Grievous Angel

One of the storied figures in American popular music of the 1960s was Gram Parsons. He pioneered the country rock movement. Believe it or not, he attended Harvard.

Parsons was the force behind the Byrds album “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.” He was a founder of the band “Flying Burrito Brothers.” You may have heard his songs “Sin City” and “Hickory Wind,” or heard his covers of “Streets of Baltimore” and “Love Hurts.”

Parsons is credited with launching the career of Emmylou Harris, who he discovered performing in a Washington DC bar.

Like several of his contemporaries, including Elvis who he mocked in “Return of the Grievous Angel,” Parsons couldn’t manage his substance abuse and died at 26 of an overdose. The poignant Bill Danoff/Emmylou Harris song “Boulder to Birmingham” is a memorial to Gram Parsons.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTry1yKvxZM

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