GP (1973)
11 tracks, 39 minutes
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After short, musically successful stints with various country-rock groups and as a volatile muse to the Rolling Stones, Gram Parsons cut his debut solo album, GP, released in 1973. And, to be fair, what a wonderful album to make your big debut. He moved away from the rockier side of things that he’d explored with The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Byrds and let the full-on country and western vibes lead the way – albeit with little bits of gospel and rhythm’n’blues to smooth things along. It’s all there: jangling acoustic guitars, fiddles, banjos and some luscious pedal steel guitar (I’m an absolute sucker for pedal steel and it’s used especially well here).
The most important elements, though, are the lyrics and their delivery. Parsons’ writing, and the covers that he chooses, all reflect the typical country themes of love, heartbreak and the simple and familiar aspects of working-class American life, but he suffuses the poetry of each one with a real bittersweet beauty. His performances only serve to heighten that. He sings the songs with a small smile, but one tinged with sadness, his voice delicate but full of soul. Then there’s Emmylou Harris, whose vocals are such a stand-out in this album that it really should be double-billed. Their two voices are very different but combine so well, they’re like chocolate with salt. When they sing together, the harmonies are exquisite, and when they sing to each other, there is such emotion to them, and such intimacy, that they inhabit their characters completely. It’s not hard to believe that they’re singing these songs directly from the heart.
The sweetness of GP sheds no light on its chaotic creation. It was by all accounts a fiasco, with Parsons himself barely able to function due to severe anxiety and his regular binges of alcohol and cocaine. It’s amazing how none of that translates to the sound of the album – and lucky, too. It could so easily have turned out a mess, but instead it’s a beautiful, touching work that is simultaneously so country and yet moved the scene in a radically different direction. In the end, it was the only solo album he ever saw released in his lifetime. Gram Parsons died of an accidental overdose months after GP came out, aged just 26. What an impact he had in such a short time, and what a wonderful body of work to leave behind in spite of the turbulence that plagued him.
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