WOW!

Gram Parsons sure had a different bent on country music.

I loved and still love it.

..."Won't you scratch my itch, sweet 'Annie Rich' and welcome me back to town...

..."Out with the truckers and kickers and cowboy angels"....

...I'm 60's. I miss all that great experimentation that went down.

You can cuss and snort at me[us], but my generation created and set the tone of what we take for granted today.

The Byrds and Eagles were just incredible creative bands (yeah - even all their re-incarnations).

They were knocked, and probably still are in certain circles, but they moved-up the dice, and never thought twice about it.

And they didn't give two hoots about tuning, as much as professed here. They cranked up the strings and sang some of the most beautiful lyrical and melodic music.

After a while that I was listening to this music with Al Perkins, Sneaky Pete, Jerry G.,
Banana, Pure Prairie League, and many more greats, I said that I have to go get me one of these steel guitrs.

Then, while I was living on Cape Cod, I was fortunate to meet John Macy, who was playing with an unbelievable swing/country band called "John Lincoln Wright & The Sour Mash Boys".

John really opened my eyes to the C6 sound and swing. He was a hell of a player back then [circa 1971]. He showed me some great stuff - Doug Jernigan, Buddy E., and Herby Wallace.

I know I may have got off-topic here, but John Macy is a great friend and went out of his way to show little 'ole me at the time, really what is involved in playing this dynamic instrument. The man was really obsessed with the great players I've just mentioned. He told me, if you learn any of this, then you will truly be on your way.

Thanks, John

I did several opening act and sound gigs with those boys over the years.
Fun band, real swing.

So now I know I must a met John Macy back then too.

Man that made my mind real back 20+ years. DANG!
Wonder what's he's up to now?
Where on Cape Cod were you?

An where the heck is Monsoon Mass???
West a Haverill I bet!

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 02 June 2006 at 09:15 PM.]

John Macy is a fellow forumite here.

He actually emailed when I 1st blurted on the scene [I did not go thru the regular protcol,
and Mr b0b let me know right quick that we have rules here]....I was a dummy about computers and did not realize that there was all this protocol.

I lived at this time in Chatham. I lived over the "Chatham Squire" bar and restaurant. I know Ritchie Costello and George Payne very well. They still owe me for some plumbing work, BTW.

So I lived there sort of as a live-in plumber and MUSICIAN.

At this time, the "Squire" did not have a "FULL" entertainment license.

Which meant, places down the road , like the LIGHTSHIP, could have full blown entertainment, and that is exactly where me and John Macy met.

John, god bless you. I never heard anything like what you played.

Listen guys, this humble fellow, John Macy,
is a tremendous steeler, as well as an unbelievable studio enginneer.

Make no mistake - John knows his stuff.

Donald, as of late, me and plumbing buddies have been doing some work in the Brewster area off RTE 137.

Have not had time to get back to Chatham and bug Ritchie and George. But.....it will happen.

"gotta get back to the garden"

I recall reading a quote from Emmylou to the effect that a lot of people profess a love for Gram's music, but one rarely hears much of it. I agree, and also wonder why. I sort of think that it just wasn't a slick enough production. I suppose that, in the modern world, slick production (think Eagles vs. Burrito Bros) wins out every time out there in radioland, nothing really new. Nothing against the Eagles - especially the first incarnation - but I always felt that Gram's branch of this tree was more authentic and honest. Just my opinion.

I myself wasn't a real big "straight" country fan; but I sure was into folk, and eventually folk brought me closer to real roots country. Just about this same time is when the whole folk scene exploded with the Byrd's "Mr Tambourine Man" I think in January 1965.

Around about this time Jesse Colin Young and The Youngbloods started getting big and on one of their albums they did their version of "Sugarbabe", with "Banana" playing steel. Sounded like a Fender, for sure, and so this very song got my interest going for steel. "Banana's" playing [taking his 1st stab at steel, I guess] was roughly on a par with Jerry G's, but heck, it was such a gas and fit the song so well, who was to care?

