Gram Parsons: A Pioneer In Pursuit Of Cosmic American Music

Parsons in 1972

Gram Parsons spent his brief musical life searching for what he called "cosmic American music," a sound emerging out of gospel, R&B, country and rock traditions. He was born on this day in 1946 into a wealthy Florida family, a circumstance that encouraged both his exploration of music and the drug abuse that killed him in 1973 (September 17). Parsons performed with The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers before attempting a rocky solo career that went nowhere until he met a young singer in Washington, D.C. Her name was Emmylou Harris. Parsons soon partnered with Harris and they went on to produce some of the finest sounds from the early fusion days of country and folk-rock. With his passing, one of American music's greatest inventors was stilled, but others, including Emmylou, would use his inventions and adapt them over the next forty years into the country rock music we know today.

Here is some music to help you understand the history. The first recording is a Gram Parsons-Bob Buchanan song that appeared on The Byrds album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, released in 1968. It was both a Parsons concept and groundbreaking for the band by going deep into classic country and introducing Parsons to a rock audience.

Here's a Parsons-Chris Hillman song, dating from 1969 and the days of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Parsons can be identified by his signature marijuana leaf Nudie suit.

And here is Parsons with Emmylou Harris performing their song, In the Hour of Darkness, from the album, Grievous Angel, released four months after his death.

With barely a decade of musical composition and performance behind him Gram Parsons made a profound impression on American popular music that has evolved over the fifty years since his death. And we expect to continue hearing that influence for a long, long time.

For more on the Gram Parsons story, read this comprehensive Wikipedia entry with many links to his discography.




Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain, publicity portrait of Gram Parsons for Reprise Records


Text:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_Parsons

Patsy Cline: A Sound Fondly Remembered

The Maryland-Virginia area has produced a number of entertainment celebrities over the years. Just last week, I posted about Arthur Godfrey, an early television star whose name is rarely recognized today. There was another tremendous star that rose out of the region in the 1950s. Arthur Godfrey made her a national star, and that star, Patsy Cline, still shines bright all these years after her death in a plane crash in 1963.

Patsy Cline, Nashville, 1962

Never met Patsy. Never knew anyone who did. But I did grow up with her music often hearing it over the radio all day at our family's summer haunt in Burlington, West Virginia. The village was on U.S. 50, just a dozen ridges and forty miles west of her first home in Gore, Virginia and a tad farther from her birthplace in Winchester. Perhaps it was too far to claim her as a hometown girl, but the locals loved her and talked often about how proud they were of a country kid who made it big.

Cline was born on this day in 1932. In her brief recording career of eight years she had a powerful influence as one of the most successful country singers to cross over into popular music. The depth of that popularity can be measured by her Guinness World Record for having the most weeks on the U.S. charts for any album in any genre by a female artist: 722. Out of the total, 251 weeks were at #1 with Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits, originally released in 1967. Here is a sample of that greatness:

Cline also took this Willie Nelson song to #1 on country charts in 1961:

Sixty years after her passing music fans still appreciate her amazing vocal technique and sincere, soulful sound. That makes the world of American music a far richer experience. I hope that appreciation continues for years to come.






Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
Les Leverett, WSM Studios, Nashville