Gram Parsons And The Fallen Angels GP (LP)

(Warner Records) 11 tracks, gatefold cover

The first stop for the musician, who is now regarded as a co-founder of the country rock genre, was the International Submarine Band, whose only album "Safe At Home" was produced by Lee Hazlewood. Due to a lack of success, however, the band soon disbanded and Gram Parsons became a member of the legendary Byrds in 1968, with whom he produced the legendary album "Sweetheart oft the Rodeo", which is now celebrated as one of the first country rock albums and was significantly influenced by Parsons.

After a few months, Gram Parsons left the Byrds and founded the Flying Burrito Brothers together with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman. In 1969, the debut album "Gilded Palace of Sin" was released, which was not really commercially successful, but had a great influence on other musicians, including the Rolling Stones.

Gram became friends with Keith Richards, whose passion for drugs he shared, and spent a lot of time with the Stones. Keith Richards got to know various country styles through Gram Parsons, and songs like "Wild Horses" would certainly not have appeared in the Stones' songbook without him. Gram was only half-heartedly involved in the second album of the band Burrito Deluxe and was subsequently fired due to his unreliability caused by his drug addiction.

In 1971, he moved back to Los Angeles, where he put together his own band, Fallen Angels, and chose the then still unknown Emmylou Harris as his duet partner. His debut album "GP" was released a year later. This was followed by a short live tour and, in the late summer of 1973, the recording of "Grievous Angel", which was released four months after his untimely death in 1974.