Fisher gave Parsons an ice cube
suppository
A suppository is a dosage form used to deliver pharmaceutical drug, medications by insertion into a body orifice (any opening in the body), where it dissolves or melts to exert local or systemic effects. There are three types of suppositories, eac ...
, and then a cold shower and moved him to Room #8. She put him to bed and went out to buy
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
in the hope of reviving him, leaving McElroy to stand guard. As his breathing became irregular and then ceased, McElroy attempted
resuscitation
Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an Acute (medicine), acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emerg ...
. After all attempts failed, they called an ambulance. Parsons was declared dead on arrival at Yucca Valley Hospital at 12:15 a.m. on September 19, 1973. The official cause of death was an overdose of morphine and alcohol.
["What's up with the strange end of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons?"](_blank)
, ''The Straight Dope
''The Straight Dope'' was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino. It was first published in 197 ...
''; accessed September 24, 2017. Kaufman drove Fisher and McElroy back to Los Angeles and then dispersed the rest of Parsons' drugs in the desert.

Although Parsons had said he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree and his ashes spread over the formation Cap Rock, Parsons' stepfather organized a private ceremony in New Orleans and left the body in the care of a funeral home. But, to fulfill Parsons' wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole both a hearse and his body and drove it to Joshua Tree. At Cap Rock Parking Lot, they poured gasoline into the open coffin and lit it, creating an enormous fireball. They were arrested and eventually fined $750.00, for stealing the coffin. What remained of Parsons' body was buried in Garden of Memories Cemetery in
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie ( ) is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. With a population of 143,507 in 2020, Metairie is ...
.
The story brings Parsons fans out to a large
rock flake known to
rock climbers as 'The Gram Parsons Memorial Hand Traverse'. At some point, someone added a slab that marked Parsons' cremation to the memorial rock; that slab was removed by the U.S. National Park Service and is now at the Joshua Tree Inn.
Billboard Magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...
article:
Park Service Mulls Gram Parsons Memorial
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.
Legacy
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
describes Parsons as "enormously influential" for both country and rock, "blending the two genres to the point that they became indistinguishable from each other...his influence could still be heard well into the next millennium."
In his 2005 essay on Parsons for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's "
100 Greatest Artist" list,
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
notes that Parsons' recorded music output was "pretty minimal" but says that Parsons' "effect on country music is enormous...and this is why we're talking about him now."
Emmylou Harris continued to champion Parsons' work, covering a number of his songs, including "Hickory Wind", "Wheels", "Sin City", "Luxury Liner", and "Hot Burrito No. 2". Harris's songs "
Boulder to Birmingham", from her 1975 album ''
Pieces of the Sky'', and "The Road", from her 2011 album ''
Hard Bargain'', are tributes to Parsons. Her 1985 album ''
The Ballad of Sally Rose
''The Ballad of Sally Rose'' is the eleventh studio album by American singer Emmylou Harris released in February 1985. It marked a significant departure for Harris for two reasons. First, all the songs were written by her and her then-husband Pa ...
'' includes many allusions to Parsons in its narrative. The song "My Man", written by
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Matthew Leadon III ( ; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of thr ...
and performed by the
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
on their album ''
On the Border'', is a tribute to Gram Parsons.
The 1973 album ''
Crazy Eyes'' by
Poco pays homage to Parsons, as
Richie Furay
Paul Richard Furay (born May 9, 1944) is an American musician and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member (with Buffalo Springfield). He is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey ...
composed the title track in honor of him, and sings one of Parsons' own compositions, "Brass Buttons." The album was released four days before Parsons died.
Between 1996 and 2006, a festival called "Gram Fest", aka "The Cosmic Americana Music Festival" was held annually at Joshua Tree. The Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, in Waycross, Georgia, was founded in 1997 and continues today.
In 2003 the
Americana Music Awards awarded Parsons with the
President's Award, which was accepted by his daughter.
The 2003 film ''
Grand Theft Parsons'' stars
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971), known professionally as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show ''Jackass (franchise), ...
as
Phil Kaufman and chronicles a farcical version of the theft of Parsons' corpse. In 2006, Gandulf Hennig released the documentary ''Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel''.
In 2004, Parsons' daughter Polly produced two tribute concerts titled "Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons". Artists included
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
,
James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also ...
,
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Gayl Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, ''Ramblin' on My Mind (Lucinda Williams album), Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and ''Happy Woman Blues'' (198 ...
,
Norah Jones
Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...
,
Dwight Yoakam,
John Doe
John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...
,
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American country, rock, and folk singer-songwriter. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982.
Earle's breakthrough album was his 1986 debut album '' ...
