I discoverd Gram Parsons in the fall of 2007 when I read this paragraph by Chuck Klosterman in Esquire Magazine:
It's not uncommon for pop historians to harbor strong feelings about the life of Gram Parsons. There are those who see him chiefly as a genius who introduced Keith Richards to country music, eventually prompting the creation of Exile on Main St.; others perceive him as a born-rich dilettante who fetishized blue-collar America and simply wanted to get high with the Rolling Stones. Still others see him as little more than a great, confused singer-songwriter who couldn’t stop drinking. As a rule, Parsons is more famous for dying than for living. But if you want to understand Gram Parsons the way he probably wanted people to remember him, get your paws on the two-disc Gram Parsons Archives Vol. 1. This twenty-seven-track live collection of the Flying Burrito Brothers music (recorded before a 1969 Grateful Dead show in San Francisco) is perhaps the purest illustration of how forgotten country standards informed (and essentially gave rise to) the California rock movement of the 1970s. If these records don’t make you want to grow sideburns and buy a cowboy shirt, nothing will. Parsons may not have been entirely authentic, but his voice sure fucking was.
Now, before I had read this passage, I didn't know Gram Parsons from a graham cracker, but the combination of Klosterman, the Stones, sideburns and cowboy hats intrigued me enough to check him out. After five minutes, I was hooked. But as you're going to see, it wasn't just the music.
Sitting here almost four years later, I'm not sure which is more compelling: GP's music or his life story. Gram's music is full of tales of lonesome souls, cowboy angels and smoky bars, all set atop twangy six-strings, romping pianos and weeping steel guitars, and his life story is as fascinating, heartbreaking and, in the end, bizarre as any in the history of rock and roll. Consider that Gram was just 26 when he died, and in that short time he grew up trust fund-rich, lost his father to suicide at 12 years old and his mother to alcoholism at 18, attended Harvard University, hijacked The Byrds from Roger McGuinn, was Keith Richards' best friend, heroin buddy and country music mentor, brought forth to the world the sweet voice of Emmylou Harris, and all but invented the genre we now call "alt-country." Yet, many believe that the most fascinating thing about Gram Parsons wasn't his life, but his death. So we're going to start this "biography" at the end...
The Bizarre Death of Gram Parsons
In 1973, Gram was trying to get his act together, but his personal life was a tragic mess. His marriage was in a shambles, his drinking and drug abuse were out of control, several of his closest friends and bandmates had recently passed away and he had become increasingly close to his crazy road manager Phil Kaufman. Professionally though, he was hitting his stride. His second solo album, Grievous Angel, was recoded that June and, though not yet released, was by all accounts a stellar follow-up to his first solo record GP. Gram lived in L.A.and visited the Joshua Tree National Monument often -- by himself, with bandmates, with his buddy Keith Richards, and with friends -- mainly to get high and commune with the desert. In Sept 1973, he needed a getaway and reserved two rooms at the nearby Joshua Tree Inn, a small motel whose owners knew Parsons after all of his visits.
Along with Parsons on this trip were his friend Michael Martin, Martin's girlfriend, and an old girlfriend from Gram's high school days in Florida (Gram was separated from his wife Gretchen at the time). The first two days were a blur of weed and Jack Daniels, which was just an appetizer for the heroin and morphine that followed. By the second evening, Gram had overdosed. His friends found him in room 1 of the Inn, passed out on the floor, his skin blue. They revived him with an ice cube suppository, and it seemed that he had recovered. But a few hours later, in Room 8, Gram stopped breathing. After about a half hour of futile CPR, his friends called an ambulance and he was taken to Hi-Desert Memorial Hospital in Yucca Valley. Doctors there found no pulse and were unable to restart his heart. He was declared dead at 12:30 AM, Wednesday, September 19, 1973. (The coroner listed the cause of death as "drug toxicity, days, due to multiple drug use, weeks." Blood tests showed a blood alcohol level of 0.21% and urine and liver tests revealed traces of morphine, cocaine and barbiturates).
Gram's friends were questioned by the police at the hospital. They called Phil Kaufman in L.A., and he persuaded the sheriff that he could answer all their questions and would be there right away. The sheriff let Gram's friends return to the motel, where they quickly gathered up all of Gram's drugs. When Kaufman got there, the women gave him the drugs and he hid them in the desert. Kaufman then called the sheriff and promised that he and Gram's friends would meet him at the police station for questioning. But instead, Kaufman drove them straight back to LA, where he hid them out.
