Gram Parsons Appreciation Thread [Archive]

View Full Version : Gram Parsons Appreciation Thread

hedges

01-17-2009, 02:17 AM

Return of a Grievous Angel w/ Emmylou Harris

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0zR-tKVt0VU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0zR-tKVt0VU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

hedges

01-17-2009, 02:25 AM

Love Hurts w/ Emmylou Harris

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bj8qnzwHUwo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bj8qnzwHUwo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Enabler

01-17-2009, 02:25 AM

Enabler

01-17-2009, 02:32 AM

Emmy Lou is so hot......I had to do it...Watch Emmy dance...
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/O6WD1yzQscE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O6WD1yzQscE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

hedges

01-17-2009, 02:49 AM

I think James Burton plays guitar on the next one.

hedges

01-17-2009, 02:54 AM

yojimbo7248

01-17-2009, 03:50 AM

Gvac

01-17-2009, 04:50 AM

Gram is probably the number one reason why "Americana" music has become so popular and people aren't afraid to say they love country music. He influenced so many people without ever really becoming popular himself, but I guess that's the case with a lot of pioneers.

He also discovered Emmylou Harris, and for that alone I'm eternally grateful.

Keith Richards on Gram -

Gram was everything you wanted in a singer and a songwriter. He was fun to be around, great to play with as a musician. And that motherfucker could make chicks cry. I have never seen another man who could make hardened old waitresses at the Palomino Club in L.A. shed tears the way he did.

It was all in the man. I miss him so.

Freakshow

01-17-2009, 04:54 AM

Does Gram Parsons sing about your town?

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CQU1LJQR9SQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CQU1LJQR9SQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

No? Eat it!

El Mudo

01-17-2009, 05:17 AM

spot

01-17-2009, 05:45 AM

Followed his whole career, from the Byrds on..(missed out on the whole Int'l Sub. band part.) He was a great influence on my music, and lifestyle for many years. There would be no country-rock without Gram.

TheMojoPin

01-17-2009, 07:47 AM

A life-changing album:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002AHB.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Gram was the guy that busted me out of the stupid "COUNTRY SUCKS!!!" mindset when I was a teengager

disgruntledsherpa

01-17-2009, 08:09 AM

Great Gram Parsons doc. Excellent interviews. I especially like when Keith Richards tears up a bit and Emmylou Harris is also great.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9cmUWNO_YSs&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9cmUWNO_YSs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

This a great and a SAD documentary. Really changed my whole opinion of the whole "Road Mangler" kidnapping of Gram's body and burning it at Joshua Tree. When you see the pain that caused people who really loved Gram it makes Phl Kauffman seem like an asshole. Phil's own interviews in the documentary don't help.

TheMojoPin

01-17-2009, 08:32 AM

This a great and a SAD documentary. Really changed my whole opinion of the whole "Road Mangler" kidnapping of Gram's body and burning it at Joshua Tree. When you see the pain that caused people who really loved Gram it makes Phl Kauffman seem like an asshole. Phil's own interviews in the documentary don't help.

Pretty much.

Being played by Johnny Knoxville in the shitty Grand Theft Parsons didn't help him either.

TheMojoPin

01-17-2009, 08:40 AM

A really good tribute to Gram came out almost 10 years ago called Return of the Grievous Angel. Here's the tracklisting:

1. She (Pretenders & Emmylou Harris)
2. Ooh Las Vegas (Cowboy Junkies)
3. Sin City (Beck & Emmylou Harris)
4. $1,000 Wedding (Evan Dando & Julianna Hatfield)
5. Hot Burrito #1 (The Mavericks)
6. High Fashion Queen (Chris Hillman & Steve Earle)
7. Juanita (Sheryl Crow & Emmylou Harris)
8. Sleepless Nights (Elvis Costello)
9. Return Of The Grievous Angel (Lucinda Williams & David Crosby)
10. One Hundred Years From Now (Wilco)
11. A Song For You (Whiskeytown)
12. Hickory Wind (Gillian Welch)
13. In My Hour Of Darkness (The Rolling Creekdippers)

I have it if anyone wants me to send it to them.

