Grievous Angel: Gram Parsons and the Country Rock Movement
GRIEVOUS ANGEL: GRAM PARSONS AND THE COUNTRY ROCK MOVEMENT BY JOHN F. STANISLAWSKI DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Jeffrey Magee, Chair Associate Professor Gayle Sherwood Magee Associate Professor Gabriel Solis Associate Professor Jim Hansen ABSTRACT The country rock movement emerged in Southern California in the mid-1960s and was comprised of musicians who, through diverse musical practices and conceptual means, sought to fuse elements of country music with other popular genres. Developing amidst the social and political turmoil that defined the era, country rock provided a space for musicians and listeners to negotiate both musical and cultural boundaries. This dissertation provides a critical analysis of the life, legacy, and music of one of the movement’s central figures: Gram Parsons. Since his death in 1973 at the age of 26, interest in Parsons has steadily increased such that today he is hailed by many critics and fans as the “father of country rock” and the movement’s most influential artist. Much of this posthumous recognition is rooted in idealizations of Parsons’s Southernness, experiences of familial tragedy, fusions of country, rock, blues, and soul, or what he famously called, “cosmic American music,” and the bizarre details of his death. Intended to forge links between Parsons’s biography, music, and idiosyncratic personal style, these elements have been foregrounded by listeners in a way that has allowed Parsons to transcend the limited commercial success he received during his lifetime to attain a nearly mythical status.
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