Remembering Gram Parsons: Performing Live With Emmylou Harris In 1973

Singer-songwriter Gram Parsons was just 26 years old when an accidental overdose tragically ended his life 44 years ago today. The multi-talented musician spent part of 1968 performing with The Byrds and soonafter co-founded The Flying Burrito Brothers with bassist Chris Hillman. Parsons’ burgeoning solo work displaying his self-described Cosmic American Music was part of an abbreviated, but nonetheless important career as a forebear of what many now refer to as Americana.

Parsons’ twangy and sincere approach to making music was a signature of his easily identifiable sound. He established a collaborative relationship with a then-unknown Emmylou Harris prior to recording his debut album GP, which was issued in early 1973. A tour in support of Parsons’ initial solo effort featured Harris in a supporting band dubbed The Fallen Angels.

Below is video and audio of The Fallen Angels performing live in February and March 1973. Parsons, Harris and pedal steel guitarist Neil Flanz, drummer N. D. Smart II, bassist Kyle Tullis and guitarist Jock Bartley can seen in clip from February 25 at Liberty Hall in Houston and heard on a March 13 recording of a live broadcast on WLIR-FM from Sonic Studios in Hempstead, New York.

Both the video and broadcast recording feature the band covering “Six Days On The Road” by Earl Green and Carl Montgomery. The audio also finds takes on The Byrds’ “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man” which Gram wrote with Roger McGuinn, as well as Parsons’ originals “Big Mouth Blues” and “The New Soft Shoe.” There’s also covers of classics such as “We’ll Sweep Out the Ashes In The Mornin,” “Streets Of Baltimore,” “Love Hurts” and a few others.

Watch (the clip also features The Flying Burrito Brothers performing “Hot Burrito #1”) and listen to the pair of live shows below: