WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.580 Okay, let's unpack this. Imagine an artist, right, 00:00:03.819 --> 00:00:06.280 who never had a mainstream hit in his entire 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:10.740 life. Like zero commercial success. Zero. His 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:13.099 albums basically lived at the absolute bottom 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.179 of the charts, if they even charted at all. Right. 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:18.160 And then tragically, he dies at just 26 years 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.739 old. Right. So by standard industry metrics, 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.679 you're looking at a total failure. Exactly. Just 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:26.260 red ink all the way down the ledger. But here's 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:28.039 the wild part, and the reason we're doing this 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:30.280 deep dive for you today. Every time you hear 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:33.619 a rock band playing a twangy guitar or you throw 00:00:33.619 --> 00:00:37.259 on a modern Americana playlist, you are basically 00:00:37.259 --> 00:00:39.899 listening to his ghost. You really are. Graham 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:43.219 Parsons is he's arguably one of the most fascinating 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:45.579 contradictions in music history. He didn't just 00:00:45.579 --> 00:00:47.780 mix genres. He was like a musical alchemist. 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:49.719 Yeah, he took the really traditional working 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:51.820 class country music and instead of treating it 00:00:51.820 --> 00:00:54.659 like a joke or a novelty, he fused it with R 00:00:54.659 --> 00:00:58.000 &B, soul and like late 60s psychedelic rock. 00:00:58.140 --> 00:01:00.439 He built a whole new vocabulary. He called it 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:02.939 cosmic American music. And if you're wondering 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:05.900 why you should care about some late 60s musician 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:09.719 who couldn't sell records, well, he single handedly 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:12.780 bridged this massive cultural divide. Oh, totally. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:15.840 The gap between the hippie counterculture and 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:18.219 conservative country music was basically a canyon 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:20.500 back then. Right. And without Graham Parsons 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:23.000 building that bridge, the whole landscape of 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:25.840 country rock, alt country and Americana just 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:29.379 It simply doesn't exist. But to really get the 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:31.400 audacity of what he pulled off, we have to look 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.140 at where he started, because Ingram Cecil Conner 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:37.439 III, which was his birth name, was not your typical 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.379 starving artist. Oh, not at all. He was born 00:01:39.379 --> 00:01:42.540 into just staggering wealth in 1946. Yeah, his 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:44.840 mother's family, the Snableys, they were essentially 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:47.200 citrus fruit magnates down in Florida and Georgia. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.459 Massive sprawling properties. So on paper, this 00:01:50.459 --> 00:01:53.439 kid has the ultimate financial safety net. But 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:56.739 if you peel that back, there's this really profound, 00:01:57.180 --> 00:02:00.219 inescapable family tragedy. The emotional environment 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:02.620 he grew up in was incredibly dark. Both of his 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:04.519 parents struggled with severe depression and 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:07.260 alcoholism. And his father, who was actually 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:10.479 a decorated World War II flying ace, died by 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.719 suicide just before Christmas in 1958. Graham 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.469 was only 12. I mean, carrying that kind of trauma 00:02:16.469 --> 00:02:19.729 at 12 years old is just unfathomable. It is. 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:22.610 And then it compounds. Literally on the exact 00:02:22.610 --> 00:02:26.509 day he graduates from high school in 1965, his 00:02:26.509 --> 00:02:29.090 mother dies from alcohol -related complications. 00:02:29.449 --> 00:02:31.669 And just for context, she had remarried a man 00:02:31.669 --> 00:02:34.069 named Robert Parsons by then, which is where 00:02:34.069 --> 00:02:36.030 Graham gets the last name we all know. Right. 00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:38.169 So he has this immense psychological weight, 00:02:38.189 --> 00:02:40.430 but he's also suddenly armed with an absolute 00:02:40.430 --> 00:02:43.389 fortune. He enrolls at Harvard, but he only lasts 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:45.150 one semester. Yeah. And it wasn't because he 00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:47.750 was failing his classes. It was because his trust 00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:50.770 fund activated. Exactly. At 21, he starts getting 00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:53.550 $30 ,000 a year. Which we really need to adjust 00:02:53.550 --> 00:02:57.150 for inflation. $30 ,000 in the late 60s is roughly 00:02:57.150 --> 00:03:00.710 $290 ,000 a year today. Basically tax -free, 00:03:00.969 --> 00:03:03.430 too. Yeah. Over a quarter million dollars a year 00:03:03.430 --> 00:03:05.409 to do whatever he wants. And he wants to play 00:03:05.409 --> 00:03:09.129 music. Right. He'd seen Elvis in 56, got completely 00:03:09.129 --> 00:03:12.490 obsessed, and by 66, he forms the International 00:03:12.490 --> 00:03:14.990 Submarine Band. Which is really his first laboratory 00:03:14.990 --> 00:03:17.569 for that cosmic American sound. It is. They move 00:03:17.569 --> 00:03:19.650 out to LA, record an album called Safe at Home 00:03:19.650 --> 00:03:23.750 in late 67, but the music business is slow. Super 00:03:23.750 --> 00:03:25.969 slow. By the time it actually comes out in mid 00:03:25.969 --> 00:03:28.789 -68, the band has already broken up. So Parsons 00:03:28.789 --> 00:03:31.550 is just floating around Los Angeles, completely 00:03:31.550 --> 00:03:34.189 restless. And this is where the universe aligns, 00:03:34.229 --> 00:03:37.569 in just the most bizarre Because across town, 00:03:37.969 --> 00:03:40.669 the birds are having an absolute crisis. And 00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:43.550 the birds, I mean, they were rock royalty. Absolute 00:03:43.550 --> 00:03:46.009 royalty. They basically invented folk rock with 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:48.310 Mr. Tambourine Man. And they had that huge hit 00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:51.669 turn, turn, turn. But by early 68, they are just 00:03:51.669 --> 00:03:54.090 hemorrhaging members. David Crosby is gone. Michael 00:03:54.090 --> 00:03:56.490 Clark is gone. It's basically just Roger McGuinn 00:03:56.490 --> 00:03:59.689 and Chris Hillman left holding the bag. And they 00:03:59.689 --> 00:04:02.090 are desperate. So Hillman knew Parsons a bit 00:04:02.090 --> 00:04:05.090 and brings him in for an audition. But. And this 00:04:05.090 --> 00:04:07.810 is crucial. They were not looking for a visionary 00:04:07.810 --> 00:04:11.009 frontman. No, this detail is so funny to me. 00:04:11.229 --> 00:04:14.009 They literally just needed a jazz pianist. Right. 00:04:14.229 --> 00:04:16.730 They wanted a guy to play background keys. That's 00:04:16.730 --> 00:04:19.750 it. And they were so protective of the Byrds 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:21.709 brand that they didn't even make him a full member. 00:04:22.089 --> 00:04:24.970 Exactly. When McGween and Hillman renewed their 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:27.850 Columbia Records contract, Parsons didn't sign 00:04:27.850 --> 00:04:30.629 it. He was strictly a side van. Chris Hillman 00:04:30.629 --> 00:04:32.930 went on the record saying Graham was paid a salary 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:35.209 out of their own pockets just to legally make 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:37.689 sure he'd show up to the gigs. So to put this 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:40.110 in perspective, it's like imagine a world -class 00:04:40.110 --> 00:04:42.629 symphony hiring a guy just to play the triangle. 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:44.930 Right. And within a week, the triangle player 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:47.290 convinces the lead conductor to fire the string 00:04:47.290 --> 00:04:50.009 section and turn the whole thing into a mariachi 00:04:50.009 --> 00:04:53.069 band. That is the perfect analogy for his personality, 00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:56.170 because Roger McGuinn actually had this huge 00:04:56.170 --> 00:04:58.990 academic concept for the next Bird's album. He 00:04:58.990 --> 00:05:01.370 wanted a double album history of American popular 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:03.529 music. Yeah, starting with bluegrass, moving 00:05:03.529 --> 00:05:08.329 to country, jazz, R &B, rock, and ending with 00:05:08.329 --> 00:05:11.350 like avant -garde Moog synthesizer stuff. A total 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:14.089 magnum opus. But Parsons gets his foot in the 00:05:14.089 --> 00:05:16.480 door. He has that Southern charm. He doesn't 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.019 actually need the money because of the trust 00:05:18.019 --> 00:05:20.860 fund. And he is just obsessively evangelical 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:23.480 about traditional country music. He's constantly 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:26.040 playing George Jones and Merle Haggard for them. 00:05:26.379 --> 00:05:29.339 And McGinn notices, hey, this kid is good looking. 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:31.459 The crowd likes him. Let's push him to the front. 