Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons

by Ben Fong-Torres

Gram Parons lived hard and died young, and left behind a musical legacy that has influenced generations of rock and country legends. Ben Fong-Torres's moving account of his story--from his poor-little-rich-kid childhood; through his seminal time with the Byrds and his own bands, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Fallen Angels; to days and nights spent with the likes of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Emmylou Harris--is a classic of rock biography. This newly expanded edition updates the text and discograph, adds rare new photographs, and concludes with an intriguing epilogue that answers some lingering questions about Gram's untimely death--and raised a few more.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Rock N Roll, Drugs, Memoir, Music Biography

244 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

About the author

Benjamin Fong-Torres (Fāng Zhènháo) is an American rock journalist, author, and broadcaster best known for his association with Rolling Stone magazine (through 1981) and the San Francisco Chronicle (from around 1982).

Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Fong-Torres' father, Ricardo Fong-Torres (born Fong Kwok Seung), changed his surname to Torres and posed as a Filipino citizen in order to emigrate to the United States. His family later adopted the hyphenated surname, Fong-Torres. He is the brother of Shirley Fong-Torres.

He was portrayed in the 2000 film Almost Famous by actor Terry Chen. The fictional version of Fong-Torres was character William Miller's editor at Rolling Stone.

In real life, Fong-Torres was a writer and senior editor of Rolling Stone from almost the magazine's inception. He conducted interviews for Rolling Stone of entertainment figures including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, comedian Steve Martin and Linda Ronstadt's first cover story in 1975. A Fong-Torres interview with Ray Charles was awarded the Deems Taylor Award for Magazine Writing in 1974.

Fong-Torres was also a rock DJ for San Francisco radio station KSAN-FM in the 1970s. On television, he is the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of the Chinese New Year Parade broadcast on KTVU (Fox) in San Francisco. In recent years, he has published Hickory Wind, a biography of Gram Parsons; The Rice Room, a memoir; The Hits Just Keep on Coming, a history of Top 40 radio, and two compilations of past articles, Not Fade Away and Becoming Almost Famous (published in May 2006). His book with The Doors (The Doors By The Doors) was published by Hyperion in November 2006. Since July 2005, he has written the bi-weekly column "Radio Waves" in the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday Datebook. He is also a contributing editor to Parade magazine, and the music editor for TONEAudio, a web-based audio publication. He is now the host of "Backstage" which is aired from 7-9 am and 7-9 pm on San Francisco's KFRC-FM.

Reviews

[Paul Secor · Rating 2 out of 5]

More than I ever wanted to know about a minor musical figure who has attracted more attention over the years than his music ever warranted.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done, Ben Fong-Torres. Also, I really like saying "Ben Fong-Torres."

[Rama Hodam · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know about Gram Parsons life, this is the book. I've read almost every printed word on him and this book stands up.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your enjoyment of the book will probably depend on whether or not you love Gram Parsons, as it's a pretty standard biography.

[DJMikeG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring book about a great musician.

[Heather Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastico. The only bio on GP you need to read. And don't call it heroin, it was morphine. (and don't argue with me about it.)

[David Gagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of the amazingly talented Gram Parsons. Sad to discover the real undisciplined, spoilt, self absorbed attitude he had to most things, makes me rethink his legacy.

[Angela Woodrow Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it! Easy read and kept me interested. I told my son I was reading it and who wrote it. My kid was raised in the rock lifestyle and had seen Almost Famous about a million times, and he blurted out, "Ben Fong Torres is REAL?" lol. The book was very informative and not biased. I enjoyed it thoroughly

[Jonas Paro · Rating 4 out of 5]

En bra genomgång av Gram Parsons liv och karriär, kanske främst riktad till den verkligt intresserade. Såklart en belönande läsning men hade gärna fått vara lite längre.

[Jamie Beckett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gram Parsons was a talented musician who lived a dramatic but short life. His foibles were due perhaps to a highly dysfunctional family life that caused him to grow up with a peculiarly disjointed view of life. As a fan and a curious onlooker who lives and works close to Parsons' old stomping grounds, I selected this book in the hopes of separating legend from reality and gaining a better understanding of both as they pertain to one of the originators of the country/rock movement.

Ben Fong-Torres has managed to capture the facts, but his telling is often dry and lifeless. The book provides glimpses into the dirty laundry of Gram's life, but offers surprisingly little personality to fill out the story. From a factual standpoint, the book is a success. My only disappointment is that although Parsons is often described as a charismatic character, charming, enigmatic, and ambitious, I found little more than dry, second hand commentary in these pages.

It's a great story told as an average high school term paper might report it. I had hoped for more. Perhaps I aimed too high and will never find the sort of warm, human retelling of Grams life that his memory surely deserves.

