It’s Week 2 and we reach the Top 5 of ‘The Top 10 Greatest Ever Americana Artists’. The tension is mounting as we count down to the Number 1 which we will reveal on Friday. Before then though there is the small matter of Numbers 2 – 5. We kick off the week with the man that many claim to be the father of country-rock or Cosmic American Music as he termed it. Yes, it’s Gram Parsons who weighed in with 34 points edging him into the Top 5 by a single point ahead of John Prine who we revealed as our Number 6 on Friday. Well what can you say about Gram Parsons? Well quite a lot actually, so over to AUK’s Guy Lincoln who placed him at Number 1 in his own personal list:
“My number 1 is also renowned as someone who reunited the distant cousins of country and rock music. In this instance though he was working from the rock direction and ended with a very different result to Buck Owens. Gram’s story is another that brooks no retelling here, his privileged birth-right, his addictions, his dependent relationships and his ultimately sad and lonely demise are all the over-told stuff of myth and legend. As is the fragile and beautiful music he created, often seeming to be on the verge of crumbling completely yet with an inner strength and authority that keeps new fans coming to his records time and time again. Whether with the Burritos, Emmylou or flying completely solo Parsons sang with a vulnerable and weary voice that remains one of the most affecting you will ever hear. He was a wonderful interpreter of others’ songs as well as penning some wonderful songs that perfectly reflect and communicate the melancholy and world weary desolation that underpinned his short life.”
Same time, same palace tomorrow for our Number 4 – make it date and don’t dare stand us up.
I was waiting for GP to appear! 1-4 need to salvage this rather predictable list.