\n<\/p>\n
Parsons was a huge inspiration for Elvis Costello\u2019s 1981 country covers album, \u201cAlmost Blue,\u201d and on it Costello offered his own renditions of two Parsons songs, including this arresting take on the Flying Burrito Brothers\u2019 goofily titled classic \u201cHot Burrito #1.\u201d<\/a> Costello, though, decided to change the song\u2019s name to reference a memorable lyric in the refrain: \u201cI\u2019m your toy, I\u2019m your old boy\/But I don\u2019t want no one but you to love me.\u201d (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n We\u2019re talking Los Angeles here, not Vegas. Perhaps the greatest example of the briefly simpatico songwriting partnership of Parsons and the former Byrd Chris Hillman, this twangy ballad captures the mood of late-60s Southern California burnout in the fiery spirit of the Louvin Brothers. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n For better and for worse, Parsons spent a lot of time in the late \u201960s and early \u201970s hanging out with the Rolling Stones, particularly Keith Richards (who admitted to Fong-Torres, \u201cyes, maybe hanging around the Rolling Stones didn\u2019t help<\/em> him in his attitude towards drugs\u201d). Parsons taught Richards a lot about American country music, though, and many people claim his influence can be heard on \u201cExile on Main St.\u201d songs like \u201cSweet Virginia\u201d and \u201cTorn and Frayed.\u201d That exchange could also be reciprocal, though, like when Richards let the Flying Burrito Brothers record his band\u2019s new song \u201cWild Horses\u201d before the Stones did. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n For \u201cGP,\u201d his 1973 debut solo album, Parsons recruited much of his hero Elvis Presley\u2019s red-hot old backing band: the guitarist James Burton, pianist Glen D. Hardin and drummer Ronnie Tutt. They lend an air of experience and polish to Parsons\u2019s own compositions, like the lively country throwback \u201cStill Feeling Blue.\u201d (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n Ostensibly \u2014 if somewhat inscrutably \u2014 about the auto pioneer E.L. Cord, \u201cThe New Soft Shoe,\u201d another highlight from \u201cGP,\u201d boasts one of the loveliest and most wistful melodies Parsons ever wrote. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n At a tour stop in Boston, a young poet named Tom Brown handed Parsons a sheet of vivid lyrics he\u2019d written with Parsons in mind. They became the basis of the laid-back, lived-in \u201cThe Return of the Grievous Angel\u201d \u2014 destined to become one of Parsons\u2019s signature songs. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n5. The Flying Burrito Brothers: \u201cSin City\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
6. The Flying Burrito Brothers: \u201cWild Horses\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
7. Gram Parsons: \u201cStill Feeling Blue\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
8. Gram Parsons, \u201cThe New Soft Shoe\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
9. Gram Parsons, \u201cThe Return of the Grievous Angel\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n