Those were heady days. Almost everything coming out on anyone's next album was really something to look forward to. You really couldn't keep up; that's how much of it was going down.

There's also a recent indie film out that covered his death and the hijacking of his body and all that. I haven't seen it yet. It's apparently of interest to "fans only," though. I think you qualify

Also, you may like hearing the "Return of the Greivous Angel," tribute album that came out about 6 years ago (not to be confused with the concert DVD of a few years back with Keef Richards and others, which I haven't seen). The tribute album I'm talkin' about has a bunch of current acts doing studio versions of GP songs, and most are pretty good. Who knew that Beck could do such a credible "male country vocal" on Sin City? The guy's great, but I've never heard him sing in that style. It's quite good. And Emmylou sings harmony. Recommended.

[This message was edited by Tucker Jackson on 03 June 2006 at 12:52 PM.]

They always sounded pretty much in tune to me! Are you saying that they weren't?

I played "Return of the Grevous Angel" on Thursday with Laughing Gravy. The crowds love that tune. And of course it's my favorite GP album.

Gillian Welch doing "Hickory Wind", too.

I'll try to track down that film you mentioned. Yeah, I'm a fan alright. A big one.

Of course they were in tune. I was trying to convey that they "got-er done".

My impression of those cats is that they just tuned up and went to town. They had so much to get out, that tuning had to get done quick and now. They had more pressing things to do, rather than jiggle over + or - cents, or 440.

Those guys have great ears and excellent instruments, and tuned them right up.

b0b, I'm glad to hear that you are performing ROTGA. I would love to hear your version. Do you happen to have recorded any performances?

Do you still have a female vocalist? Is she doing the lead or backup?

I just love ROTGA. That one song alone, defined Gram Parsons, I feel, as the original "Cosmic Cowboy". That song just paints a picture of the West. Kinda like Jim Morrison of the Doors, like him or not, transcended the music. The words said MORE in a way, than the actual sentence structure they were formed in. Just all these incredible visions coming at you. It was always, I thought, a bit better to sit and listen with your eyes closed. Crank it up, have a few tokes, and take it all in.

Great observation. He was gone before he really blossomed.

You hit me pretty well with that.

Spooky.

Henry, if you do have more insight, and it looks like you do, about GP and the FBB's,
by all means, let's here it. PLEASE!

Thanks.....Chipper

OH YEAH! - Who did write those lyrics? He should re-name himself, Gram, then.

quote:

---

I recall reading a quote from Emmylou to the effect that a lot of people profess a love for Gram's music, but one rarely hears much of it. I agree, and also wonder why.

---

I dig that stuff too...a lot.

------------------
Mike
------------------
Blue Moon Highway
(Country Music...and then some.)
www.bluemoonhighway.com

quote:

---

... but his singing voice IMHO is almost unlistenable.

---

De gustibus non disputandum, I guess.

I've also heard lots of people complain about the voices of some of my favorite country singers - I won't name names, but you can probably guess some of them. They're not polished, but they have heart, IMO.

[This message was edited by Dave Mudgett on 03 June 2006 at 09:52 PM.]

I think he could have been a great songwriter. Early on he was a great singer.

He was prepared to be the frontman of something great. He tried a bit. Worked with and inspired some really good people. He was influential. He could have been so much more if he hadn't taken his talent for granted.
I don't mean to be too hard on the guy. It's just too bad that he wasn't more focused and less dead.

edited to say:

$1000 Wedding is a great song... and sung well.

[This message was edited by Henry Nagle on 04 June 2006 at 03:15 AM.]

When I lived in Leadville, CO back in 1977
I ran into John Macy and Eddie Steves playing dueling steels at the "Little Bear" in Evergreen.
That was quite the country bar at that time.