00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:33.860 And before McGinn even realizes what's happening, 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:37.199 the whole synthesizer history of music epic is 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:40.160 completely dead. Dead in the water. Parsons talks 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:42.720 them into leaving L .A., flying to Nashville 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.339 and recording a pure country album which becomes 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:48.220 the legendary sweetheart of the rodeo but we 00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:50.579 really need to explain the cultural reality of 00:05:50.579 --> 00:05:53.439 1968 to show why this was such an earthquake 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:55.819 oh the divide cannot be overstated the country 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.839 was tearing itself apart over Vietnam civil rights 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:01.199 everything and music mirrored that perfectly 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:05.220 you had the west coast hippies long hair anti 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:07.519 -war psychedelic drugs and then on the other 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:09.560 side of the Nashville country establishment right 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:13.180 fiercely conservative incredibly patriotic very 00:06:12.970 --> 00:06:16.509 sanitized, short hair, neat suits. They looked 00:06:16.509 --> 00:06:19.730 at rock musicians as basically un -American degenerates. 00:06:19.910 --> 00:06:22.290 It wasn't just a rivalry. They actively hated 00:06:22.290 --> 00:06:25.189 each other. Like Merle Haggard's Oakey from the 00:06:25.189 --> 00:06:27.350 Skogi was literally written to mock hippies. 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:31.769 So for the birds, this famous long -haired psychedelic 00:06:31.769 --> 00:06:34.829 band to march into Columbia Records in Nashville 00:06:34.829 --> 00:06:37.709 and demand to play pedal steel country music. 00:06:37.850 --> 00:06:40.829 It was seen as an absolute invasion. The rock 00:06:40.829 --> 00:06:43.129 fans thought the birds sold out to the conservative 00:06:43.129 --> 00:06:45.269 establishment and the Nashville guys thought 00:06:45.269 --> 00:06:47.750 these kids were there to make fun of their sacred 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:50.310 music. But they start recording in March 68. 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:53.579 And Parsis doesn't just play covers. He brings 00:06:53.579 --> 00:06:56.560 in absolute master classes of songwriting, like 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.560 Hickory Wynn. Oh, Hickory Wynn is brilliant! 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:00.959 It's this pure expression of homesickness. It 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.019 doesn't sound like a rock guy faking it. It sounds 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:05.199 like an Appalachian standard that's existed for 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.920 a century. He also brings 100 years from now 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.319 and gets them to cover the Leuven brothers and 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:13.379 Merle Haggard. But almost immediately, the sessions 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:16.699 hit this wall of legal chaos. Right, the old 00:07:16.699 --> 00:07:20.300 international submarine ban contract. Lee Hazelwood 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:22.519 owned the label they were on and he catches wind 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:24.660 of the Nashville sessions. He threatens to sue 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:27.100 Columbia Records and shut the whole sweetheart 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:29.120 of the rodeo project down. Because of course 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.860 the music business is run by lawyers. Always. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.839 So Roger McGuinn makes this brutal decision to 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.810 avoid the lawsuit. He goes into the master tapes 00:07:38.810 --> 00:07:42.709 and literally erases Graham Parsons lead vocals 00:07:42.709 --> 00:07:45.329 from three tracks. And just sings over them himself. 00:07:45.430 --> 00:07:47.769 That is so cold. You're taking this authentic 00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:50.649 southern voice and replacing it with a folk pop 00:07:50.649 --> 00:07:53.550 singer? Parsons was furious. I mean years later 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:56.410 in a 73 interview with Cameron Crowe, he was 00:07:56.410 --> 00:07:59.230 still mad about it. He said McGuinn totally ruined 00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:01.850 the songs. He did manage to keep his vocals on 00:08:01.850 --> 00:08:04.449 a couple tracks like Hickory Wind, but the trust 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:06.620 was just completely gone. And that fr - Friction 00:08:06.620 --> 00:08:09.600 is spilled over into the tour. Late summer, 68, 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:12.259 the birds are in England getting ready to tour 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:14.560 South Africa. And Parsons just refuses to go. 00:08:14.670 --> 00:08:17.410 specifically because of South Africa's apartheid 00:08:17.410 --> 00:08:21.430 regime, which, you know, in 1968, the anti -apartheid 00:08:21.430 --> 00:08:23.410 movement wasn't the universal celebrity cause 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:25.790 it became in the 80s. Right. For a 21 -year -old 00:08:25.790 --> 00:08:28.250 to walk away from a massive international tour 00:08:28.250 --> 00:08:32.169 on purely moral grounds, that's huge. Well, the 00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:34.490 $30 ,000 trust fund definitely makes it easier 00:08:34.490 --> 00:08:37.889 to have morals. Good point. You can afford a 00:08:37.889 --> 00:08:40.860 conscience when rent is covered. But while he's 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.139 hanging out in London after quitting, he makes 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:45.500 a connection that totally changes rock history. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:49.139 He meets Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. He basically 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:51.600 moves into Keith Richards' house in West Sussex. 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:55.139 And they form this incredibly tight bond. Parsons 00:08:55.139 --> 00:08:57.740 becomes Keith's musical mentor for American roots 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:00.179 music. Literally sitting at the piano teaching 00:09:00.179 --> 00:09:02.740 Keith the mechanics of country phrasing and chord 00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:05.159 progressions. Which is wild. But I want to pause 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:06.919 on sweetheart of the rodeo for a second because 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.620 there's a big what if here. Oh, definitely. Like, 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:11.779 what if the Hazelwood lawsuit never happened? 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:14.519 What if Parsons sang lead on everything and never 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:16.639 quit over South Africa? Would the album have 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.100 been a massive smash hit? Or, and this is the 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:22.509 flip side. Was it only a classic because of the 00:09:22.509 --> 00:09:27.129 tension? Maybe McGuinn's poff sensibilities kept 00:09:27.129 --> 00:09:29.289 it from being too alienating for the Rock fans. 00:09:29.409 --> 00:09:32.029 That's entirely possible. Pure artistic visions 00:09:32.029 --> 00:09:34.570 don't always sell. But quitting the birds didn't 00:09:34.570 --> 00:09:36.970 slow Parsons down at all. It just freed him up. 00:09:37.090 --> 00:09:39.629 Yeah. He flies back to LA, tracks down Chris 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:42.110 Hillman, who had also just quit the birds, and 00:09:42.110 --> 00:09:44.389 they form the Flying Burrito Brothers. They pull 00:09:44.389 --> 00:09:46.870 in this amazing bassist, Chris Etheridge and 00:09:46.870 --> 00:09:49.730 Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel. And in 69... 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.299 they drop the Gilded Palace of Sin. Which is 00:09:53.299 --> 00:09:55.539 basically the Rosetta Stone of Cosmic American 00:09:55.539 --> 00:09:58.039 music. They were leaning heavily into the Bakersfield 00:09:58.039 --> 00:09:59.840 sound. Let's actually break that down because 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:01.419 the difference between Nashville and Bakersfield 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:04.100 is huge. It's totally different. Nashville in 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:06.379 the late 60s was all about smooth production. 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:09.299 Chet Atkins, string sections, background choirs, 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:11.539 they wanted country to sound like pop. But the 00:10:11.539 --> 00:10:14.059 Bakersfield sound from guys like Buck Owens out 00:10:14.059 --> 00:10:16.870 in California was the exact opposite. It was 00:10:16.870 --> 00:10:20.230 born in loud working class bars. They used fender 00:10:20.230 --> 00:10:22.730 telecasters to cut through the noise of a bar 00:10:22.730 --> 00:10:26.240 fight. It was sharp. Twainy aggressive. Their 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.679 burritos took that aggressive Bakersfield template 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:31.879 and filtered it through Southern soul. Yes, because 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.419 Chris Etheridge loved gospel and R &B. You hear 00:10:35.419 --> 00:10:38.620 it on tracks like Hot Burrito Number One. The 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:40.700 bass line isn't just country timekeeping. It's 00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:43.539 practically weeping. They completely understood 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:46.879 that a country ballad and a deep soul song are 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:49.340 emotionally identical. They're both about heartbreak 