Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music By David N. Meyer
Time has been good to Gram Parsons.
Over the decades, since his death on September 19, 1973, the Godfather of Country-Rock, what he termed his “Cosmic American Music” has found the respect that often eluded him during his brief lifetime. It is not a reach to say that without Gram Parsons and his passion for both rock and roll, country music, and American roots music, we would not have The Eagles. During his brief stint as a member of The Byrds, as a co-founder of The Flying Burrito Brothers, and as a solo artist, Gram is the musical genre’s originator, providing him with a lasting, and impressive, legacy.
But why has time been good to Gram Parsons?
After reading David N. Meyer’s Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music, it seems time was not good to Gram during his lifetime. Success did not come easy; in fact, for Gram success was quite elusive, and remained so, Gram hoping his last solo effort, his second solo album, 1974’s Grievous Angel would finally be his turning point, but he did not live long enough to see it released, and much like his work with The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and as a solo artist, the albums he influenced did not sell well or even at all during their original release. It took music lovers a great deal of time for the brilliance of this musician to dawn on them, and the appreciation to start.
Gram Parsons was born Ingram Cecil Connor III, into the extremely wealthy Snively family who at one time controlled most of Florida’s orange and grapefruit juice market; in doing so they also owned quite a bit of real estate in the state. Wealth however, is not the answer for everything, and Gram’s dad, Ingram Cecil “Coon Dog” Connor, a decorated World War II pilot, despite being a loving father, was an alcoholic and committed suicide shortly before Christmas when Gram was 12-years-old. His mother, Avis, eventual remarried, Gram’s stepfather, Robert Parsons, who adopted both him and his sister, treating them right, but during that marriage, Avis, a dedicated alcoholic herself, managed to drink herself into an early grave. Before that happened, parenting for Gram was hit and miss, Gram given a lot of freedom, even living in a wing of their home where he could come and go as he pleased.
With the death of Gram’s grandfather, the man who built the Snively fortune, things began to deteriorate, as his uncle took over the family business, and managed to make bad decisions that the Snively fortune, and control over their orange juice empire, could not weather and the wealth began to disappear. Luckily for Gram, his Trust Fund, managed to survive his uncle’s bad decisions, and as a young musician he did not have to worry about money to survive, like a lot of the musicians he befriended and played with.
In reading Twenty Thousand Roads, it is this alcoholism, along with the absence of involved parents, along with access to money that seemed to be the crux of Gram’s problems in life. As presented to us by biographer Meyer, and confirmed by many he interviewed for this biography, Gram was a charming person, who deep down did have a good heart, but based on his upbringing could also be distant, had no problem using people when needed, and had the ability to walk away from a situation whenever he wanted, and often did. Money gave him that last ability, which also meant he did not have to work hard at his craft, fighting to make it, as that was the only choice he had – either that or remain a starving artist who could not pay his rent. Being poor may have helped Gram in his lifetime, but he was not, and that played a large part in a lot of his decision-making, whether he knew it or not.
As far as a biography goes, David N. Meyer has written an excellent, entertaining account of Gram’s life that does not disappoint. And while it is entertaining, it is also a frustrating read; frustrating when you realize how many opportunities Gram had in life – opportunities others would have killed for and worked hard to capitalize on – and how many he squandered. A perfect example of this is the creation of The Flying Burrito Brothers with ex-Byrd, Chris Hillman, after Gram was fired from The Byrds. The band had the backing of A&M Records, especially with their first album, 1969’s The Gilded Palace of Sin, but after missing a couple of showcases for them set up by the record company, sloppy playing (the band felt they did not need to rehearse), and general excessive drug and alcohol use, the record company gave up on them, pulling its promotional support, and eventually abandoning them altogether, especially after they put together what was considered a sloppy second album, 1970’s Burrito Deluxe. A lack of commitment and self-control lead to the band’s downfall, and rightly so.