Also, Eddie and John too [I think] helped to get the "Big E" to come and put on a seminar in the Pembroke, MA area back then. Wheatstraw, featuring Rocky Stone on guitar, was the back up band. It was held in a local hockey arena. Since that fabulous show, I haven't been quite the same. There was like a steel pickers club in Pembroke at the time, called "The Pembroke Picking Parlour".

Not sure whatever became of Eddie Steves, tho.

[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 04 June 2006 at 07:40 AM.]

No one bothered to mention in this thread is the heiress apparent to the whole Gram thing was his singing partner Emmylou. Her Hot Band helped further the careers of just to name a couple, Rodney Crowell and Vince Gill.

Her song "Boulder To Birmingham" is reputedly about Gram.

b0b and the band did a fine job on Return of the Grievous Angel the other night!

As far as "Hickory Wind" I have to disagree-I think it's a great song, with a killer melody.

But I also I have to agree that even though I was a big fan, it seems in some circles Gram has been elevated to the level of someone like, say, Johnny Cash, and I don't think he belongs there.

------------------
Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 04 June 2006 at 09:18 AM.]

------------------
Mike
------------------
Blue Moon Highway
(Country Music...and then some.)
www.bluemoonhighway.com

I remember seeing the original Flying Burrito Brothers on American Bandstand in the Nudie suits.

[This message was edited by Rick McDuffie on 04 June 2006 at 06:41 PM.]

Yuppa, gotta love those Nudie suits...especially Gram's.

------------------
Mike
------------------
Blue Moon Highway
(Country Music...and then some.)
www.bluemoonhighway.com

Nice job on the vocals by Kevin, but he had another Forum member, Joe Goldmark come in and play the steel on that one, and for me it has become one of my all-time favorite recorded performances on steel.

Joe flat nailed it!

------------------
Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 04 June 2006 at 11:40 PM.]

I'm not too far from West Brookfield [20 minutes east]. Right on the Quabog River. I used to fish the Swift River system up there in Hardwick, too.

I think you are thinking of Webster Lake, right on the southern MA border, where NE CT and NW RI meet. Hence, "You fish on your side, and I'll fish on my side". I think if you have a fishing license from either MA, CT, or RI you can fish Webster Lake; and on all sides, too.

See: www.colapcentral.org/webster-lake.htm

I love Joe's "ride" on that song. If I'm on a road trip for my sales job, and I have it in the CD player, I'll re-que that solo 2 or 3 times. Really nice.

Another nice version of the song, IMO, is on The Nashville Acoustic Sessions. Raul Malo, with his Roy Orbison - like delivery, makes the song sound almost operatic, and some may care for it and some may not, but it's the Rob Ickes dobro playing on it that really gets me. He has a solo in the middle which is nice, and it is a portent of things to come. After the final verse is sung, there is a play out that lasts at least 1.5 minutes, and Ickes plays some of the finest dobro I have ever heard.

Gram's bios state that he attended Harvard for one semester to study theology... this would've presumably been the first semester of his freshman year, which almost always consists of no more than one course in the major field. By contrast, "seminary" is graduate school, consisting totally of courses in the fields of theology and pastoral studies and leading toward a life of vocational ministry. Seminary is begun only after a four-year baccalaureate degree has been earned. Harvard Divinity School (seminary) is one the nation's top divinity schools, but Gram wouldn't have been eligible for that program. So it appears that what really happened is that Gram attended college as a freshman "religion" major for one semester... there doesn't appear to be any evidence that he was preparing for a religious vocation, yet that seems to be implied at times.

This is what I mean by "mysterious". I read a newspaper article 15 or more years ago in The State (Columbia, SC) newspaper, which pointed out a good many inconsistencies in Gram's stories about what he had done. The writer of that article had interviewed people in S.C. who knew Gram, and had arrived at the conclusion that Gram had embellished certain events in his life so that it was hard to separate truth from fiction. All of this seems to have inflated the legend.

(Edited for clarity)

[This message was edited by Rick McDuffie on 05 June 2006 at 08:36 PM.]