00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:51.600 and desperation. Exactly. Which is why they put 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.789 two massive soul covers on the album. James Carr's 00:10:54.789 --> 00:10:57.149 The Dark End of the Street, the ultimate cheating 00:10:57.149 --> 00:10:59.970 song. And Aretha Franklin's Do Right Woman, Do 00:10:59.970 --> 00:11:02.809 Right Man, which they executed beautifully. Country 00:11:02.809 --> 00:11:05.769 instruments, Memphis soul, and then David Crosby 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:08.509 comes in to sing these high rock star harmonies 00:11:08.509 --> 00:11:11.110 over it. It's fusion at its finest. And we have 00:11:11.110 --> 00:11:13.289 to talk about what Sneaky Pete was doing on the 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:15.350 pedal steel, because it was basically musical 00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:18.860 heresy. Oh, the fuzzbox. Yeah. The pedal steel 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:21.559 is supposed to be this mournful, sad country 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:24.659 instrument. Sneaky Pete ran it through a distortion 00:11:24.659 --> 00:11:26.879 pedal like Jimi Hendrix would use. It sounded 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.799 like a spaceship. It really did. But the burritos 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:32.600 weren't just a sonic paradox. They were a visual 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.440 one. We have to talk about the nudie suits. The 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:38.320 visual aesthetic was brilliant. So Nudie Cohn 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.740 was this famous Hollywood tailor who made those 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:43.740 highly elaborate rhinestone covered suits. The 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:47.480 ones Porter Waggoner and George Jones wore, usually 00:11:47.480 --> 00:11:50.700 embroidered with like wagon wheels and cacti. 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:53.759 Right, very wholesome rural themes. But Parsons 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.820 goes in and orders a custom suit covered in counterculture 00:11:56.820 --> 00:11:59.360 symbols. Massive marijuana leaves on the lapels. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.100 Sleeves covered in embroidered twinell and secondal 00:12:02.100 --> 00:12:05.070 pills heavy barbiturates. Naked women on the 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:06.870 back. It was such a provocative statement. He 00:12:06.870 --> 00:12:09.769 was basically saying we claim this country lineage, 00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:12.769 but we're updating it for our generation He was 00:12:12.769 --> 00:12:15.070 trying to show that the conservative truck driver 00:12:15.070 --> 00:12:18.049 and the LA hippie actually had the exact same 00:12:18.049 --> 00:12:20.230 working -class blues They just use different 00:12:20.230 --> 00:12:23.669 drugs to cope. It's a beautiful theory, but and 00:12:23.669 --> 00:12:26.590 my sources are very clear on this in the real 00:12:26.590 --> 00:12:30.100 world the band was a spectacular commercial failure. 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:32.679 Just a total flop. They were touring on trains 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.220 because Parsons was terrified of flying, playing 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:37.740 to completely empty rooms, losing their money 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:40.879 playing poker, and the album sold basically nothing. 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:43.500 Yeah, because when you try to unite two warring 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:45.440 factions, you usually just end up making both 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:47.500 of them mad. Right, the traditional country fans 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:50.179 saw the weed suits and the long hair and felt 00:12:50.350 --> 00:12:53.190 deeply insulted. And the rock fans were listening 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:56.309 to Led Zeppelin and Cream. They wanted heavy 00:12:56.309 --> 00:12:58.629 drum solos. They saw a pedal steel and thought 00:12:58.629 --> 00:13:01.549 it was old people's music. Plus Parsons was becoming 00:13:01.549 --> 00:13:04.049 a huge liability. The Trust Fund catches up with 00:13:04.049 --> 00:13:06.669 him. He's doing massive amounts of cocaine, alcohol, 00:13:06.769 --> 00:13:09.450 and mushrooms. The live shows get super sloppy. 00:13:09.690 --> 00:13:11.929 They actually had to fire their original drummer, 00:13:12.110 --> 00:13:14.710 Eddie Howe, after just two songs because his 00:13:14.710 --> 00:13:16.629 substance abuse was so bad he couldn't keep time. 00:13:16.750 --> 00:13:19.769 Their manager even tried to stage a musical intervention 00:13:19.769 --> 00:13:22.450 and forced them to record standard honky tonk 00:13:22.450 --> 00:13:24.850 covers just to pay back the label. But that failed. 00:13:25.309 --> 00:13:28.250 They rushed out Burrito Deluxe in early 1970, 00:13:28.889 --> 00:13:31.250 but Parsons was completely checked out. He was 00:13:31.250 --> 00:13:33.470 too busy hanging out with the Stones, though 00:13:33.470 --> 00:13:35.789 they did get wild horses out of it, which they 00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:38.610 released before the Stones even did. But overall, 00:13:38.850 --> 00:13:42.049 the album was a dud. Parsons was disillusioned, 00:13:42.049 --> 00:13:43.850 and he just walked away from the band. Which 00:13:43.850 --> 00:13:46.769 kicks off his lost years. He moves in with producer 00:13:46.769 --> 00:13:48.909 Terry Melcher, but they mostly just ride motorcycles 00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:51.649 and do heroin. The master tapes from those sessions 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:54.230 literally vanished. Yeah. Nobody knows where 00:13:54.230 --> 00:13:57.409 they are. He's just adrift. In 71, he marries 00:13:57.409 --> 00:14:00.110 Gretchen Berle. They go to the UK, and he basically 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:02.730 becomes a Rolling Stones groupie. He ends up 00:14:02.730 --> 00:14:06.029 at Nelcote in France during the exile on Maine 00:14:06.029 --> 00:14:08.090 Saint sessions. Which was famously one of the 00:14:08.090 --> 00:14:11.139 most debauched drug -fueled recording sessions 00:14:11.139 --> 00:14:13.419 ever. And he still manages to get kicked out. 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.399 Right. If you are too chaotic for the exile on 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.779 Maine's St. Basement, you are really in a bad 00:14:18.779 --> 00:14:20.960 place. He wasn't even contributing to the album, 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:23.299 just sitting around playing old country songs 00:14:23.299 --> 00:14:25.779 while Gretchen fought with the other women until 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:28.279 Anita Pallenberg finally kicked them out. So 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:30.480 he comes back to the U .S., tries to hang with 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:34.000 the Stones on their 72 tour, gets ignored. He's 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.799 basically washed up at 25. Until a random burritos 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:39.379 reunion gig in Washington DC, where he hears 00:14:39.379 --> 00:14:41.899 a local folk singer named Emmalou Harris. And 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:44.159 that changes everything. He instantly realizes 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.259 her crystalline soprano is exactly what his cosmic 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:50.639 American music needs. He flies her to LA. And, 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.279 incredibly, Mo Austin at Reprise Records takes 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.159 a gamble and gives Graham a solo deal with an 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:58.799 open checkbook. Mo Austin let him hire the TCB 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.179 band. Which was Elvis Presley's actual backing 00:15:01.179 --> 00:15:04.309 band. Taking care of business. James Burton on 00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:07.350 guitar, Ronnie Tutt on drums. These weren't scruffy 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:10.070 hippies. These were elite, disciplined studio 00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:12.169 assassins. And the vocal chemistry with Emmylou 00:15:12.169 --> 00:15:14.289 was just magic. She wasn't just a backup singer. 00:15:14.330 --> 00:15:17.110 She was a full duet partner. Yeah, he had this 00:15:17.110 --> 00:15:19.490 fragile, breaking baritone, and she had this 00:15:19.490 --> 00:15:22.370 pure, controlled soprano. Together, they sounded 00:15:22.370 --> 00:15:24.690 like a single, shimmering voice. They put out 00:15:24.690 --> 00:15:29.049 GP in 1973. Critics loved it, but the public, 00:15:29.389 --> 00:15:31.649 crickets, didn't even touch the Billboard 200. 00:15:31.769 --> 00:15:34.870 So Reprise forces him to tour. He throws together 00:15:34.870 --> 00:15:37.929 the Fallen Angels band. And it was a powder keg. 00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:40.330 Gretchen came along and was insanely jealous 00:15:40.330 --> 00:15:42.629 of his connection with Emmelo. To manage the 00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:46.129 chaos, the label hired a road manager named Phil 00:15:46.129 --> 00:15:48.929 Kaufman. Oh, we have to talk about Phil Kaufman. 00:15:49.250 --> 00:15:51.429 This guy had just spent time in federal prison 00:15:51.429 --> 00:15:54.570 at Terminal Island, and his cellmate was Charles 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:58.129 Manson. He was strictly hired to be an enforcer. 00:15:58.389 --> 00:16:01.029 Keep Graham away from heroin and limit his drinking. 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:04.200 And it actually worked. The tour started messy, 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:07.080 but playing every night tightened them up. They 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:09.919 hit places like Max's Kansas City and the Armadillo 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:12.500 World headquarters. The momentum was real. And 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:15.240 in late summer 73, they go back into the studio 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.179 to record his second solo album, Grievous Angel. 