With the good thing about hindsight, Cecil Connor III, somewhat higher recognized to us as Gram Parsons, was all the time a candidate to dwell quick and die younger.
The hedonistic way of life of the person from Waycross, Georgia had hit his well being badly even throughout his temporary few years of sensible creativity. But it surely was nonetheless a tragedy when the information emerged that Gram’s final trip, to the Joshua Tree Nationwide Monument in California, had led to his demise on September 19, 1973.
The tour to one in all his favourite spots was deliberate as relaxation and recreation earlier than the beginning of a brand new tour. He’d performed dwell earlier within the 12 months, together with a present in Boston in April, the place he carried out a few of the songs with which he had helped to create the very style of nation rock, corresponding to “Drug Store Truck Driving Man,” “Sin City,” and “That’s All It Took.”
A most weird farewell
However solely two days into the journey, Parsons was discovered unresponsive in his bed room and in any case makes an attempt to revive him failed, was pronounced lifeless at Hello-Desert Memorial Hospital at 12.15am. The official reason behind demise was an overdose of morphine and alcohol. His coffin was stolen by his supervisor Phil Kaufman and former Byrds roadie Michael Martin and brought to Cap Rock within the California desert. There, as per his personal needs, the physique was set alight. Parsons was later buried on the Backyard of Reminiscences Cemetery in Metairie, Louisiana.
However Parsons’ musical legacy is a wealthy one, in earlier days with the Worldwide Submarine Band, after he arrived on the West Coast in 1967, and his temporary however pivotal time with the Byrds; then with Chris Hillman within the Flying Burrito Brothers and eventually on his two greatly-revered solo albums, 1973’s GP and the posthumously-released Grievous Angel.
Up there with the greats
When GP was launched, Rolling Stone described Parsons as “an artist with a vision as unique and personal as those of Jagger-Richard[s], Ray Davies, or any of the other celebrated figures.”
In its report on his demise, the Village Voice quoted former Byrds drummer Mike Clarke, who stated: “Man, I don’t think Gram ever met a drug he didn’t like. I guess there’s an object lesson there.”
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