About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

On March 3, 1972, Chuck Cassell taped a lengthy interview with Gram Parsons at A&M Records, with the purpose of getting some background information for the Flying Burrito Brothers' then-upcoming live album The Last of the Red Hot Burritos (even though Parsons didn't actually play on the recording). It's turned out to far outlive its original design, both since it was an extremely in-depth interview covering Parsons' entire career up to that point, and since there wouldn't be many more opportunities for such interviews with him, as he died a year-and-a-half later. This CD doesn't have the whole interview, but it does have a 69-minute excerpt, in which Parsons talks frankly about the Byrds, the Burritos, the International Submarine Band, and country music. Along the way are some sharp criticisms of some of the people he worked with, including Chris Hillman, Michael Clarke, Chris Ethridge, and producers Jim Dickson and Terry Melcher, though some praise for Hillman is granted as well. He's particularly critical of fellow Burritos Clarke and Ethridge's unsuitability, in his view, as country-rock players. The sound quality isn't great, and Cassell's questions aren't clearly audible, but this doesn't matter so much, since Parsons' answers are easily understood, and it's a spoken-word disc anyway. A much longer transcript of this interview, incidentally, appears in Sid Griffin's book Gram Parsons: A Music Biography. Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide