Gram Parsons (Country Folk Rock)
English version · automatic translation
Anachronique: Gram Parsons (Country Folk Rock)
Gram Parsons is an artist about whom I have already had the chance to write all the good things that deserve to be said. Leader of the Flying Burrito Brothers, he is one of the founding fathers of country rock, a friend of the Rolling Stones who, as I said, wrote “Wild Horses” in his honour. After the Flying Burrito adventure, Parsons started a solo career made up of many albums that deserve, like Neil Young’s, a place on your shelves. GP is Gram Parsons’s first solo album. Released in 1973, it remains his best-known album alongside Grievous Angel, which came out a year later.
Article on the Flying Burrito Brothers
As was the case for many artists of the time, Gram Parsons’s music is defined by its deep roots in the America of old films and by its unshakeable gentleness. The polar opposite of punk, his music is an ode to happy days spent on the porch of his Texas house.
“Still Feeling Blue” is an opener that already sits squarely in what this LP contains: folk, country and a slightly too-much but endearing seventies feel. “We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning” continues in a similar register, and here we are comfortably settled in the capitol of a small American town, Gram has invited his friends over to sing about the old days and sunny early mornings.
“A Song For You” raises the bar a notch. The real masterpiece of this album, it shows a Gram Parsons closer to his audience. The voice is probably better recorded than on the previous tracks, and at last there is the melancholy our minds have been asking for since the opener. The love songs of the ’70s had a simplicity that has been lost over the years. Gram Parsons shows it better than anyone. And “Streets Of Baltimore” resumes the little cruise through this deep America. I never had the feeling that Baltimore was a very country city while walking around it for days on end, but well, if Gram says so…
“She” is the big highlight of this LP. Less country than the others, it comes closer to the spirit of a John Lennon song. In fact, “She” fundamentally reminds me of “Hot Burrito #1“, the track he had released 4 years earlier with the Flying Burrito. “That’s All It Took” takes over in a style more faithful to the rest of the album. Gram Parsons always wanted to keep a balance between the music of the South and the more “avant-garde” Californian scene, which the presence of this track confirms once again.
“The New Soft Shoe” is a pretty piece of southern folk whose meaning is hard to grasp. “Kiss The Children“, for its part, may well be the most successful track of the genre on the whole album. Country lovers will appreciate this horseback ride in which Gram Parsons talks about whisky and betrayal, a real Far West that “Cry One More Time” carries on. “How Much I’ve Lied” and its lap steel perfectly do the job of the somewhat downcast old cowboy. “Big Mouth Blues“, finally, aims to get the whole gathering dancing.
In the end, this first solo album by Gram Parsons is a chance to remember that the scene of Van Morrison & co is first and foremost tied to the South of the country, to country music and to southern rock accents. With GP, Gram Parsons shows his skill at juggling different styles, some tracks borrow from the blues, others are purely folk, and you catch yourself wanting a bolo tie – you know, that funny pendant that will come back into fashion one day!?!. Bourbon lovers will recognise in Gram Parsons’s music the perfect excuse to justify buying a rocking chair and developing their case on gun ownership. Gram depicts this way of life better than anyone, somewhere between Californian hippie and dusty Texan.
Tracklist:
1. Still Feeling Blue
2. We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning
3. A Song For You
4. Streets Of Baltimore
5. She
6. That’s All It Took
7. The New Soft Shoe
8. Kiss The Children
9. Cry One More Time
10. How Much I’ve Lied
11. Big Mouth Blues
Links:
Article on the Flying Burrito
Article on Van Morrison, the immense
Original version (French)
Comme c’était le cas pour beaucoup d’artistes de l’époque, la musique de Gram Parsons se caractérise par son ancrage profond sous l’Amérique des vieux films ainsi que par sa douceur à toute épreuve. Aux antipodes du punk, sa musique est une ode aux jours heureux passés sur le porche de sa maison texane.
Au final, ce premier album solo de Gram Parsons est l’occasion de se rappeler que la scène de Van Morrison & co est avant tout lié au sud du pays, à la country et aux accents de southern rock. Avec GP, Gram Parsons démontre son habilité à jongler entre différents styles, certains morceaux empruntent au blues, d’autres sont uniquement folk tandis que l’on se surprend à penser vouloir une bolo tie – vous savez, ce drôle de pendentif qui reviendra un jour à la mode !?!. Les amateurs de bourbon sauront reconnaitre dans la musique de Gram Parsons la parfaite excuse pour justifier l’achat d’une rocking-chair et développer son argumentaire sur le port d’arme. Gram dépeint ce mode de vie mieux que les autres, entre hippie californien et Texan poussiéreux.
1. Still Feeling Blue
2. We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning
3. A Song For You
4. Streets Of Baltimore
5. She
6. That’s All It Took
7. The New Soft Shoe
8. Kiss The Children
9. Cry One More Time
10. How Much I’ve Lied
11. Big Mouth Blues