When the news of his Gram's death reached his scheming and philandering step-father Bob Parsons back in Louisiana, he immediately sought to bring the body back to New Orleans because it would help bolster his claim to Gram's sizable estate (Gram was an heir to a family fortune built on Florida orange juice). Bob Parsons quickly booked a flight to LA to claim the body. Phil Kaufman was upset to learn of the plan to bury Gram in Louisiana. He knew that Gram had no connection to that city or his step-father. Kaufman also knew that Gram didn't want a long, depressing and religious funeral service. In fact, at the recent funeral of close friend Clarence White, the drunken Parsons and Kaufman had (allegedly) made a pact that whoever died first, "the survivor would take the other guy's body out to Joshua Tree, have a few drinks and burn it." So, after getting drunk and avoiding the Sheriff, Kaufman decided to make good on his pact with Gram.
Phil Kaufman (with Gram and Emmylou Harris)
Kaufman called the funeral parlor in Joshua Tree and learned that Gram's body was headed to LAX for a flight to New Orleans. He then called the airline and learned that Gram's body would be arriving at the airport that evening. Kaufman recruited Michael Martin (one of the friends who had been with Gram when he died), who knew about the pact, and they commandeered a hearse that Martin apparently had used for camping trips. It had no license plates and several broken windows. The pair loaded up the hearse with beer and Jack Daniels and headed to LAX - wearing jeans, cowboy boots and hats, and jackets with "Sin City" stitched on the back.
Kaufman and Martin arrived at the airport loading dock just as a flatbed rolled up with the coffin, and a drunken Kaufman somehow persuaded an airline employee that the Parsons family had changed its plans and wanted to ship the body privately on a chartered flight. While Kaufman was in the hangar office signing the paperwork with a phony name, a policeman pulled up and blocked the hangar door. Kaufman walked out to him, waved his copies of the paperwork, and said, "Hey, can you move that car?" The officer apologized, moved the car, and then helped Kaufman load the casket into the unlicensed liquor-filled hearse. In full view of the cop, the drunken Martin then drove the hearse into a wall on his way out of the hangar, and then he and Kaufman hauled Gram's body back to Joshua Tree, stopping only to fill a 5-gallon gas can along the way. Once they arrived at Joshua Tree, the pair unloaded Gram's coffin near the Cap Rock, where Kaufman doused his friend with the fuel and lit him up. They watched, shitfaced, as a giant fireball arose from the coffin into the desert night sky. They left Gram's (partially) charred remains and quickly headed back to L.A.
Cap Rock, the spot at Joshua Tree where Gram's body was lit afire
By the next day, the story of Gram's corpse being stolen and burned in the desert was all over the newspapers. Eventually Kaufman and Martin turned themselves in to the police. They appeared in West L.A. Municipal Court but since there was no law on the books for stealing a corpse, they simply pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft for stealing the coffin and were each fined about $700. Later, Kaufman threw a party to raise the fine money -- "Kaufman's Koffin Kaper Koncert." He pasted homemade labels on beer bottles with a picture of Gram and a label that said "Gram Pilsner: A stiff drink for what ales you." Dr. Demento served as party deejay, and live music was provided by Bobby Pickett and the Crypt Kickers (of "Monster Mash" fame). By all accounts the party was a successful wake for Gram.
Next up: Gram's early years and The Flying Burrito Brothers.
when Keith Richards played it at the Gram Parsons tribute concert a few years back. My knowledge of Gram has since surpassed just reading when I luckily bumped in to a few people who knew Gram in the early 60's. They do make claims that Gram was a musical genious and was slighted because of his addictions and the fact that he didn't have any real big hits! Pamela Des BARRES loved him, but then again she loved everyone(literally). The thing that I found fascinating was that he grew up near my hometown and spent his early life all over Florida and South Georgia before making his career in California. The Burrito Brothers were at Altamonte for crying out loud at the infamous Gimme Shelter movie concert. He was yelling at the Hells Angels for their rough handling of the crowd.Alot of people also know that the Eagles tribute to Gram on the song "My Man" was one of great respect for him! Many people don't care, but Joan Baez sang one of his songs at Woodstock, Hickory WIND, and another that the Burrito Brothers recorded called Drug Store Truck Driving Man, something that DBT should consider as live cover!! 