Even as a member of The Byrds, Gram squandered his opportunity, although in the process help take them in a country-rock direction, resulting in the 1968 album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the band’s sixth album, and one that did not sell well upon release, but is now considered an iconic, classic album of that time that connoisseurs of great music SHOULD own. The Byrds were already hugely successful when Gram joined, and he influenced their country direction, but when it came time for a foreign tour that would have taken them to the resort city of Sun City in South Africa, where segregation was the rule of the day, he refused to go, and was dismissed. He had been with The Byrds for less than a year, and while he should be applauded for refusing to play Sun City (The Rolling Stone’s Keith Richards, a friend of his, clued him in to what was wrong with playing the resort), some are not convinced that was his only reason for not going, that maybe he just wanted to hang out with The Rolling Stones, instead.
Gram and Keith Richards developed a strong bond – or at least as strong a bond as two junkies could – with Gram introducing Richards to country music; many accounts by those who knew both in Twenty Thousand Roads indicated that the two almost transformed into one another, adopting mannerisms of each other. Despite some possible jealousy by Mick Jagger for the attention Richards was showing Gram, Gram was a unique member of The Rolling Stones entourage in that unlike most, he was independently wealthy and able to pay his own way, as opposed to leaching off the Rolling Stones. Nevertheless, while staying in France at the Villa Nellcote during the recording of The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street, Gram and his girlfriend, and soon-to-be-wife, Gretchen Burrell, was sent away – either because of Jagger’s jealousy or due to Gram’s excessive drug use.
As Meyer relates in the biography, many friends and associates were sure Gram was heading for an early grave based on his drug and alcohol consumption, and they were not wrong. It should be noted here, in line with the thesis that life was not good to Gram during his lifetime, that Gram screwed up in death as well. Gram died at the age of 26 on September 19, 1973, less than two months before his 27th birthday, leaving him out of rock and roll’s famed 27 Club, featuring such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse who all died at the age of twenty-seven. If Gram had of made twenty-seven, he might be better known, as his name would be permanently associated with those doomed artists. It is not.
While life did not treat him well when he was alive, or at least that is what I got out of reading Twenty Thousand Roads, Gram’s influence on musical history is legendary and undisputed, and he did discover Emmylou Harris, an unknown singer whom he hired to duet with him on his 1973 solo album, GP and 1974’s Grievous Angel. The two combined for some magical musical moments, and this pairing eventual led to Emmylou being signed to a major record label, and proving she deserved to be. In the many decades since Gram’s untimely death, Emmylou has been careful when talking about Gram, no doubt out of respect for her friend’s memory.
It has taken the world a while to catch up and appreciate Gram Parsons and all that he did accomplish in his short life and thankfully the world has; Gram’s passing could have easily been a small footnote in music history, but what happened after his death, helped establish one of the great legends of Gram Parsons – a legend unrelated to the music he created. Following the accidental death of a good friend, and a rather boring funeral, Gram, and some friends, including Phil Kaufman, a roadie/road manager of sorts, vowed they would not go out like that, but instead wanted to be taken to Joshua Tree National Park and cremated, and agreed to do that for one another if they should pass away. It should be noted that Gram died of a drug overdose in room eight of the Joshua Tree Inn while visiting the Park with some friends, as he often did. Gram’s stepfather, Robert had arranged for his stepson’s body to be transported back to Louisiana for burial, but Kaufman and a friend managed to steal his body from the airport where it was awaiting transport, drove him to Joshua Tree National Park, opened his coffin and set the singer on fire, granting him his final wish. Being kidnapped in death, brought Gram’s demise more attention than it probably would have received otherwise.
All of this and more is in Twenty Thousand Roads. In writing about Gram, Meyer does not glorify the singer-songwriter, but presents a well-balanced account of his life, making sure to indicate where something is “legend” and may or may not be completely true – there is a lot that can be verified and a lot that cannot, considering a lot of the people who have survived who knew Gram, were also doing a lot of drugs and alcohol at that time. I love reading biographies, but have always hated getting into them, reading about the artists childhood, although in some cases it is significant. In Twenty Thousand Roads, Meyer spends a lot of time on Gram’s childhood (he had such a young life, it was probably necessary), but unlike other biographies it proved quite interesting, and fascinating.
Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music by David N. Meyer is an excellent read, and the account of someone, who while frustrating, is an artist worthy of discovering if you already have not. Forget the legend of what happened to him after death, as it was what he managed to accomplish while alive that really matters. If Twenty Thousand Roads leads you down that path, it has served it’s purpose and has served Gram Parsons well. ♥