Tag Archives: Emmylou Harris

Gram Parsons (Volume 3, Episode 12) Part One

Part Hank Williams and part Spinal Tap, Gram Parsons’ influence on popular music can be heard every day.

Gram Parsons

Fifty years after his death, Gram Parsons has achieved respect as an influence on many prominent musicians and is perceived as musically way ahead of his time. 

The Byrds, Chris Hillman, left, Roger McGuinn, center

For three years, beginning with their 1965 hits, one band, the Byrds, dominated the Los Angeles music scene.  What original music they produced was usually written by lead vocalist Gene Clark and the huge royalties generated by his writing credits, rankled the other band members, especially, David Crosby, whose personality could best be described as toxic.  After contributing the single “Eight Miles High,” Clark quit the band, officially over his fear of flying but also as a result of increasing tension within the group.  Crosby lasted longer, but his egomania and substance abuse resulted in his dismissal in late 1967.  The remaining original members, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman were initially looking to hire sidemen, in drummer Kevin Kelley and Gram Parsons, Gram having the same business manager as Hillman.  That Parsons was contractually entangled with Lee Hazlewood, actually worked for the pre-existing Byrds as Gram could only remain on salary and not demand to be included as a full-fledged member of the band, important as the Byrds renewed a seven-year contract with Columbia Records in February, 1968.

Chris Hillman, circa Flying Burrito Brothers

Unpredictably, when Gram began looking for musicians for his own group he began speaking again with Chris Hillman.  Although it angered the other band members, the timing of Gram’s departure from the Byrds seemed almost prescient, based on subsequent events.  The group took tremendous criticism when they played to all white crowds in South Africa and attendance was sparse in any case.  The promoter stiffed them on fees and they returned to the States, broke, with Roger McGuinn making personnel changes designed to reestablish his complete control.  To Chris Hillman, Gram eventually appeared practically benign by comparison.  Reunited, they scoured the LA sessions scene and assembled a country oriented roster that even included a pedal steel guitar player, the legendary Sneaky Pete Kleinow.  Gram expropriated the Flying Burrito Brothers name with the blessing of his former ISB mates who had left LA and had never signed a recording contract. 

Roger McGuinn, 1976

A subtle tug of war was now playing out between Roger McGuinn and Gram and Chris Hillman.  The latter were intent on heading full tilt in a country direction, McGuinn wanted to focus on past hits that centered on him as the leader of the band.

Gram Parsons’ infamous Nudie suit, on display in the Country Music Hall of Fame

To help build the band’s image as a new kind of country mixed with glam, Parsons came up with the idea to get the legendary Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohn to design suits for the band to wear on the cover.  Nudie Cohn born Nuta Kotlyarenko in Kiev, Russia, was a unique individual in his own right, a tailor who designed the outrageous outfits sported by country and western music stars of the 50’s and 60’s and actors like Roy Rogers and John Wayne.  Heavy on the bright colored satin and rhinestones, perhaps Nudie’s most famous creation was Elvis Presley’s gold lame suit that even Elvis thought was so over the top he eventually refused to wear the pants.  For the Flying Burrito Brothers album, entitled the Gilded Palace of Sin, Nudie was especially imaginative.  For Hillman, Parsons and the two other band members, Kleinow and bassist Chris Etheridge, he designed four very different outfits.  Kleinow got a black velvet shirt and pants with a gold pterodactyl on the front and a T-Rex on the back of the shirt, Etheridge had a white colored jacket and pants embroidered liberally with roses.  Chris Hillman’s outfit was neon blue, festooned with peacocks and a blazing sun on the back of his jacket.  Gram Parsons suit was white, flames paralleling his bell bottom pants, poppies on both pants pockets.  Red poppies are everywhere on the jacket, the torso emblazoned with marijuana leaves.  The sleeves feature identifiable pharmaceuticals, including Tuinals and Seconals and even a sugar cube.  Typically contradictory, the back features a large red crucifix with circular shafts of yellow and blue emanating from its center.  Today, this remarkable garment hangs in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

Gram Parsons (Volume 3, Episode 12) Part Two

Part Hank Williams and part Spinal Tap, fifty years after his death, Gram Parsons’ influence on popular music can be heard every day.

Gram Parsons’ Nudie suit Country Music Hall of Fame

Whatever discipline that drove Parsons and Hillman to compose the music that appeared  on their first album completely disappeared once they had to perform live.  Most observers of their early LA club dates described them as under rehearsed, sloppy and with some members, frequently Gram, under the influence.  The band did themselves no favors when they appeared at the Whiskey, performing so poorly that the upper echelon of A and M walked out in disgust in the middle of the Burrito’s performance.

Emmylou Harris in the seventies

For his first solo album, he came up with the idea of hiring Elvis Presley’s Las Vegas backing band, which he did, paying musicians like Glen D. Hardin and James Burton out of his own pocket when Warner Brothers refused their steep rates.  Much of the record consists of duets with Emmylou Harris.  With rehearsals taking place at Phil Kaufman’s house, a surreal place furnished with strange antiques and vintage junk, the process was predictably slow moving.  Eventually, Gram got it together and got the album recorded.  Called “GP” with a cover photo of Gram sitting in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont, the album’s release prompted kind words from the critics but not much of a popular reaction.

Emmy Lou Harris, 2012

Gram couldn’t afford the Elvis musicians for the tour and the assembled band was so weak that the lead guitar player was fired after only one show.  Kaufman frequently had to separate the two, husband and wife sitting as far away as possible.  But there were high points; Jock Bartley, who eventually became part of the successful group Firefall was a competent replacement.  In Houston, EmmyLou Harris met and performed with Linda Ronstadt for the first time.  On Long Island, a performance on radio station WLIR was eventually released in 1983 as a live album of great quality that holds up well almost fifty years later. But it was the same story for the solo album, positive reviews but lackluster sales.  

Keith Richards, 1976

Whatever interest Gram had in his own music was completely undermined by acting practically as a groupie around the Stones.  When he began to emulate the Stones onstage in both wardrobe and theatrics, it especially irritated Chris Hillman.  Mick Jagger also began to see Parsons as a detriment, another distraction that kept Keith Richards from focusing on the business of music. 

Room Eight, Joshua Tree Inn, the room where Gram Parsons died

 

Gram Parsons (Podcast Book and Music Information)

Two books were used to compose this podcast:

Twenty Thousand Roads, by David Meyer and

Hickory Wind, by Ben Fong-Torres

The music heard during part one was Russian River and

during part two was Eternal Garden, both by Dan Henig