Who was/is Gram Parson ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Gram Parsons
She
The story of Gram Parsons' first solo album has been pieced together as if it were the myth of creation, which it sort of is to those who love this music. A landmark album in every respect, it seamlessly stitched non-originals to originals, old to new, and country forms to rock sensibility. Warner Bros'. A&R man, Andy Wickham, an ex-patriate British graphic designer who had somehow charged himself with country music, heard a few of Parsons' songs at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles and immediately called his boss, Mo Ostin. It's possible that Parsons enticed Wickham by floating the prospect of Keith Richards producing the album; later came the idea that Merle Haggard might produce. In the event, Parsons produced it himself, co-crediting Ric Grech, a former member of Family, Traffic, and Blind Faith. In fact, Grech was sick for some of the sessions and Parsons was drunk or stoned, so the organizational credit went to engineer Hugh Davies, Parsons' manager, Eddie Tickner, and musical arranger Glen D. Hardin. The vision, though, was Parsons' alone. The Burritos' first LP had come close to realizing his dream, but 'GP' enabled him to see it through without needing to consider bandmates who, theoretically at least, had a vote. After recruiting the core of Elvis Presley's road band and bringing Emmylou Harris and Barry Tashian from D.C. folk clubs, Parsons augmented the group with country session royalty. Warners wouldn't foot that kind of tab for an artist who had never delivered a good-selling product, but Parsons was so intent on seeing his vision through, he funded it himself. What set him apart from country music was the absence of bravado and hard-ass attitude, legacies of country music's frontier mindset. The trust fund kid couldn't pull that off; instead, he went for sweet, aching regret.
It's probable that She dated from the time that Parsons and Chris Ethridge worked together in the first incarnation of the Burritos. Some of Ethridge's compositions came from piano exercises he set himself, and it seems likely that this is another. A haunting elegy, it was an ideal showcase for the vulnerability in Parsons' voice. In the forty-plus years since the release of 'GP,' She has been reinterpreted by many artists, most recently by Norah Jones and the Black Crowes. No one has yet eclipsed Parsons' original.
Various Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels - The Blissed-Out Birth Of Country Rock, Vol. 6: 1973 (2-CD)
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