There are some grainy clips included in the film of the two of them from this tour; they would stand at right angles to each other so that Emmylou was sideways to the audience but looking at Gram. In a voice over we hear an old interview with Gram talking about singing with Emmylou. He says all he had to do was make eye contact with her and she'd know exactly how to harmonize a song, even if she'd never heard it before.
The filmmakers have done an amazing amount of research and the interviews included in this documentary are with people from all aspects of Gram's life. The one thing everyone agrees upon is he was a musical genius whose time ended far too soon. But even those who loved him the most – Chris Hillman, his wife Gertrude, and Emmylou Harris are all too aware of his failings as well.
Something else that becomes clear is that nobody ever really did anything to get him to change. The first person that seems to have been able to exert any sort of authority over him was Emmylou Harris, when she imposed her will on the band to make them rehearse for that tour. Up until then everybody else seemed content to suck what they could from Gram and than discard him when he became too difficult.
Maybe nobody could have done anything for him. Perhaps the seeds of despondency had been planted too deep by the deaths of both his natural parents. His sister Avis who grew up in the same circumstances ended up spending years in mental institutions because of what they survived as children.
While this movie was an attempt to show who Gram Parsons was and try to answer questions about why he did what he did, it also raises questions about the people who were around him. Why would they let him continue stuffing himself with booze and drugs in the last six months of his life when they knew he was so self-destructive?
Sure he always said he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory – hence the funeral pyre in Joshua Tree – but how could they let him have the means to his destruction so readily available. He had separated from Gertrude and for his own protection was living with friends, which in her opinion was a joke. They were as big as users as he was.
Article comments
1 - John
Have the CD set. GP doesn't sound any better now than he did as a want to be star (just one old guys opinion). He is no 'genius' not of a Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, etc., level. When Sweetheart of the Rodeo came out it was the death of the Byrds. I see Chris Hillman play 1 or 2 times a year, he started down here (San Diego area). His vocal, writing and musical skills are so far above GP it's ridiculous and I don't like blue grass and am not fond of country.
GP was not the start of country rock no matter how hard the machine tries to portray this spin. Chris, Templeman, Leadon (all San Diegans) were country before Chris joined McGuinn, Crosby, White, etc... all San Diegan;s by the way. If anyone brought country into rock, it was probably Hillman's influences from his first or second San Diego band, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers.
One guys rant ;-)
I did enjoy your article but don't agree with the level of GPs skill or influence.
2 - David
#1--he went to Harvard, not Yale.
#2--his wife's name is "Gretchen," not "Gertrude."
Errors like these, made with regards to basic factual info long available proir to this documentary, make this "review" seem not only unprofessional, but pointless, not to mention VERY poorly written. The grammar and spelling errors could have been spotted by a high school English student.
3 - Rodney Welch
Actually it's a pretty interesting and informative review and David's just an idiot. Good work, Richard.