The Flying Burrito Brothers - Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Gilded Palace of Sin

A&M 1969

“Any Accolade that I’ve been payed and any kind of acknowledgment of my success, is an acknowledgment of Gram Parsons” - Dwight Yoakum 

Gram Parsons is Cosmic American Music, short and simple. What is Cosmic American Music? Well, it's a mix of American roots music such as Rock, Blues, Country, and Folk, all mixed together. With this, Parsons influence would fall over much of popular music from 1969 until his untimely death in 1973.  His spell was over the Byrds as they created the first true country rock masterpiece “Sweetheart of the Rodeo”, and Gilded Palace is truly what he wanted Sweetheart to be.  To backtrack, when “Sweetheart” was being recorded, Parsons was featured more prominently on vocal duties. When the album hit post production, the story goes that Roger McGuinn felt Gram was getting too much attention, so his vocals were removed from some tracks, leaving him singing “You’re Still On My Mind”, “Life In Prison”, and the seminal “Hickory Wind”.  After leaving the Byrds, Gram formed the Flying Burrito Brothers with Ex Byrd Chris Hillman, Steel Guitarist “Sneaky Pete” Kleinow and Bassist Chris Ethridge. Within these four musicians, they would a develop a deep unity between two similar, but yet opposing, types of music, Rock and Country, with Gram Parsons at the wheel.

      The opening track to the album, “Christine’s Tune”, sets up the listener of what’s to come, country rock music that  got drugged and went to church. Lyrically, this song could be performed by the likes of George Jones or Buck Owens; evil girl out to get you, she’s always around to get at you, and you can never escape from her. What starts to bend reality is the inclusion of that fuzzed steel guitar, supplied by “Sneaky Pete” Kleinow. Listening to it, you loose the sense of that honky tonk/Bakersfield country aesthetic and you peer into the west coast psychedelic beyond. It shows how vital of an opening track it is by foreshadowing this album in a song; this is what you’re getting into and any sense of regularity is long gone. 

If Gram is the heart and soul of this album, then Chris Hillman is blood flowing. Hillman’s contributions should not be over looked. He, like Gram, had a wide taste in music, with big elements of country, as well as bluegrass under his fingers. Hillman’s bluegrass styles are seen heavily on “My Uncle” (which he cowrote with Parsons).  Again, the idea of a traditional country feel is very present, but the lyrics, depicting scenes of the draft and subsequent dodging of it gives the whole idea of making country accessible to a rock audience. 

What wraps this album together is the inclusion of "Do Right Woman" and "Dark End of the Street"; two soul songs.  Country and Soul music share many similarities;  southern oriented, rooted in the church, and an expression of the heart. 

Dark End Of The Street

Do Right Woman

The big three musical elements of this album are Rock, Country and Soul. Many would consider this album as Proto Country Rock, but I disagree with that label. This album offers much more than just Country and Rock, and to label it as such shuts off other idea's that this album has produced. Having three contrasting, but very similar styles pull together, giving off the idea of what Parsons was searching for, Cosmic American Music.