Episode #68 | 1.12.21
Gram Parsons: A Stolen Body, Heroin, More Rolling Stones and Cosmic American Music
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In this episode
Gram Parsons is one of the most influential musicians in rock ‘n’ roll that you’ve maybe never heard of. He created a form of music that has been copied by everyone from the Eagles to Ryan Adams. He directly influenced the Rolling Stones’ greatest album, possibly the greatest rock ‘n’ roll album of all time, Exile on Main Street and when he died his body was stolen and unceremoniously disposed of. This is the story of Gram Parsons' life, death and very strange aftermath.
Sources
20,000 Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music, by David N. Meyer
“The Stones and the true story of Exile on Main St.” by Sean O’Hagan,The Guardian
“Gram Parsons: The Mysterious Death - and Aftermath,” by Patrick Sullivan, Rolling Stone
“How I Stole Gram Parsons’ Body” by Johnny Black, Louder
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones, by Stanley Booth
Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones, by Robert Greenfield
The Guardian: The Stones and the true story of Exile on Main St
Stones in Exile directed by Stephen Kijak
The Atlantic: How Exile on Main St. Killed the Rolling Stones
New York Times: Revisiting Main St, Rethinking the Myth
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Score by Jake Brennan.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak