A tribute at Los Angeles’ Troubadour featured performances of Gram Parsons songs by Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello and others before his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction Saturday.
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Gram Parsons was celebrated with a musical tribute at the legendary Los Angeles-area Troubadour on Wednesday night, ahead of his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction on Saturday.
Parsons’ songs were performed by Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow and the Black Crowes, with the show highlighting Emmylou Harris as the leading performer. The tribute drew from Parsons’ work with the Byrds, his role as a founder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and his early-1970s solo career that helped turn rock toward country.
Harris, who previously sang with Parsons in a partnership that lasted less than two years, performed “Love Hurts” with Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Before singing, she said, “Gram taught me this one. We did it a lot of times.” She then added, “But not enough.”
Parsons died from an overdose in 1973 at age 26. Harris, now 71, said she had believed she would spend her lifetime singing with him, but instead she built a solo country career and later lent the harmonies she gave Parsons to artists including Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Neil Young.
The tribute was also tied to Parsons’ Rock Hall recognition: he will enter the Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Early Influence Award. His daughter Polly Parsons, who helped organize the event, told the audience from the stage, “Though his time with us was too too short, his influence remains immeasurable,” adding, “Without Gram, the entire landscape of alternative country and Americana would not exist in the way that we know it today. He showed us, and he showed the world, that country music could be cool, poetic and cosmic.”
Costello said he had not performed “Big Mouth Blues” on stage since he was 19 and had not played “Hot Burrito #1” since he was 18. Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes said the group, like Parsons, were from “the blue state of Georgia,” and performed “Lazy Days,” backed by Beachwood Sparks, who served as the house band.
A rotation of singers—including Jim Lauderdale, Margo Price, Grace Potter, Madison Cunningham, Harper Simon, Graheme Lesh and Jesse Walsh—also took part, with artists later joining together at the end to perform “Wild Horses” and “In My Hour of Darkness,” a song Harris wrote with Parsons.
Parsons’ family was included at the close, with Harris singing her verse of “In My Hour of Darkness” surrounded by his family.
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