00:16:18.539 --> 00:16:20.879 Now my sources are super clear on this. People 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.289 romanticize the etiquette artist. But Graham 00:16:23.289 --> 00:16:25.850 actually adopted a really diligent professional 00:16:25.850 --> 00:16:28.110 mindset for these sessions. He really did. He 00:16:28.110 --> 00:16:30.970 cut way back on the opiates and alcohol. Grievous 00:16:30.970 --> 00:16:33.070 Angel is universally considered his masterpiece. 00:16:33.210 --> 00:16:34.970 So he was actually maturing into his talent. 00:16:35.490 --> 00:16:38.090 Absolutely. The tragedy is that he died right 00:16:38.090 --> 00:16:41.250 as he figured out how to live. His interpretive 00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:44.029 skills were at their peak. The production was 00:16:44.029 --> 00:16:46.929 flawless. He was finally on the verge of real 00:16:46.929 --> 00:16:49.809 success. But then his personal life implodes. 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:53.220 His house in Topanga Canyon burns to the ground. 00:16:53.659 --> 00:16:56.379 He loses everything except a guitar and his jaguar. 00:16:56.759 --> 00:16:59.519 And it's the final blow to his marriage. He and 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.120 Gretchen split, and he ends up sleeping on a 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.940 cot at Phil Kaufman's house. Under immense stress. 00:17:04.980 --> 00:17:07.619 Yeah. So in September 73, right before the new 00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:09.539 tour, he goes to the desert to clear his head. 00:17:09.819 --> 00:17:12.599 To Joshua Tree National Monument. He loved it 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:15.380 out there, hunting for UFOs, taking psychedelics. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:17.890 It was his sanctuary. He goes with Margaret Fisher, 00:17:18.130 --> 00:17:20.369 an old high school sweetheart, his assistant 00:17:20.369 --> 00:17:22.369 Michael Martin, and Martin's girlfriend, Dale. 00:17:22.630 --> 00:17:25.789 But it goes bad immediately. On September 18th, 00:17:25.890 --> 00:17:28.190 Michael drives back to LA for marijuana, leaving 00:17:28.190 --> 00:17:30.509 Graham at the Joshua Tree Inn with Margaret and 00:17:30.509 --> 00:17:32.609 Dale. And Graham just starts aggressively drinking. 00:17:32.730 --> 00:17:35.109 He downed six double shots of tequila. Which 00:17:35.109 --> 00:17:37.369 is insane because his liver was already compromised 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:39.450 and he had a ton of barbiturates in his system. 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:42.500 Central nervous system depressants, plus massive 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:45.000 amounts of alcohol. Then he runs into an unknown 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.019 woman at the motel, buys liquid morphine from 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:50.900 her, goes back to room number one, and takes 00:17:50.900 --> 00:17:53.720 it. The combination completely overwhelms his 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.880 body, and he overdoses. Margaret finds him unresponsive. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.480 They try everything. An ice cube suppository, 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:01.839 throwing him in a freezing shower. They move 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.700 him to room number eight. And then Margaret inexplicably 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:07.259 runs out to buy coffee to wake him up, leaving 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:10.400 a sick Dale alone with him. His breathing stops. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.319 Dale tries CPR, but it's too late. He's declared 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:18.180 dead at Yucca Valley Hospital at 1215 a .m. on 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:21.660 September 19th. Drug toxicity. He was only 26. 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:25.339 Just weeks shy of 27. But what happens next is 00:18:25.339 --> 00:18:27.519 what turns him into this immortal rock outlaw. 00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:30.619 The story gets completely unhinged. His stepfather, 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:33.259 Robert, demands the body be flown to New Orleans 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:36.029 for a closed casket funeral. But back in July, 00:18:36.230 --> 00:18:37.950 Graham had been at the funeral for Clarence White 00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:40.650 of the Birds, and he hated the traditional Catholic 00:18:40.650 --> 00:18:43.509 service. He actually made Phil Kaufman swear 00:18:43.509 --> 00:18:46.829 a pact. Don't let them put me in the ground. 