フロリダ州生まれ、ジョージア州育ち。

1966年にインターナショナル・サブマリン・バンドを結成、1968年アルバムを発表。

その後バーズにグラムが加入したことにより、バーズがカントリーからの影響を受けたように、Rolling Stonesローリングストーンズや当時のミュージシャン達もが、Gram Persons から多大な影響を受けたと言う。

そんな時代の立役者だったGramが、バーズとして、アフリカにツアーに行きたくない(アパルトヘイトのせい)からと脱退し、新しく結成したバンドが、今日Lyraが和訳するバンドFlying Burrito Brothersだ。

マジで、新しい風を吹かせる男だったのか？

その話はLyraの和訳の後にお話ししましょう！

今日Lyraが選んだ曲は、Flying Burrito Brothersのデビューアルバム『The Gilded Palace Of Sin』(1969年)から【Hot Burrito #1】。

Gram Persons は、カントリーとロックの融合を試み『The Gilded Palace Of Sin』や2作目『Burrito Deluxe』などカントリーロック史に残る作品を残した。

Gramが作り出したカントリー・ロックと言っても過言ではないだろう。

そして、彼が築いた音楽は、ポコやイーグルスなどのロサンゼルスのフォロワーバンドに大いに影響を与えて行く。

何かを作り出すと言うことはパワーがいるものだ。

パワーがあるという人間は魅力的。

そんな魅力的な人間には人々は集まって来るし影響されてしまう。

きっとGramはそんなパワーと魅力がある人間だったに違いない。

おまけに良いとこのボンボンだから、知性や教養やマナーや品性は、Private School や周りの大人たちから与えられたに違いない。

ましてや両親が早くになくなり、妹と2人ならば、いやでも早く大人になりたかっただろうし、実際に大人になっただろう。吸収力が半端なかったんじゃなかろうか？

何かを作り出す人間には、先見の目を持っていなければならないと思う。

この孤独な時期に、俯瞰で物事を見る力が養われたのではないか？

だからこそ、素晴らしい作品を作り出したし、新しいバンドや新しい風を作り出す場には、Gramが必ずいたんじゃない？

察知してしまうのだろう。ブームや新しい何かが生まれそうなのを。

事実、彼が好んで着ていたド派手な服、ハリウッドのヌーディー・コーンが作るヌーディスーツ。これも彼が見つけたんでしょう？

上手いんだね、見つけること、作り出すことが。

(click to amazon ↓ ↓ ) １st Album “The Gilded Palace of Sin” クリックしてアマゾンへ ↓ ↓ 

そして、両親の普通ではない死に方が、余計に孤独を増し、孤独を忘れる為に好きな音楽に没頭。

よりカントリーとロックの融合など創造性は増しただろう。

そんな創造性が高く、物を見る目もあった人間がドラッグに手を出してしまうとは、、、矛盾している。

矛盾しているのが人間だと言ってしまえば、それでおしまいだが、そんなものただの逃げだと思う。

所詮、世間を知らぬお嬢ちゃま ＆ お坊っちまは、限度を知らないからか？

世間や現実を、ちゃんと見ていなかったのだろうか？

Ian Dunlop and Mickey Gauvin, formerly of Gram Parsons’ International Submarine Band(ISB), founded the original Flying Burrito Brothers and named it after Parsons informed them of his new country focus. This incarnation of the band never recorded as such, and after heading East allowed Gram Parsons to take the name

With the original incarnation of the band out of the picture, the “West Coast” Flying Burrito Brothers were founded in 1968 in Los Angeles, California by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. Bassist/keyboardist Chris Ethridge(who had played alongside Parsons in the International Submarine Band), pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow and session drummer “Fast” Eddie Hoh rounded out the lineup.

Though Hillman and Roger McGuinn had fired Parsons from the Byrds in July 1968, the bassist and Parsons reconciled later that year after Hillman (who would switch to rhythm guitar in the new ensemble) left the group. Parsons had refused to join his Byrds bandmates for a tour of South Africa, citing his disapproval of the apartheid policy of that nation’s government. Hillman doubted the sincerity of Parsons’ gesture, believing instead that the singer merely wanted to remain in England with Mick Jagger and Keith Richardsof the Rolling Stones, whom he had recently befriended.

The Flying Burrito Brothers recorded their debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin (containing originals by Parsons, Hillman and Ethridge and covers of two songs by Dan Penn and Chips Moman), without a regular drummer. Hoh proved to be unable to perform adequately due to an incipient substance abuse problem and was dismissed after recording two songs, leading the group to employ a variety of session players, including former International Submarine Band drummer Jon Corneal (who briefly joined the group as an official member, appearing on a plurality of the tracks) and Popeye Phillips of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Before commencing their first tour, the group ultimately settled upon original Byrd Michael Clarke (who had recently been working with fellow country rock pioneers and Byrds spinoff The Dillard and Clark Expedition) as a permanent replacement. Michael Clarke remained the band’s permanent drummer until 1971.

