The Gram Parsons Legacy
Austin Convention Center, Friday 16
For a guy who died at age 26, never having sold many albums in his lifetime, Gram Parsons, former Byrd, former Flying Burrito Brother, former force behind the International Submarine Band, has left a sizeable thumbprint on modern pop music. Perhaps the reason for the relative obscurity he retained during his lifetime can be best summed up in the words of Earl Poole Ball, current Austinite, longtime Johnny Cash pianist, and keyboard man on a number of Parsons’ recording sessions: “Gram was a visionary and an innovator, but no one was looking for one at that time.” Ball was joined on this panel by jazz guitarist and Parsons’ high school friend and collaborator Jim Carlton, Rhino director of A&R James Austin, head Mekon and Waco Brother Jon Langford, and biographer David Meyer, who sat in for no-show Stanley Booth, about whom panel moderator and Rolling Stone Press editorial director Holly George-Warren said, “He decided to pull a Gram.” The discussion was prefaced by a mix CD made by Austin, offering the full house a sample of Parsons’ catalog, from his early songs in the Legends and the Shilohs and moving through the Burrito Brothers, Submarine Band, and the Byrds. As most of the panelists told of their personal introductions to Parsons and his music, trying in vain to convey a sense of the irresistible charisma Parsons exuded in his best and even worst days, Jon Langford threatened to doze off, showing the effects of a rough Thursday night and a rougher Friday to come — this, more than anything this day, Parsons would have appreciated. As James Austin said of him, “His love and passion for the music always outweighed whatever medication he was on.” While the self-destructive tendencies and the toll taken too early were the major topics of discussion here, the legacy, the bringing together of rock and country, and the remarkable catalog of songs left behind were also addressed in reverential tones otherwise reserved for more widely acknowledged pioneers: Elvis, Miles, Buck, and Merle. Parsons in his lifetime was enamored to the point of worship of Merle Haggard, and one of the sadder, if most telling, stories that remain of Gram comes from Ben Fong-Torres’ book on him, where, after a meeting between Parsons and Haggard, which Parsons had wanted eagerly, Haggard said something to the effect of, “Gram Parsons ain’t nothing but a pussy.” Maybe so, but as a spate of upcoming biographies and an impending 2-CD Rhino anthology will show to the new rash of fans eager for Parsons’ material, it’s the songs that matter, and they’ve only gotten better with time.This article appears in March 16 • 2001.