Songwriter Showcase: Gram Parsons

[MandoMan]

A Tribute to Gram Parsons, Composer-Musician and Father of Country Rock.
Thursday, April 28 at 3:30
Eisenhower Recreation Center, Admiral Nimitz Room
Music lovers welcome. FREE!

Florida native Gram Parsons (1946-1973) is not a household name today, but he is arguably the father of Country-Rock and its first important composer. He was a major influence on such bands as The Eagles and The Rolling Stones, and his influence led to more rock in country music and more country in rock and more acceptance of differences in both types of music, as well. He loved old country music and insisted on using a pedal steel guitar in his bands, but he brought a new approach to songwriting and didn’t sing with a country voice. His group The International Submarine Band put out the first country-rock album. Months later, he was part of The Byrds, steered them into country, and wrote all but one of the original songs of their important album “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” the first country-rock album by a major band. Before that record came out, he founded The Flying Burrito Brothers, which influenced a generation of musicians. Two years later he moved on to Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels, introducing Emmylou Harris in powerful duets and kick-starting her career. Meanwhile, one of the Flying Burrito Brothers was a founding member of The Eagles and saw to it that Parsons’ influence permeated their music. Another member worked with Stephen Stills and influenced Crosby, Stills & Nash. Come hear, enjoy, and learn. Eighteen of his songs will be played by a five member band in chronological order, with biographical context.

[Keefelane66]

Finally some good tunes. Listen to him all the time. Maybe someone could resurrect interest in Gene Clarke too.
Hope to attend
Thank You

[VApeople]

Will the band members be wearing Nudie Suits like Gram is in the picture?

[Keefelane66]

That may go over a lot of peoples heads thankfully we’re an adult community

[MandoMan]

Finally some good tunes. Listen to him all the time. Maybe someone could resurrect interest in Gene Clarke too.
Hope to attend
Thank You

That’s an idea. Clark penned 36 songs that were recorded.
Songs originally by Gene Clark | SecondHandSongs (https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/11807/originals#nav-entity)

[MandoMan]

That may go over a lot of peoples heads thankfully we’re an adult community

That could well be, but a great many Country stars, such as Buck Owens, wore the astonishing Nudie Suits, designed by the tailor Nudie Cohn.

[MandoMan]

Will the band members be wearing Nudie Suits like Gram is in the picture?

Laughing! I wish! Wouldn’t that be great! What I’ve often wondered is how those stars got them dry-cleaned when they were on the road. Or did they just sweat onstage in them night after night?

[MandoMan]

That’s an idea. Clark penned 36 songs that were recorded.
Songs originally by Gene Clark | SecondHandSongs (https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/11807/originals#nav-entity)

Spending hours and hours rehearsing these Gram Parsons songs has been an honor. He was an unusually talented songwriter, and a lot of his songs are deeply moving. He loved country music, but his songs drew on country, yet were new in several ways. His voice wasn’t really a country voice, but it is often filled with longing and sorrow.

For a rich boy, he had a tough life. His maternal grandfather owned the largest orange grove holdings in Florida, and he he was a trust fund baby. His family bought him a nightclub when he was a teenager so his band would have a place to perform. (It’s still a going concern.) But his parents were alcoholics. His father died by suicide, disappointed and young, when Gram was 12. His mother died of alcohol poisoning or was perhaps murdered in a hospital the day he graduated from high school. His adored step-father was also an alcoholic and later thrust him away. The likelihood of drug and alcohol addiction was in his DNA, and when he turned to them to relieve the sorrow, they grabbed him and squeezed. He was dead at 26. Meanwhile, he was very much a part of the late sixties Los Angeles music scene that gave us such performers as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Brown, The Doors, Linda Ronstadt, the Mamas and the Papas, and many others. When he died of a drug and alcohol overdose, his body was stolen and he was cremated in the desert in a metal casket.