And Gilded Palace of Sin is definitely my favorite Gram album:

http://files.myopera.com/Jus-Listen/blog/burrito.jpg

disgruntledsherpa

01-17-2009, 08:42 AM

Pretty much.

Being played by Johnny Knoxville in the shitty Grand Theft Parsons didn't help him either.

God, that movie made me so angry. Painting Parsons' step father as this saint who just wanted to take his boy home to New Orleans? Could they have gotten it any more wrong?

The only good thirty seconds of that movie is when Kauffmann talks to Gram's ghost in the car.

TheMojoPin

01-17-2009, 08:50 AM

God, that movie made me so angry. Painting Parsons' step father as this saint who just wanted to take his boy home to New Orleans? Could they have gotten it any more wrong?

The only good thirty seconds of that movie is when Kauffmann talks to Gram's ghost in the car.

It's such a letdown when someone fucks up a story as interesting as Gram Parson's short life and what happened after he died so badly as the filmmakers did.

disgruntledsherpa

01-17-2009, 09:51 AM

It's such a letdown when someone fucks up a story as interesting as Gram Parson's short life and what happened after he died so badly as the filmmakers did.

You're right. The actual story of Parsons' step father being this money grubbing sleaze who may or may not have expediated Parsons' mother's death in order to get the family's money and then trying to get Parsons buried in New Orleans in order to establish residency in Louisiana and therefore get all of Parsons' money is far more interesting than the tripe whatever jackass who wrote that film came up with.

And Parsons' actual life story: the Byrds, the Burritos, hanging with the Stones during Exile, then his solo stuff with Emmy Lou, his whole rock n roll lifestyle that he tried to balance out with his deeply rooted Christian beliefs, you could mine anyone of those periods of his life and find a great story to tell...and this was the bullshit they came up with?

razorboy

01-17-2009, 10:05 AM

paulisded

01-17-2009, 10:15 AM

You're right. The actual story of Parsons' step father being this money grubbing sleaze who may or may not have expediated Parsons' mother's death in order to get the family's money and then trying to get Parsons buried in New Orleans in order to establish residency in Louisiana and therefore get all of Parsons' money is far more interesting than the tripe whatever jackass who wrote that film came up with.

And Parsons' actual life story: the Byrds, the Burritos, hanging with the Stones during Exile, then his solo stuff with Emmy Lou, his whole rock n roll lifestyle that he tried to balance out with his deeply rooted Christian beliefs, you could mine anyone of those periods of his life and find a great story to tell...and this was the bullshit they came up with?

They came up with this plot because the script was based on Phil Kaufman's "story". I met him 15 years or so ago when I went down to SXSW. I actually did the whole SXSW experience - not only the shows but the industry panels during the day. One of them was a silly myth-making panel that had Kaufman, a pre-famous Marilyn Manson, and a couple of biographers. It was interesting, as all of them were trying to outwhore the other.

The best panel I saw, though, featured Jello Biafra, who showed up in complete Texas shit-kicker clothing. This was during the period where he was touring with Mojo Nixon, and it was supposedly because of Mojo that he was about 15 minutes late. Great stories, though, as you might expect.

hedges

01-17-2009, 11:02 PM

Clarence White was a great guitarist and contemporary of Parsons. He played with the Byrds on their Sweetheart at the Rodeo album along with Parsons. So I thought it would be fitting to include him here. At about 4:00 into the video they really start cooking.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CMQuuZNvwLU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CMQuuZNvwLU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

hedges

01-18-2009, 05:08 PM

DarkHippie

01-18-2009, 05:34 PM

here's a short article by me that goes over some of the influence of Parsons

http://folkmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/traditional_influences_on_contemporary_music

hedges

01-19-2009, 02:04 PM

Nice work Dark Hippie.