Critically acclaimed upon its release in February 1969 (as exemplified by Stanley Booth’s laudatory review in Rolling Stone and approbative press remarks from Bob Dylan) for its pioneering amalgamation of country, soul music and psychedelic rock, The Gilded Palace of Sin only managed to peak at #164 in Billboard. Although the band declined an invitation to perform at Woodstock, a comprehensive train tour of the United States (necessitated by Parsons’s fear of flying) ultimately ended in disaster due to drug and alcohol use. Dissatisfied by the band’s lack of success and unable to fully reconcile his predilection for R&B and groove-based music with the more conservative tastes of Parsons and Hillman, Ethridge departed the group in the autumn of 1969. Hillman reverted to bass after the band hired lead guitarist Bernie Leadon, a Dillard and Clark veteran who had also played with Hillman in the early 1960s bluegrass scene. This iteration of the band performed at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in December 1969, as documented in the film Gimme Shelter. The audience remained largely peaceful throughout their performance.

With mounting debt incurred from the first album and tour and a failed single (“The Train Song,” written on the tour and produced by 1950s R&B legends Larry Williams and Johnny “Guitar” Watson), A&M Records hoped to recoup some of their losses by marketing the Burritos as a straight country group. To this end, manager Jim Dickson instigated a loose session where the band recorded several traditional country staples from their live act (including songs by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens), contemporary pop covers in a countrified vein (“To Love Somebody”, “Lodi”, “I Shall Be Released”, “Honky Tonk Women”), and Williams’s rock and roll classic “Bony Moronie.” This was soon scrapped in favor of a second album of originals on an extremely reduced budget. Several of the tracks from the abandoned sessions would eventually see the light of day in 1976 on Sleepless Nights, which also featured outtakes from Parsons’s post-Burritos solo career.

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Released in April 1970, Burrito Deluxejuxtaposed the band’s inability to develop compelling new material (partially exacerbated by Parsons’s hedonistic streak; his “Lazy Days” dated from 1967) with prominent covers of the Rolling Stones’s hitherto unreleased “Wild Horses,” Dylan’s “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” and the Southern gospel standard “Farther Along.” Unlike Gilded Palace, the album failed to chart entirely. A month later, Parsons showed up for a band performance only minutes before they were to take the stage. Visibly intoxicated, he began singing songs which differed from what the rest of the band were performing. A furious Hillman (already incensed by the singer’s penchant for showing up at $500 concerts in a limousine and increasingly Jagger-influenced showmanship) fired him immediately after the show, to which Parsons responded, “You can’t fire me, I’m Gram!” According to Hillman, this incident was merely the final straw; Parsons’s desire to hang out with the Rolling Stones rather than focus on his own band’s career was also a significant factor, mirroring his 1968 dismissal from The Byrds.

Now fronted by Hillman and Leadon, the band appeared in June–July 1970 on the Festival Express rail tour of Canada with Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, The Band and other notable groups of the era. Parsons would eventually be replaced by guitarist/songwriter Rick Roberts. The new lineup released The Flying Burrito Brosin June 1971. Like its predecessors, it was not a commercial success, peaking at #176 in the United States. Shortly thereafter, Kleinow left to work as a session musician, while Leadon departed to co-found The Eagles. Al Perkins and Kenny Wertz replaced them for a final tour in autumn of 1971; during these performances, veteran bluegrass musicians Roger Bush(acoustic bass, vocals) and Byron Berline(fiddle) of Country Gazette participated as guests during an acoustic interlude. The band released Last of the Red Hot Burritos, a well-received live album culled from the tour, in May 1972.

• グラム・パーソンズ – Guitar/Keyboards
• クリス・ヒルマン – Bass/Guitar
• クリス・エスリッジ – Bass
• スニーキー・ピート – Guitar
• ジョン・コーネル – Drums

• リック・ロバーツ – Guitar
• アル・パーキンズ – Guitar
• バーニー・レドン(後にイーグルスに参加) – Guitar
• マイケル・クラーク – Drums
• ロジャー・ブッシュ – Bass
• ケニー・ワーツ – Bass
• バイロン・バーライン – Fiddle

1. The Gilded Palace Of Sin （1969年）
2. Burrito Deluxe （1970年）
3. The Flying Burrito Brothers （1971年）
4. Last Of The Red Hot Burritos （1971年）