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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Gram Parsons was in many ways the inventor of country-rock, which became one of the most popular genres of the 1970s, and (despite having recorded so little material) exerted a huge influence on the folk singers of the 1990s. Gram Parsons (Cecil Connor), raised in Georgia and Florida, lost his father and mother before finishing high school (his father committed suicide and his mother died from alcoholism). At just sixteen, he formed the Shilos, whose 196365 material was collected on Early Years (Sierra, 1979). In 1965 he enrolled in the Theology program at Harvard University. He soon abandoned his studies and moved to New Yorks Greenwich Village, where in 1966 he formed the International Submarine Band. The following year the group moved to Los Angeles and recorded Safe At Home (LHI, 1968), a nave collection of traditional songs with a few originals (Luxury Line, a faithful evocation of Haggards style; Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome, emblematic of Parsons persona), in which folk-rock interpreted country for the first time, with a wide array of taboo instruments for rock, from steel guitar to honky-tonk piano.
Having established himself in Hollywood redneck venues, despite certain playboy and hippie attitudes (which earned him the nickname cosmic cowboy), in April 1968 Parsons was recruited by the Byrds. He stayed only until the autumn, but long enough to provoke a historic turn, documented by the album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, released in July (he contributed Hickory Wind, which enriches the work). Country-rock was officially born, and everyonefrom Bob Dylan to the Grateful Deadwould be influenced by it. Parsons and Hillman left the Byrds and formed the Flying Burrito Brothers to fully explore this new inspiration. After only two albums, Parsons lost his position due to the reckless lifestyle he led in the angelic hell of Los Angeles depicted in his lyrics. Led astray by his friends, the Rolling Stones, Parsons embraced a lavish and decadent life, pursued by women, motorcycles, alcohol, and amphetamines. In 1972 he resumed a solo career, producing the albums G.P. (Reprise, 1972) and Grievous Angel (Reprise, 1973), both featuring veteran guitarist James Burton, and which tragically ended with his death (from a fatal combination of morphine and tequila) in September 1973 at the age of twenty-six. For his partner Emmylou Harris, whose celestial vocal harmonies had in some way redeemed the punk spirit, all that remained was to spread his compositions, intensely painful in the style of George Jones. She, The New Soft Shoe, How Much I've Lied, Streets Of Baltimore are the classics of the first album, which is nevertheless full of bland covers. Grievous Angel, $1,000 Wedding, Las Vegas, In My Hour Of Darkness, and Brass Buttons are the most successful (or tragically poignant) narrative vignettes of the second album. Gram Parsons (WB, 1982) and Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels (Rhino) are anthologies.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
G.P. (1972), featuring veteran James Burton on electric guitar and
Emmylou Harris on backing vocals, was a many-layered collection, that
contrasted a surface of
unassuming country-rock (the catchy and sprightly Still Feeling Blue),
pop balladry (She) and playful and danceable rhythm'n'blues (Big Mouth Blues)
with a deeper vein of intricate emotions and insecure moods, running from
the delicate gospel-y A Song For You to the two chestnuts
reminiscent of Arlo Guthrie,
the pensive The New Soft Shoe and
the anthemic How Much I've Lied.
Parsons had an uncanny sense for melody. He also struck a balance between the
(musically) simple and the (philosophically) profound that was more typical of
Leonard Cohen than of Nashville.
Alas, way too many covers hamper the spiritual progression of the album.
The best elements of the first solo were emphasized on
Grievous Angel (1973), again featuring Burton and Harris.
The anthemic quality shone in Grievous Angel, amplified by violin and piano counterpoint,
and in the majestic gospel-y singalong In My Hour Of Darkness.
The narrative odyssey of $1,000 Wedding and the naked-soul elegy of
Brass Buttons showcased Parsons' songwriting maturity.
The frantic blues locomotive of Ooh Las Vegas was the only explicit nod
to the entertainment industry.
It is telling, though, that the most touching song was a cover,
Boudleaux Bryant's Love Hurts.
The triple-CD The Complete Reprise Sessions (Warner, 2006)
collects both Gram Parsons albums and alternate tracks.
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