[go4fpsb]

Gram, The Byrds, Emmylou, yikes that some great music. Saw The Byrds in 1966 at the Holiday Swim Club in Columbus Ohio. Maybe a few hundred showed up. Looking forward to the music. :coolsmiley:

[Ltwise3500]

A Tribute to Gram Parsons, Composer-Musician and Father of Country Rock.
Thursday, April 28 at 3:30
Eisenhower Recreation Center, Admiral Nimitz Room
Music lovers welcome

Florida native Gram Parsons (1946-1973) is not a household name today, but he is arguably the father of Country-Rock and its first important composer. He was a major influence on such bands as The Eagles and The Rolling Stones, and his influence led to more rock in country music and more country in rock and more acceptance of differences in both types of music, as well. He loved old country music and insisted on using a pedal steel guitar in his bands, but he brought a new approach to songwriting and didn’t sing with a country voice. His group The International Submarine Band put out the first country-rock album. Months later, he was part of The Byrds, steered them into country, and wrote all but one of the original songs of their important album “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” the first country-rock album by a major band. Before that record came out, he founded The Flying Burrito Brothers, which influenced a generation of musicians. Two years later he moved on to Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels, introducing Emmylou Harris in powerful duets and kick-starting her career. Meanwhile, one of the Flying Burrito Brothers was a founding member of The Eagles and saw to it that Parsons’ influence permeated their music. Another member worked with Stephen Stills and influenced Crosby, Stills & Nash. Come hear, enjoy, and learn. Eighteen of his songs will be played by a five member band in chronological order, with biographical context.
Are their tickets to be purchased?

[VApeople]

I would love to go to the concert, but I suspect it would be indoors and would be much too loud for our taste. We like outdoor music where we can sit farther away if it is too loud.

I have always liked the Byrds and I bought their first album in 1965. "I'll feel a whole lot better" was my favorite song but I had never heard it sung live until last year at Edna's when Joe Hand sang it. I like the Tom Petty version as much as the original.

As far as Gram goes, I guess I will stick with my Youtube version of "Sin City".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqxq6xqoXI

I gotta get me a Nudie suit like those guys.

[JMintzer]

I would love to go to the concert, but I suspect it would be indoors and would be much too loud for our taste. We like outdoor music where we can sit farther away if it is too loud.

I have always liked the Byrds and I bought their first album in 1965. "I'll feel a whole lot better" was my favorite song but I had never heard it sung live until last year at Edna's when Joe Hand sang it. I like the Tom Petty version as much as the original.

As far as Gram goes, I guess I will stick with my Youtube version of "Sin City".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqxq6xqoXI

I gotta get me a Nudie suit like those guys.

https://y.yarn.co/24e05737-a8fb-442b-9470-7d66482f6c3c_text.gif

[RPDaly]

Such a wasted talent. Gone much too soon. His song Hot Burrito #1 is an overlooked classic

[zigzag]

Gene is in heavy rotation in our house. If you missed the Tribute to "No Other" including Ian Matthews in the tribute band here's the link:

Videos


PREVIEW
50:10
The Gene Clark No Other Band at Music Hall of Williamsburg
YouTube · Pitchfork
Apr 28, 2014
8 key moments in this video
From 01:21
1. "Life's Greatest Fool"
From 06:33
2. "Silver Raven"
From 12:27
3. "No Other"
From 18:00
4. "Strength of Strings"
From 25:18
5. "From a Silver Phial"
etc....

[MandoMan]

Are their tickets to be purchased?

Sorry. I think I forgot to mention that IT’S FREE!

[MandoMan]

I would love to go to the concert, but I suspect it would be indoors and would be much too loud for our taste. We like outdoor music where we can sit farther away if it is too loud.

I have always liked the Byrds and I bought their first album in 1965. "I'll feel a whole lot better" was my favorite song but I had never heard it sung live until last year at Edna's when Joe Hand sang it. I like the Tom Petty version as much as the original.

As far as Gram goes, I guess I will stick with my Youtube version of "Sin City".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqxq6xqoXI



I gotta get me a Nudie suit like those guys.

It’s indoors, but it won’t be loud at all. The acoustic guitars won’t even be amplified. No drums. Quiet bass.

[MandoMan]

Such a wasted talent. Gone much too soon. His song Hot Burrito #1 is an overlooked classic

That song is so beautiful that it brings tears to my eyes as I play it on slide guitar. It’s an honor to be able to do that.
Here is Gram Parsons himself singing it. (However, it’s lip-synched. The bass player, Chris Ethridge, who co-wrote the song, is pretending to play drums. The great Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel. He’s in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.

https://youtu.be/0rrqBsG1yXs

[VApeople]

It’s indoors, but it won’t be loud at all. The acoustic guitars won’t even be amplified. No drums. Quiet bass.

Thanks for pointing that out.