Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock

by Bob Kealing

Selected as one of the best books of the year

Uprooted Music Revue
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“ Calling Me Home : is about just a land that always beckons, that underlies most of Gram’s songwriting, . . . a land that informs not only him but all others with whom he associated and learned from him.”— Gram InterNational

“Takes the reader from the present to the past and back again, conveying a vivid document of Gram Parsons’s life and career, as well as those who played essential roles in the country-rock pioneer’s journey. There are lots of surprises along the way.”—Holly George-Warren, author of  Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry

 “Has a great narrative velocity. Even though we know how this story is going to end—tragically, of course—Kealing keeps us turning the page as we follow Gram Parsons through his short, rich life.”—William McKeen, author of  Outlaw The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson

 “I could almost hear the music coming from those now-dilapidated buildings where Gram Parsons received his musical education. Bob Kealing makes them come alive as he explores the faces and places that turned Parsons from a southern-bred trust fund child into a self-destructive yet visionary musical pioneer.”—Jeffrey M. Lemlich, author of  Savage Florida Garage The ’60s and Beyond

On September 19, 1973, Gram Parsons became yet another rock-and-roll casualty in an era of excess, a time when young men wore their dangerous habits like badges of honor. Unfortunately, his many musical accomplishments have been overshadowed by a morbid fascination with his drug overdose in the Joshua Tree Inn at the age of twenty-six and the failed attempt to steal his body and burn it in the desert—but not in this literary journey.

Known as the father of country rock, Parsons played with the International Submarine Band, The Byrds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. In the late 1960s and early ’70s, he was a key confidante of Keith Richards. In 1972, he gave his musical soul mate, Emmylou Harris, her first big break. When Tom Petty re-formed his Florida garage band Mudcrutch, he invoked the name of Gram Parsons as an inspiration. Musicians as diverse as Elvis Costello, Dwight Yoakam, Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, and Steve Earle have also paid homage to alt-country’s patron saint. In the decades after his death, tribute albums, concerts, and biographies have legitimized the role Parsons played in the evolution of modern music and freed his legacy from that half-charred coffin abandoned in the desert.

In  Calling Me Home , Kealing traces the entire arc of Parsons’s career, emphasizing his southern roots. Drawing on dozens of new interviews as well as unpublished letters and photographs provided by Parsons’s family and rare images from legendary photojournalist Ted Polumbaum, Kealing examines the remarkable array of musicians and friends with whom Parsons collaborated and from whom he gained inspiration. Through his tireless efforts, Kealing has uncovered facts that even the most stalwart Parsons fans will find new and revealing.

Starting in Waycross, Georgia, Parsons’s boyhood home, Kealing traces Parsons’s journey through both famous venues and out-of-the-way dives. From the overlooked teen youth centers of Orlando and central Florida, to the southern folk mecca of Coconut Grove, Florida, and from the birthplace of outlaw country in Austin, Texas, to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, Kealing celebrates Parsons’s timeless and transformative musical legacy—a legacy that’s still alive among the swamps, palmettos, cypress knees, and Spanish moss of the American South.

Genres: Music, Biography, History, Rock N Roll, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jessey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a biography on Gram that especially focused on his early roots in Georgia and Florida. This biography really fleshes out Gram as person, not just his infamous demise; so many first hand encounters from family members to school friends and musicians. A must read for any Gram Parsons fan or anyone interested in Cosmic American music.

[Michael Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons & The Roots of Country Rock
Bob Kealing
(University of Florida Press)


There have been a plethora of books written about Gram Parsons over the years, including a personal favorite of mine, Hickory Wind by Ben Fong Torres, so most of his story has been told. However, Bob Kealing manages to present a whole lot of new observations into the life of the man credited as being “the father of country rock.”
Kealing explores Parsons’ early days in depth, including his Florida connections and his time in Greenville, South Carolina, where he joined a band called The Shilos. The book also digs deep into Gram’s darker side, his habit of lying to get publicity and the ongoing drug use.
Things really begin to heat up after Gram is invited to join The Byrds, taking the rock band into a decidedly country direction. The Byrds period, followed by a stint with The Flying Burrito Brothers are highlights of Parsons’ all too short career. And then there’s his friendship with Keith Richards, which, according to Kealing’s account, may have actually been the nail in Gram’s coffin.
Of course, Kealing rises above the drama for the most part, choosing to explore the music, from the Florida garage bands of the ‘60’s to the Shilos to The Legends and The International Submarine Band, The Byrds, The Burritos and The Fallen Angels, featuring an up and coming new singer named Emmylou Harris,it is all here.
While there have been several other biographies written about Gram Parsons, Kealing may have written the definitive one. I have spoken with a couple of people who were pivotal in Gram’s career and life, and they agree that Calling Me Home is both well researched and accurate. Going after the story from a different angle, Kealing scored big, with great interviews and factoids never before seen. This one is a must-read for anyone wishing to know the true, complete story of Gram Parsons. •

