Gram Parsons’ time on earth was brief but impactful. In his 26 years, Parsons was a gifted singer-songwriter who helped pioneer psychedelic rock through his work with the Byrds and other bands, along with his solo endeavors. Parsons famously died on September 19, 1973, in Joshua Tree, California, leaving behind a lasting legacy.
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Who Was Gram Parsons?
Born Ingram Cecil Connor III in Florida, his childhood was wreaked with havoc and despair. Both of his parents were alcoholics and his father committed suicide days before Christmas when he was 12. He got the last name Parsons after his mother remarried a man named Robert Parsons. But tragedy struck the family again when the future singer’s mother, Avis, died from liver poisoning on the day of his high school graduation.
His semester at Harvard proved influential, as it marked the first time he heard Merle Haggard, which compelled him to seriously pursue music. In 1966, he formed the Boston-based folk band International Submarine Band, and two years later was recruited by Chris Hillman of the Byrds to play bass and provide background vocals for the band. Parsons was a member of the Byrds when they recorded their breakthrough 1968 album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which is credited for being among the first to blend country and rock. He and Hillman made history again after they left the Byrds to form The Flying Burrito Brothers. The band’s debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin, helped shape Parsons’ distinct sound of psychedelic rock.
“I had two great years with Gram,” Hillman told American Songwriter in 2012. “Gram was on top of his game. He was fun to work with. Gram as a songwriter had an amazingly bright and funny way of looking at things. For two years we were like brothers.”
Parsons experienced another pivotal career shift when he became a solo artist, with Emmylou Harris providing supporting vocals on his debut solo album, GP, and joining his band as a backup singer. “Gram was really together,” Harris recalled. “He was amazing on stage – an amazing presence and totally focused. We just sang and sang and sang. When we weren’t on stage we were just always working up something new. I was learning all these country songs. I was like a religious convert. I couldn’t get enough.”
[RELATED: 3 Songs You Didn’t Know Gram Parsons Wrote for Other Artists]
How Did He Die?
While he was achieving massive success and informing how country music would soon be for years to come, Parsons was battling his own demons all the while. The singer was a frequent drug user, particularly cocaine and heroin. Throughout the 1960s, Parsons traveled frequently to Joshua Tree National Park in California. One of those trips proved to be fatal when months after the release of GP in January, Parsons died in Joshua Tree in September 1973.
After consuming copious amounts of alcohol, Parsons purchased morphine from an anonymous woman who injected him with it in a room at the Joshua Tree Inn. After multiple attempts to revive him after he’d overdosed, his friends called an ambulance, and Parsons was declared dead at Yucca Valley Hospital in the early morning hours of September 19.
But what happened after his death is a story of rock and roll folklore. Parsons’ friends Phil Kaufman and Michael Martin, who were in Joshua Tree with him when he died, took it upon themselves to fulfill his death wish of being cremated and have his ashes scattered in Joshua Tree. They managed to steal his body from Los Angeles International Airport. Parsons’ body was going to be shipped to New Orleans and brought to Cap Rock where Parsons allegedly said he wanted to be buried. To cremate the body, Kaufman and Martin poured five gallons of gasoline into the coffin and lit a match. The two received a fine of $750 for stealing the coffin and abandoning Parsons’ charred remains. His body was later shipped back to Louisiana and buried at Garden of Memories Cemetery.
“My instinct says that he knew he had a lot to do in a very short time. I can’t help but think he really had some type of profound knowledge that he wasn’t going to be here for a long time,” his daughter Polly Parsons told American Songwriter. “Every single generation has an amazing legion of young people that are so dedicated to Gram.”
Photo by Jim McCrary/Redferns