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:49.910 Cremate me at Joshua Tree and spread my ashes 00:18:49.910 --> 00:18:53.089 over Cap Rock. So Kaufman decides to honor that 00:18:53.089 --> 00:18:56.410 final wish. He and Michael Martin literally steal 00:18:56.410 --> 00:18:59.630 a beaten up hearse, drive to LAX, and bluff their 00:18:59.630 --> 00:19:02.450 way onto the cargo loading dock. Posing as funeral 00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:05.250 directors in grubby clothes. They sign forged 00:19:05.250 --> 00:19:08.049 papers, steal the coffin right before it goes 00:19:08.049 --> 00:19:10.529 on the plane to New Orleans, and drive out to 00:19:10.529 --> 00:19:13.109 the Mojave Desert. They get to Cab Rock, drag 00:19:13.109 --> 00:19:15.630 the coffin out, pour five gallons of gasoline 00:19:15.630 --> 00:19:18.460 on it. and light a match. Creating this massive 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:21.059 fireball in the desert. Which, by the way, an 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:22.880 open fire doesn't get hot enough to actually 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.319 cremate a body, so it just charred the remains. 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:27.599 Park rangers chased them off, but when they finally 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:30.700 got arrested, the judge found a crazy loophole. 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:33.319 Stealing a dead body wasn't a felony in California 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:36.339 in 1973. The law didn't anticipate it. So they 00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:38.920 were only fined $750 for stealing the physical 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:41.579 wooden coffin. Robert Parsons eventually recovered 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:43.880 the remains and buried them in Louisiana anyway, 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:47.319 but that legend completely overshadowed Graham's 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:49.779 music for decades. But I'd push back and say 00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:52.559 the musicians never forgot. Emma Lou Harris was 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.539 devastated, but she became his biggest champion. 00:19:55.819 --> 00:19:58.519 She definitely carried the torch. She hired the 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:02.279 TCB band, covered his songs and wrote Bolder 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.819 to Birmingham entirely about her grief over losing 00:20:05.819 --> 00:20:09.099 him. She forced mainstream country to accept 00:20:09.099 --> 00:20:12.079 that sound. And the broader industry, too. Keith 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.579 Richards said Graham's recorded output was tiny, 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:17.319 but his effect on country music was enormous. 00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:19.900 Look at the Eagles. Bernie Leden from the Burritos 00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:22.460 was an early member. The Eagles took Graham's 00:20:22.460 --> 00:20:25.259 blueprint harmonies, acoustic guitars, rock rhythms, 00:20:25.619 --> 00:20:28.000 smoothed it out, and sold millions. They even 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.779 wrote, My Man, as a tribute to him. And First 00:20:30.779 --> 00:20:33.380 Aid Kit had that massive hit, Emmaloo, in 2012, 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:35.720 explicitly honoring their vocal partnership. 00:20:35.849 --> 00:20:38.309 The whole Americana genre today is basically 00:20:38.309 --> 00:20:41.369 cosmic American music. Yet, despite all this, 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:43.670 he is still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of 00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:46.170 Fame or the Country Music Hall of Fame. Because 00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:48.970 institutions demand clean lines and Graham existed 00:20:48.970 --> 00:20:51.730 between the categories. Country voters see the 00:20:51.730 --> 00:20:54.750 weed suit and say he's not country. Rock voters 00:20:54.750 --> 00:20:57.630 see the pedal steel and say he's not rock. Even 00:20:57.630 --> 00:20:59.890 though modern charts are full of artists blending 00:20:59.890 --> 00:21:01.670 the two, they just don't know what to do with 00:21:01.670 --> 00:21:04.029 the original hybrid. It's wonderfully poetic, 00:21:04.190 --> 00:21:07.589 really. He refused to conform in life, and his 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:10.309 legacy defies their rules and death. So to wrap 00:21:10.309 --> 00:21:12.490 this up, Graham Parsons failed commercially because 00:21:12.490 --> 00:21:15.250 he tried to sell a hybrid sound to two audiences 00:21:15.250 --> 00:21:17.730 that hated each other. He was a man totally out 00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:19.869 of time. So think about your favorite playlist 00:21:19.869 --> 00:21:23.529 today. How many artists seamlessly cross genres? 00:21:24.190 --> 00:21:26.450 The next time you hear a heavy rock guitar in 00:21:26.450 --> 00:21:29.750 a country song or a soulful vocal over a pedal 00:21:29.750 --> 00:21:33.230 steel, ask yourself, Are we all just living in 00:21:33.230 --> 00:21:35.710 the cosmic American world that Graham Parsons 00:21:35.710 --> 00:21:38.130 envisioned, but never lived to see? It really 00:21:38.130 --> 00:21:40.930 makes you rethink what it means to be a success. 00:21:41.589 --> 00:21:43.450 Because sometimes the people who leave the deepest 00:21:43.450 --> 00:21:45.990 marks aren't the ones selling millions of records. 00:21:46.569 --> 00:21:48.210 They're just the ones brave enough to show us 00:21:48.210 --> 00:21:50.849 the boundaries were an illusion all along. Thanks 00:21:50.849 --> 00:21:52.250 for taking this deep dive with us.