[Ad · Rating 4 out of 5]

the man who invented the cosmic cowboy. he has influenced so many musicians yet never lived to see it. only 26 when he passed in a drug adled haze. born rich so he had a carefree free spirited attitude from the get go. this book is a great account of his life it has new information that the book thousand roads did not. what a bizarre tale of how his manager Phil Kauffman took care to grant Gram his wishes when phil cremated his body in the joshua tree desert. truly a great rock n roll story unfortunately Gram Parson's went out much too early yet his bright flame burned and effected a lot of people including the rolling stones. he was so brave to have gone in trucker, biker and honky tonk bars dressed in his rhinestone suit doing his thing, the courage to be himself following his dream that i admire.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons by Ben Fong-Torres (St. Martin's Griffin 1998) (780.92). Gram Parsons was only twenty-seven when he died of a heroin overdose. He was a rich kid and a trust-fund baby from (of all unlikely places) Waycross, Georgia on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. He took off for Los Angeles and for a time was a member of the Byrds and later the Flying Burrito Brothers. He was at the forefront of the country-rock movement. He will always be best remembered for two things: first, for introducing the world to Emmylou Harris, a beautiful woman who has the most beautiful singing voice on the planet, and second, for having his corpse stolen from LAX by his friends, driven to the desert in Joshua Tree, California, and set ablaze. That's right. And the rest of the story is even weirder. My rating: 7/10, finished 2/18/16.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember his name as one of many performers among the bands and albums I listened to back in the early 70s of my youth. I didn't know he died early, like three of his more famous contemporaries, but then, it happened in 1973 while I was sequestered in a 6-week Army training course. From this biography, I learned that I probably would not have liked the man personally, but I also learned that he could compose and sing, at times, wonderful songs, so I need to find some of his solo efforts. Overall, an entertaining book.

[Don LaVange · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a teenager I discovered Gram Parsons's amazing music. He was still alive then, and he performed on Providence TV 12 just before he died. I saw him, propped up there at the mike, wasted and perfect...

His songs move me in ways that few others are or were capable of.

Ben Fong-Torres does an admirable job telling the story of this rich country boy, the boy who gave the Byrds their American Soul, the boy who invented Cosmic American Music.

[Kateburgau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Music, Drugs, women, poker, Keith Richards, a tragic and most unfortunate outcome. I love Gram Parsons music, and I love reading about the music industry before my time. The difference in how fast things happen, the marketing, the communication back in the day is very interesting. This author seems to drop off right at a climax at some points, but I just think it was due to a lack of information that he could come up with.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick and easy Gram Bio. After reading Twenty Thousand Roads: The ballad of Gram Parsons, I must say that Ben Fong-Torres was much easier on Gram than David N. Meyer was and this bio wasn't nearly as detailed at the the Meyer piece. I'm still left wishing I wouldn't have read either of them, though, because I think I like his music a lot better before I knew it was coming from a sort of lazy, spoiled brat.

[Herzog · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not the biggest Gram Parson fan to start with, but I read this for my rock and roll book club. Not only was the subject not that interesting to me, but the prose style wasn't especially good either. It was interesting to gain some insight into Gram Parsons relationship with Emmy Lou Harris, but even that was mostly 2nd hand.

[Bosco Farr · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay look into the life of Gram Parsons. It's a good start for the new fan but borders on textbook dry as often as not. I felt like I knew a little more than I did before reading but it's less insightful than the subject matter calls for. Certainly a passable read but not as strong as I would have liked.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about a much overlooked singer/song writer of the 60s and 70s. Gram Parsons died before I was able to appreciate his music but I can appreciate his influence today. I enjoyed the book, I know there are some that say it doesn't tell the whole story, but then again what book does. It's a good starting point for reading about Gram Parsons life and times.

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Gram was a mess who sometimes wrote and sang beautiful songs.

Easy and fast read. Not very illuminating if you are an Emmylou Harris fan. She never revealed much about her personal relationship with Gram, and this doesn't reveal much about it either.

I suspect I'll learn more about Gram from Keith Richards' autobiography than I learned from this book.

[Jason Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

This man literally invented a new genre of music. His tales of drug abuse, frienship with Keith Richards and true knowledge of Southern music make this book an interest tale. Oh, yeah, also the burning of his body at Joshua Tree National Park, a must read story.

[M.D. Navalinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very nice intro to a very sad character who....well I'll let the story tell itself. Certainly a major influence on country rock music, many good stories about Gram and his cast of characters he performed with through his short enigmatic career.....

[Owen Goldin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the case of some musicians, knowing about their lives helps deepen appreciation of their achievement -- in the case of others it's pretty irrelevant. Gram is in the first group. Well done portrait of this sad cosmic country icon.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gram Parsons was a smart, weird dude.

[Rude E · Rating 4 out of 5]

many Gram books, yet this did not seem over done nor simple...a complex and gifted soul in love with music, and honesty...sometimes love does hurt.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life and times of Gram Parsons. Good not great.

[Trey]

I lurv Gram Parsons, and this bio by a former editor of Rolling Stone was quite enlightening.

[Carlos Repuestodelatabla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick scan of Gram Parson's life that offers you what you need to know of one pf music's most influential figures without agenda attached.

[Bliss · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, but Sid Griffin's book on Gram was better. But this one got a lot more press. (Gee, wonder why?)

[Timothy Limner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biography of a brilliant songwriter that seemed to run from success.