The 500 - #425 - Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 425

Album Title: Grievous Angel
Artist: Gram Parsons
Genre: Country Rock
Recorded: Wally Heider Studio 4 & Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California (Summer, 1973)
Released: Posthumously: January, 1974
My age at release: 8
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all 
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Brass Buttons
Selected by my wife, who patiently listened to the album with me multiple times while I wrote this.

Grievous Angel is the second and final studio album from multi-instrumentalist Gram Parsons. It was released four months after his death in September, 1973 from a morphine and alcohol overdose at the age of 26.

Grievous Angel album cover Gram Parsons

Despite a relatively short career, Parsons has been celebrated as a pioneer of the country-rock sound popularized in the late seventies. Artists Jackson Browne, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, who collectively have six records on The 500 list, cite Parsons as a major influence in their sound. Parsons didn't label his music country or rock. He preferred the moniker "Cosmic American Music". Regardless, his sound still resonates today, with modern alt-country artists Wilco, Ryan Adams and Steve Earle all crediting him as an inspiration.

Even without the critical acclaim or Grievous Angel, his final contribution to music, Parsons' brief life is thoroughly compelling and should be a Hollywood movie. Well, it sort of is...more on that later.

He was born Ingram Cecil Conner III on November 5, 1946, to the daughter of citrus magnate John A. Snivley. Snivley was a self-made multi-millionaire who, at one time, controlled one-third of the citrus crops in Florida. Gram's father, Ingram "Coon Dog" Conner II, was a decorated World War II flying ace who was at the attack on Pearl Harbour . 

Ingram "Coon Dog" Conner II - Parson's father

Despite the family's status and abundant wealth, life was challenging. As biographer John Meyer put it, "unhappiness was eating away at the Conner family." Both parents suffered from depression and alcoholism. Parsons' father committed suicide two days before Christmas when Gram was twelve. His mother, Avis, married Robert Parsons shortly after her first husband's suicide and Gram chose to take his step-father's last name. 

Tragedy continued throughout 1965. Robert Parsons became embroiled in a very public extramarital affair and Avis, deep in depression and alcoholism, died of liver cirrhosis on the day Gram graduated from high school.

Throughout this chaos, Gram was developing a passion for music and writing. He was accepted to Harvard University on the strength of his admission essay. However disillusioned, he dropped out after only one semester to pursue music.

He formed The International Submarine Band in the Boston area with Harvard theology student John Nuese, who was the first to persuade him to blend country with rock. After a short stint with future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band The Byrds he assembled his first rock-country act, The Flying Burrito Brothers. 

The Gilded Palace of Sin (Debut Record)
The Flying Burrito Bros. - Parson's is 2nd from right

It was during this time that Parsons' drug and alcohol use became problematic. His bandmates were often frustrated by his erratic and poor live performances due to his use of "massive quantities" of both the hallucinogen psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and the stimulant cocaine.

Parsons' songwriting had virtually stopped because so much of his time was spent partying with The Rolling Stones who had relocated to America in the summer of 1969 to record their eighth record, Let It Bleed (#32 on The 500 List). 

His relationship with the band was rewarded when The Stones booked the Burrito Brothers as an opening act. Unfortunately, it was at the ill-fated Altamont Music Festival which ended in horrific violence. The Stones had, unwisely, hired members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club to act as security. Three accidental deaths occurred and, as documented in the film Gimme Shelter, 18 year old Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death near the stage by a member of the notorious club. While escaping the riot in a helicopter, the intoxicated Parsons remained calm. He even attempted, unsuccessfully, to seduce Michelle Phillips, the ravishing, and married, singer from the Mamas and the Papas who had been backstage for the show.

Michelle Phillips (1971)

Parsons went solo in 1970. He married aspiring actress Gretchen Burrell but the relationship was acrimonious and the couple eventually separated, though never divorced. It is said that Burrell officially left Parsons after his errant cigarette burned down their Topanga Canyon home in 1973.

In 1972, he met up and coming artist, and future Country Hall of Fame inductee, Emmylou Harris who became his duet partner. Harris is featured heavily on Grievious Angel as well as Parsons' backing musicians who included several members of Elvis Presley's celebrated TCB Band.  

After the completion of the record, Parsons left Los Angeles for his favourite place, Joshua Tree National Park, in Southeastern California. It was there, on September 19, that he died from an accidental overdose of barbiturates, morphine and alcohol. He was 26.

Before his untimely death, he had made a pact with his best friend and manager Phil Kaufman to cremate his body at Joshua Tree and spread the ashes at Cap Rock, a prominent geological feature in the region. However, Parsons' step-father, Robert, had arranged for a private funeral in New Orleans. None of Gram's friends or musical contemporaries were invited. Several accounts suggest that Robert stood to inherit a sizeable portion of Gram's grandfather's estate if he could prove the musician was a resident of Louisiana. 

True to his word, Kaufman and a friend stole Parsons' body from Los Angeles International Airport and transported it, in a borrowed hearse, to Cap Rock. Using five gallons of gasoline and a match, they attempted to cremate their friend. A gigantic fireball alerted local police who unsuccessfully gave chase. The pair got away, according to one report, because they were "unencumbered by sobriety".

The two were arrested several days later but, as there was no law against stealing a body. They were only fined $750 for stealing a coffin. Parsons' remains were recovered and he was eventually interred in The Garden of Memories Cemetery in Metairie, Louisiana. This final chapter in Parsons' life (and death) was retold in the commercially unsuccessful (but cult favourite) film Grand Theft Parsons, with Johnny Knoxville portraying Kaufman.

When I spotted Grievous Angel on The 500 List, I knew nothing about it and hoped there was a story I could share. Little did I know that Parsons had already crafted me an epic...in 26 short years. R.I.P. Gram Parsons - you are legend.