Sweethearts of the rodeo tour

While Gram Parsons is given the lion’s share of credit for The Byrds’ Sweethearts Of The Rodeo album, to relegate Chris Hillman to a mere supportive role is, I maintain, a grave injustice. Remember, it was Hillman who was in a working Bluegrass band before joining the Byrds, not Parsons. Gram (real name Ingram Cecil Connor III. Not exactly a Hillbilly ;-) was in a Collegiate Folk group (at Harvard. Think "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" ;-), and while he evolved into a fine songwriter, was nowhere near the musician or singer Chris is. I realize that may be a minority opinion ;-) .

I attended the Gram Parsons Tribute Show at The Universal Amphitheater in the late-90’s, which was a mixed bag. Keith Richards closed the show (singing a duet with Norah Jones on a song incorrectly credited by many to Parsons---he included it on his Grievous Angel album in a duet with Emmylou Harris, The Everly Brothers perfect 1960 recording of the Boudleaux Bryant-written "Love Hurts", the first version of this majestic song, and the definitive one), but conspicuously absent were both Chris Hillman and Emmylou Harris. A tribute to Parsons without Chris and Emmylou? Ridiculous!

@rpeluso, Keith was acting so lasciviously leering towards Norah it was disgusting. He was all over her, like a drunk at a bar. Like your uncle hitting on your mom or sister, it was really creepy. And you’re right----what is that thing of his where he behaves like everything he says is SO funny? He really thinks he’s irresistibly charming, doesn’t he?

When I was in Music Millennium last Thursday The Stones’ version of "It’s All Over Now" (one of their better covers) came over the system, and I was reminded of how good a Rock ’n’ Roll guitarist Keith once was. That was a long time ago. In his 1987 documentary on Chuck Berry (Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll), Chuck, Keith, and the band he put together for the live concert are rehearsing some songs, including "Carol". Chuck’s original guitar part includes a section where the phrase is played with the strings bent up for the first note, then "unbent" for the second, bent back up for the third, again unbent for the fourth. That’s very unusual---Blues guitarists always bend up to a note. When the song came to that part, Keith played it backwards---the first note unbent, the second bent, etc. Chuck stops the band and shows Keith how to play it correctly. They start again, and when they come to the same section Keith again plays it backwards; he just can’t get it right. Kinda lame!