-Michael Buffalo Smith (kudzoomag.com)

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long-needed and strong Southern piece of the Gram Parsons biography mosaic, this is a significantly more complicated portrait of Parsons and his contemporaries than I was expecting. You will learn a lot that you think you already know about the Georgia-Florida-South Carolina wellspring scenes of Parsons's careeningly successful proto-Trustafarian pursuit of the Cosmic American Musical Revelation. Kealing did his legwork as a researcher and interviewer. He goes lightly over most of the well-trod Byrds > Stones territory, but drops in a particularly evocative section about the Nashville sessions for Sweetheart of the Rodeo. He brings the tragic tale all the way around and leaves readers with a rich web of endnotes for further/deeper reading, listening, and various forms of cultural tourism.

[Caterina - · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tears in my eyes at the end of this book. The fact that I still get to learn new things about Gram Parsons after all these years is moving enough; it’s absolutely priceless. Forever grateful for the rich focus on his early folk years, which allowed me to put a context (and meaning) to so many songs that had previously only existed in a vacuum in my mind.

[J Bash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fucked me up, in the best way possible. Long live Gram Parsons' music, vision, and art, and the people it continues to inspire.

[Angela Woodrow Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book seemed much more personal and had more of Gram's spoken words in it than the other books I have read about Gram. I loved it

[Jamie Beckett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Kealing only touches on the salacious aspects of the Gram Parsons story, preferring instead to paint a vivid portrait of an actual living, breathing, human being with hopes, dreams, and demons. Those demons got hold of him and held tighter than Gram could handle, but he left a legacy and it's that story Kealing focuses on. Perhaps the best of the Gram Parsons biographies for my money. Intimate, accurate, well researched, and well written, Kealing keeps the reader turning pages until the end, when we are left with the all too personal realization that not only is the story over, the man is gone as well. It's a shame either has to be the case. But we still have the music, and Kealings book to remind us of the heartbreakingly fragile nature of an artist.

Highly recommended.

[Garrett Cash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the finest music/country biographies I've read. Gram Parsons is criminally forgotten and this book provides a fascinating study of Gram's life and his music. Rather than focusing on his consuming vices in later years the book looks more closely at Gram's early years and the development of his art. Bravo!

[Hanknooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest and say I'm not totally sure if this was the GP bio that i read but whichever one i read was pretty good

[Kathy Slappey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found out so many interesting stories about a very misunderstood individual. Some good and some not so good. I loved the musical history in this book.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't even know what to say about this book. It's very readable, and the author has done a great job pounding the pavement and coming back with a good deal of, if not obscure, solidly under-reported musical history. The stuff surrounding the fertile Florida youth center music scene is worth a book (or a dissertation?) all its own; it's really the most fascinating part of the book. And Gram Parsons's early years, including his college "years", are well-covered here. In fact, they're covered almost at the expense of his tenure as a full-time professional musician, which I suppose is the point of the book, though that's never established.

But it's so, so poorly written. I don't know how this book got past an editor (maybe it didn't?) It's badly written in both senses: grammatical and typographical errors abound, and it also doesn't have a real throughline, thesis, or tone. It's a collection of research thrown together, and as a neglected portion of musical history, I suppose that's enough for three stars...but it would have been so nice to see the coverage of Parsons's early years lend direct insight to the musical output of his later years, to have either a chronological or a thematic thread...anything to tie all these facts together. When Kealing states an opinion, he does it as an unsupported throwaway. It would have been nice to see him take an actual point of view, musically and historically speaking, and thread it through his research to establish a real point of view and a real book.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good solid bio with extra emphasis on Gram Parson's youth. The author is from Florida, so he goes into great detail about all the places young folkies could play and the cultural significance of living in a mansion in the middle of Cypress Gardens. Lots of interviews with people who knew Gram when and some hilarious photos of a very pretentious Harvard Gram. True fans will find new stuff here, but new fans should probably start elsewhere.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing new or earth-shattering but does a really nice job of filling in the story even more; focuses a great deal on Parsons' early years, helps puts later behavior in better perspective, without excusing any of it.

[Patrick Macke · Rating 3 out of 5]

cosmic American music primer ... good insights about the underappreciated Florida youth music scene of the sixties ... still read more like a cautionary tale of too much money and booze than a music book

[Rick Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. But nowhere near as interesting or as in depth as Twenty Thousand Roads a few years back.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd time through. Even better the second time because I recognize a lot more names now. The best book on Gram available.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked that Gram's story was intertwined with the history of the music. His story kept the book moving along.

[andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!