I've been grooving lately to an advance copy of Gregg Allman's new album, Low Country Blues. Produced by T Bone Burnett, it consists of 11 classic blues and soul covers and one original, "Just Another Rider," co-written with Warren Haynes. I heard Allman perform this song live back in May at Bluesville at the Horseshoe Casino in Robinsonville, Mississippi. Check it out:
The album is currently scheduled to drop on January 18, 2011, and is highly recommended. I predict it will be another feather in T Bone's storied cap, and a triumph for Allman.
My friend Carol Caffin runs a beautiful blog dedicated to the memory of her friend, The Band's Rick Danko. Here's Rick performing a bittersweet cover of the Grateful Dead song "Ripple," from his final solo album Times Like These. He's joined on the track by fellow Band-mates Levon Helm and Garth Hudson.
To celebrate his memory, here's a few of my favorite songs/videos. The first is my preferred version of his most famous duet with his protégée Emmylou Harris, Boudleaux Bryant's "Love Hurts." It's taken from a radio interview that Gram, Emmylou, and N. D. Smart recorded for Boston's WBCN station during the 1973 Fallen Angels tour. It opens with a snippet of their conversation with host Maxine Satori, and then segues into the song. The bone-chilling beauty of their harmonies shines through the inferior sound quality of the tape. They always sang this one like they meant it.
Next up is my favorite clip from Gandulf Hennig's fine documentary film Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel. Fellow Flying Burrito Brother and Mississippi native Chris Ethridge explains the genesis behind their song "Hot Burrito #1." Film of Gram is sadly scarce; this doc contains some of the only footage of him known to exist. Yet the all-too-brief glimpse of we have of Gram singing this song sold me immediately on his charm, charisma, and ability to put a song across to his audience. And he knew it, too - notice at 1:11 how he turns to his bandmates with a huge grin on his face.
(I had the good fortune to meet Chris Ethridge at a symposium in his hometown of Meridian earlier this year. He's a very sweet man, and when he speaks of Gram it's obvious how much he still loves and misses him. Ethridge still performs around the Meridian area; I need to make it back up there and catch him live someday soon.)
Next up is another live video of Gram - again from the Fallen Angels tour, this is he, Emmylou, and company performing "Big Mouth Blues" during their four-night residency at Liberty Hall in Houston, Texas. Present at these shows was a young Steve Earle, who has said that he "left a little bit in love and absolutely certain of what I was going to be when I grew up." Neil Young and Linda Ronstadt joined the band on stage during the third night; it was the first time Ronstadt and Harris met, and another made-in-heaven vocal match was born (David N. Meyer, Twenty Thousand Roads, pp. 388, 390 - the most recent and thorough bio of Gram to date).
The video is grainy and plagued with a few pitch problems, but still worth viewing to see Gram and Emmy in action. It's from an out-of-print Sierra Records VHS called Together Again For The Last Time. Sierra is about to release an ambitious, decades-in-the-making box set, Gram Parsons: The Early Years, which will include a newly-remastered DVD of this film complete with bonus footage.
Finally, here's a fan video of my favorite Gram-penned song, "A Song For You." The photographs are of turn-of-the-20th-century Florida and Georgia, where Gram divided his childhood. It opens with a brief audio segment of Gram explaining the meaning behind the song; this is also included on The Complete Reprise Sessions.
Most fans know the role Joshua Tree plays in Gram's story, but I've been surprised to find how many aren't aware that his final resting place is actually in Metairie, Louisiana. Gram's stepfather Robert Parsons collected his remains after the infamous corpse-burning episode and flew them to New Orleans, where they were interred in a private ceremony at the Garden of Memories on Airline Drive. For many years, only a simple, circular stone marker the size of a 45 record marked his gravesite, much to the consternation of his fans. In 2005, shortly before Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, his family replaced this with an ornately carved bronze slab. The new marker remains, though oxidized by the floodwaters. You can see images of both gravestones here.
I've visited his Metairie grave three times now. As I was leaving the cemetery that first time, I felt a deep sadness over the thought that he was buried in a place he didn't want to be, and surrounded by strangers to boot. Yet as I made my way back to I-10, a casual glance at a road sign revealed a fact startling to this student of the blues: Airline Drive also happens to be the southern terminus for Highway 61. Now I can't imagine that that's the reason Robert Parsons chose this cemetery for Gram's burial. Nevertheless, in some way I found it oddly apropos - what better place for him to rest than alongside America's storied musical road?
You may bury my body down by the highway side
(Spoken: Baby, I don't care where you bury my body when I'm dead and gone)
You may bury my body, ooh, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride
- Robert Johnson, "Me and the Devil Blues"
It don't matter where you bury me I'll be home and I'll be free It don't matter where I lay All my tears be washed away
- Emmylou Harris, "All My Tears" (Julie Miller)
(Gram Parsons' grave, taken by me on October 11, 2009)