,
Jim Lauderdale,
Kathleen Edwards,
Jay Farrar,
Jim James,
Raul Malo
Raul Francisco Martínez-Malo Jr. (born August 7, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He is the lead singer of country music band the Mavericks and the co-writer of many of their singles, as well as Rick Tr ...
,
Susan Marshall, and the Sin City All Stars. The concert produced a DVD and 100% of the concerts was donated through the Gram Parsons Foundation to the Musician's Assistance Program (now
MusiCares
MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, pers ...
), which aids musicians in crisis.
Despite his influence, Parsons has yet to be inducted into either the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
or the
Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
. The Gram Parsons Petition Project (later named Gram Parsons InterNational) was begun in May 2008 in support of a drive to induct Parsons into the Country Music Hall of Fame. On September 19, 2008, the 35th anniversary of Parsons' death, it was presented to the
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...
(CMA) with the official Nomination Proposal.
In November 2009, the
musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
production ''Grievous Angel: The Legend of Gram Parsons'' premiered, starring Anders Drerup as Gram Parsons and Kelly Prescott as Emmylou Harris. Directed by Michael Bate and co-written by Bate and David McDonald, the production was inspired by a March 1973 interview that Bate conducted with Parsons, which became Parsons' last recorded conversation.
In 2012,
Swedish folk duo
First Aid Kit
A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give First aid, immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents o ...
released the single "Emmylou" from the album ''
The Lion's Roar''. The song's chorus is a lyrical acknowledgment of the Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris singing partnership.
In the fall of 2012 Florida festival promoter and musician Randy Judy presented his bio-musical ''Farther Along – The Music and Life of Gram Parsons'' at Magnoliafest at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park.
Tribute bands include
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
's New Soft Shoe and, out of
St. Paul, The Gilded Palace Sinners.
In 2022, Dave Prinz, co-founder of
Amoeba Music
Amoeba Music is an American independent music Record shop, store chain with locations in Berkeley, California, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It stocks media, primarily music, but also fi ...
, rediscovered Gram Parsons' "Last Roundup" tapes featuring
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
with Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. Prinz initiated a campaign to fund the release independently, in partnership with Polly Parsons. The campaign launched on November 17, 2022, and was fully backed. Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels' "The Last Roundup: Live from The Bijou Café in Philadelphia 3/16/73" was released on limited-edition vinyl on Friday, November 24, 2023, and was considered one of the hits of
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...
2023.
Discography
Filmography
* ''
The Trip'' (1967) – band member of the International Submarine Band
* ''
Saturation 70'' (1969) – soundtrack and role
* ''Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel'' (2006) – documentary
Tribute albums
* ''Conmemorativo: A Tribute to Gram Parsons'' (1993)
* ''
Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons'' (1999)
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
* ''Road Mangler Deluxe,'' Phil Kaufman with Colin White, White-Boucke Publishing, 2005 (3rd edition).
* ''Are You Ready for the Country: Elvis, Dylan, Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock,'' Peter Dogget, Penguin Books, 2001.
* ''In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music,'' Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998.
*
* ''Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons,'' Jessica Hundley and Polly Parsons, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005.
* ''Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California,'' Peter La Chapelle. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007.
* ''Gram Parsons: God's Own Singer,'' Jason Walker, Soundcheck Books, London, 2012.
* ''Moody Food,'' Ray Robertson, SFWP, 2006.
* ''Live Fast, Die Young: Misadventures in Rock & Roll America'', Chris Price & Joe Harland. Summersdale. 2010.
* ''Trailblazers: Gram Parsons, Nick Drake & Jeff Buckley
David Bret JRBooks, London, 2009.
External links
Gram Parsonsfansite
A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan of or devotee to a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon.
Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, ...
Articles
Reflections on Gram Parsons: the complete reprise sessionsSwampland
Time for a Repress: ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''by Bob Proehl, 30, March 2009
popmatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
Metadata
Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive ...
*
*
*
Merchandise
Officially licensed Gram Parsons T-Shirts by Worn Free
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Gram
1946 births
1973 deaths
Accidental deaths in California
Alcohol-related deaths in California
American country guitarists
American male guitarists
American country rock musicians
American country singer-songwriters
American folk rock musicians
American male singer-songwriters
American country pianists
American male pianists
20th-century male pianists
Drug-related deaths in California
Harvard University people
Singer-songwriters from Florida
People from Waycross, Georgia
People from Winter Haven, Florida
Progressive country musicians
The Byrds members
The Flying Burrito Brothers members
Winter Haven, Florida
20th-century American singer-songwriters
Reprise Records artists
A&M Records artists
American rhythm guitarists
20th-century American pianists
Bolles School alumni
Guitarists from Florida
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
International Submarine Band members