Country Rock

I've been listening to more Country Rock lately, and when you think about it, it's actually quite a small genre of music. Defined mostly in the late 60's through the 70's. To me Gram Parsons will always be the icon for Country Rock. I remember hearing Gram once say in an interview that he did not like the term Country Rock, he said "I dream of Soul, Country, of Cosmic... what I call Cosmic American Music" to describe the style of music he was playing. So what started out as being curious about a musician I had never heard of, and taking the recommendation of someone I barely knew, has turned into an obsession.

It all started at Club Spaceland about six years ago, I went to see Arabella Harrison, and when buying her CD at the merch booth, I heard her talking about Gram Parsons. She talked about all the amazing music he made before dying at such a young age. That next week I went down to Fingerprints at purchased "Sacred Hearts & Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology". Every word spoke to me, and the music, even without the words made a personal connection, I wanted twang in everything, I wanted more pedal steel!

Somehow I lost that CD and I thought about re-buying it, but I decided to just go back and start buying his actual albums. I started with "Live in 1973" and "Sleepless Nights". About a year later I got "GP" and The International Submarine band. Slowly finding more of his records as I would shop picking up "Gilded Palace of Sin", and the the Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". I went to see Chris Hillman, who co-founded the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram. I went to Gram Parsons tribute shows at SXSW, Pappy and Harriet's, and Amoeba (Where Chris Etheridge, another original Burrito Brother, performed live). I saw James Burton, who was an original studio musician for Gram, perform with Jim Lauderdale, trying to find any connection I could.

It took a good four years of being a Gram-only fan, to finally looking for other bands. I picked up a copy of Poco's first record "Pickin' up the Pieces". I then went to a Poco reunion show, with Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Timothy B Schmit. I saw Pure Prairie League, The Eagles, John Forgety and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In the last couple months I started buying more Country Rock records, I've picked up "American Beauty" by The Grateful Dead, Manassas, and New Riders of the Purple Sage.

The genre is still new to me. Next week I'm going to see Chris Hillman again at the Grammy Museum. He will be doing an interview with the museum curator, a q&a, and performing songs. This time he is more then that guy that was in a band with Gram, this time I want to hear about his time in the Byrds, in Manassas, in the Southern Hillman Furay Band, his many other projects that on Sugar Hill and Rounder. Come explore with me as I delve more into this fascinating scene.