A theatrical concert about the original cosmic cowboy--he lived fast, died
young and left a charred corpse.
Gram Parsons was the creative force behind some of the most important
recordings of the late '60s and early '70s, and today is hailed as the
patron saint of alt-country and Americana. He was born into a southern
gothic tragedy straight out of Tennessee Williams---his family owned 18,000
acres of Florida orange groves, and they had all the infidelity, addiction,
self-destruction and insanity money could buy. His father, "Coon Dog"
Connor, committed suicide when Gram was 12 years old. His mother drank
herself to death five years later.
Small wonder that Gram had a morbid compulsion to go out in a haze of glory,
and on Sept. 19, 1973, in a cheap motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert,
Gram got his wish as he OD'd on morphine and tequila. He was 26. But in
death, his tale took another bizarre turn. Gram's road manager, Phil
Kaufman, stole his body from Los Angeles airport, took it to the desert and
burned it. A rock legend was born.
Grievous Angel: The Legend of Gram Parsons,
stars Anders Drerup and Kelly
Prescott as Gram and Emmylou Harris. The show was inspired by Michael Bate's
March 1973 interview with the doomed singer in Boston. It was Parsons' last
recorded conversation. The theatrical concert is produced and directed by
Michael Bate, written by Michael Bate with David McDonald.