Pages tagged “gram parsons”

Listening to the upcoming album by Lucinda Williams, Little Honey, I was thrilled to come across the voice of Elvis Costello on a song called "Jailhouse Tears." Country/rock duets have a pretty long history and even some commercial success (see Jon Bon Jovi with Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles). But recently, they've also gotten pretty damn cool. Here are the best country/rock duets of recent years (and a few don't even involve Emmylou Harris):

On Monday, Amoeba Music, the renowned chain of record stores whose founders recently launched a record label, began an initiative to give away two songs every two weeks from Gram Parsons and Brandi Shearer.

The free download series kicked off with Shearer'sunreleased version of Parsons' "Hickory Wind," recorded live at Amoeba in L.A., and "Close Up the Honky Tonks," the opening cut from Gram Parsons Archives Vol. 1: The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969. Subsequent free downloads will be taken from Shearer's Close To Dark and disc one of the two disc Gram Parsons Archive Vol. 1.

As a holiday season bonus, Shearer's sultry take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is also at Amoeba.com for free download.

Related links:
MP3 - Gram Parsons & The Flying Burrito Brothers - "Close Up The Honky-Tonks"
MP3 - Brandi Shearer - "Hickory Wind" (Gram Parsons Cover)
MP3 - Brandi Shearer - "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

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Given Gram Parsons' explosive, bottle rocket-brief career, fans have long had only scattered material from the country rock pioneer to enjoy. One album with the International Submarine Band, another with the Byrds, a couple of solo records, and another pair with the Flying Burrito Brothers. But as with all taken-before-their-time artists, new artifacts continue to come to light, plugging the gaps between Parsons' many side projects and giving listeners a fuller sonic portrait of his mysterious, cosmic-cowboy persona.

The latest arrives on Nov. 6, which would have been Parsons' 61st birthday. Amoeba Records will issue a pair of live performances that Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers put on in support of the Grateful Dead in April of 1969. The recordings were discovered in the Grateful Dead vault. Audio of the first performance (April 4) at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco had never before been released in any form. Amoeba has labeled the two disc-set as Gram Parsons Archives Vol 1., indicating that there will probably be more Parsons rarities coming to light in the future.

Track listing:

Disc 1 [Live At The Avalon April 4, 1969]:

1. Close Up The Honky Tonks (2:38)
2. Dark End Of The Street (3:57)
3. Undo The Right/Somebody¹s Back In Town (3:16)
4. She Once Lived Here (3:53)
5. We¹ve Got To Get Ourselves Together (3:31)
6. Lucille (2:38)
7. Hot Burrito #1 (3:40)
8. Hot Burrito #2 (4:05)
9. Long Black Limousine (3:38)
10. Mental Revenge (3:07)
11. Sin City (4:02)

Bonus tracks (unreleased home recordings):

12. Thousand Dollar Wedding (4:24)
13. When Will I Be Loved (2:16)

Disc 2 [Live At The Avalon April 6, 1969]:

1. Undo The Right/Somebody¹s Back In Town (3:14)
2. She Once Lived Here (4:06)
3. Mental Revenge (3:13)
4. We¹ve Got To Get Ourselves Together (3:43)
5. Lucille (2:39)
6. Sin City (4:08)
7. You Win Again (3:06)
8. Hot Burrito #1 (3:53)
9. Hot Burrito #2 (4:00)
10. You¹re Still On My Mind (2:34)
11. Train Song (3:43)
12. Long Black Limousine (3:15)
13. Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream) (3:18)
14. Do Right Woman (5:01)

Related links:
GramParsons.com
Petition to get Gram Parsons into the Country Music Hall of Fame
Paste: Gram Parsons - Fallen Angel

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One week deadlines can be difficult to remember. Eons away, they seem, until suddenly you’ve got $100 in Blockbuster charges, un-redeemable Six Flags coupons and food poison. Keeping that in mind, you might as well go ahead and take care of this now: for one week only, through August 23, newly launched Amoeba Records is handing out free MP3s like Sam’s Club sausage-ball samples. Only two of them, mind you, but they’re pretty swell: Brandi Shearer’s “Lullabies” from her upcoming album, Close to Dark (Aug. 28) and a never-before-heard (by anyone not at the April 4, 1969 concert) Gram Parsons song “Long Black Limousine” from Gram Parsons Archives Vol. 1: The Flying Burrito Brothers ‘Live’ at the Avalon 1969 (Oct. 30). Deep breath.

Amoeba Records is the label venture of Amoeba Music, a small, California-based chain of very large independent music outlets/venues founded in 1990.

Dig in:

Brandi Shearer - "Lullabies"
Gram Parsons - "Long Black Limousine"

Related links:
Amoeba.com
GramParsons.com
BrandiShearer.com

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Celebrated roots-rock and country icon Gram Parsons will celebrate his 60th birthday with a lineup of artists including The New Heathens, Matt Mays and The Demolition String Band. "Gram Parsons 60th Birthday Tribute: A Night of Cosmic American Music" will honor the former Byrd with 12 tribute artists at Galapagos in Williamsburg, Brooklyn Wednesday on November 15.

Video footage from the movie "Grand Theft Parsons," starring Johnny Knoxville, and other Parsons-related cinema will be shown in between the performances, which will include covers as well as original music. For the show’s climax, all of the artists involved will take the stage for a collaborative cover of "In My Hour of Darkness."

Other performers include Chip Robinson of the Backsliders, The Karen Hudson River Band, Future Farmers of America, Alan Lee and the Wicked Messengers, Sugarpine, the Apple Bros. and Joe Cassady and the West End Sound.

For more information, visit the Galapagos’ website at www.galapagosartspace.com.

Director/Writer: Gandulf Hennig and Sid Griffin
Cinematography: Boris Becker
Starring: Peter Buck, Emmylou Harris, Keith Richards
Studio info: Rhino Entertainment, 90 mins.

Former Byrd, Flying Burrito Brother finally gets filmic workup

Fallen Angel, the first documentary film to dissect country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons’ gothic legend, is hardly short on tragedy: Parsons’ father committed suicide in 1958 while Gram’s mother—the daughter of citrus magnate John Snivley—surrendered to alcoholism in 1965. Throughout his career, Parsons paired Nudie-suit country twang with drug-infused psych-folk, and Fallen Angel features laudatory chatter from famous fans, commentary from family members, and the half-bitter diatribes of his former bandmates. Refreshingly, Fallen Angel isn’t all hearts and flowers: the film flatly acknowledges how Parsons piddled away a semester at Harvard, a considerable trust fund and remarkable talent in favor of yipping at the heels of The Rolling Stones and chugging booze.

Parsons overdosed at a roadside motel in September 1973. Desperate to fulfill what they contend were Parsons’ final wishes, two of his buddies (road manager Phil Kaufman and friend Michael Martin), drunk and righteous, snatched the body from LAX, drove it deep into the California desert, dumped a gallon of gasoline in the coffin, and left Parsons, half-cremated, by the side of the road. Parsons’ family eventually recovered what was left of his remains, but the story is still a fittingly twisted cap to a life riddled with heartbreak.

Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons is currently available from Thunders Mouth Press.

The book, a collection of stories and images from Parsons' life, was compiled by music journalist Jessica Hundley and Parson's only daughter, Polly.

Gram Parsons is credited with influencing many contemporary artists, including Elvis Costello, Norah Jones and Dinosaur Jr. Parsons was a member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. He died in 1973 at the age of 26.