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The 100 best musicians of all time: Gram Parsons – Essay by Keith Richards
Just as I knew my blues, Gram Parsons knew the country music – every nuance, every big song that has ever been written. And whether the music came from Nashville or Bakersfield or Texas: With his voice and songwriting, he was able to articulate all these nuances. And, no less important: he was an intelligent person and honest skin. The people are carved out of the wood with whom I like to be. And: he loved being stoned. Which was also a clear plus at the time.
I met him for the first time in 1968 when the Byrds appeared in London; I think it was in a club called Blazes. I knew the band since “Mr. Tambourine Man ”; At that time, the Stones had contested some shows in California. But when I saw her in the blazes together with Gram, I heard a radical change in music. I went backstage and we both friends. Then the Byrds came back to London, this time on the way to South Africa. I said, “People, you don’t go there!” It was the time of sanctions and the embargo. And that’s why he got out at the Byrds – right on the spot. And since he didn’t have a roof over his head, he moved in with me.
As a songwriter, we had the same approach
We sat behind the piano and exchanged ideas. Gram and I loved the songs of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, especially the things they had written for the Everly Brothers. We were crazy about this melancholic loneliness shit; We always searched for the final lacrimal squeezer who really takes your heart into the lack.
As a songwriter, we had the same procedure: we got out a few chords, played around with it and looked at how far we got with it. Setting yourself up the table with paper and culminate and pulling everything out was not our thing. On the other hand, we had a lot of time – harder than I have ever worked – to give things the necessary finishing touches.
Mick and Gram never had the right wire – which was not least due to the fact that the tribal affiliation was very important to the Stones. At the same time, Mick sounded exactly what Gram played. And sometimes when we were waiting for the other musicians at the “Exile on Main Street” sessions, we were sitting together and plucking a few Hank Williams songs. She all had Gram on it-the largest country repertoire that could be imagined. He remembered a song everywhere and everywhere.
At the time when he died, he had really taken a musical kick. His output was actually minimal, but its effect on country music was huge. We will never find out what influence he would have had under other circumstances. If Buddy Holly hadn’t climbed onto this plane if Eddie Cochran had taken a different curve – unimaginable what we missed.