When it comes to musical preferences I will, often times, let an entire genre alone for various periods of time. That is not to say I don’t listen to songs of a certain genre. It’s just I don’t pay close attention to the body of work as a whole or give a lot of thought to it for awhile. A case in point is country rock.
It may have seen to some folks at certain points in time that country rock was an oxymoron. But it really wasn’t if you go back and look at the heyday of rockabilly which was stuffed with the likes of Elvis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.
But country rock as we know it today probably owes much of its popularity to Gram Parsons, the enigmatic performer whose work included stints with The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Parsons died Sept. 19, 1973, at age 26, of a drug overdose. Yet his legendary status in the music scene — among which was being Emmylou Harris’ mentor and influencing the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards — was overshadowed by the near mythic story of what happened to Parsons after his death. I refer to the theft of his body by friends who took Parsons to Joshua Tree, Calif., and cremated him. His friends stole the body at Los Angeles International Airport as it was being readied for shipment to Louisiana for burial. His friends insisted that Gram wanted Joshua Tree as his final place of rest.
Flipping channels on the “jumbotron” the other day, I came across the musical tribute to Parsons in “Return to Sin City” on INHD. Lo and behold there was Jay Farrar of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo fame singing a soulful version of the biting anti-war “Drug Store Truck Driving Man,” written by Parsons and The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn:
“Well, he don’t like the young folks I know
He told me one night on his radio show
He’s got him a medal he won in the War
It weighs five-hundred pounds and it sleeps on his floor …
“He’s a drug store truck drivin’ man
He’s the head of the Ku Klux Klan
When summer rolls around
He’ll be lucky if he’s not in town.”
Listening to old Gram Parsons tunes got me in touch with my inner Byrds, such as the light but cosmic McGuinn piece “Mr. Spaceman:”
“Woke up this morning with light in my eyes
And then realized it was still dark outside
It was a light coming down from the sky
I don’t know who or why
Must be those strangers that come every night
Those saucer shaped lights put people uptight
Leave blue green footprints that glow in the dark
I hope they get home all right …
“Woke up this morning, I was feeling quite weird
Had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared
Over my window, they’d written my name
Said, so long, we’ll see you again
Hey, Mr. Spaceman
Won’t you please take me along
I won’t do anything wrong
Hey, Mr. Spaceman
Won’t you please take me along for a ride.”
From there on came Emmylou, the Eagles, Rodney Crowell, Cracker, Lucinda Williams and who knows who all in the genre of country rock. It’s sometimes nice to think of how we got from Point A to Point B, especially when something worthwhile is waiting at the terminus.