Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music

A reviewer

When the blurbs announcing this book first came out, I was eager to read it. After all, the author claimed that there would be no punches pulled. While Mr. Meyer did chide Gram (as some other authors didn't) for being self-destructive and for destroying personal relationships, he also once again regurgitated the same old cliches about what a visionary in Country Rock music that he was. Fact is, he wasn't. He was one of the first pioneers to be sure, but others, including Larry Murray, Gene Clark, Clarence White, Steve Young, even Ricky Nelson, and yes, Gram's musical partner Chris Hillman were there even before Gram was. Mr. Hillman, along with Gram's estranged widow Gretchen Carpenter chose not to be involved in this book, so Mr. Meyer has chosen to throw some very cheap shots at them. The Byrds, who gave Parsons his real shot at stardom, are referred to as a 'Nest of Vipers' (why? Perhaps because they chose to dispense with the services of David Crosby? Or because Gram flaked out on them?). Hillman, who if anyone should be credited with being the pioneer of Country Rock (his Countrified tunes 'Time Between' and 'The Girl with No Name' were recorded with the Byrds months before Gram's International Submarine Band was ever heard from) is referred to as a 'Bitter Lieutenant'. Interesting, because in the years I've known him, he has been anything but - forthright on the subject yes, of how Gram was a good partner in the first year of the Flying Burritos, but became spoiled, lazy and a Stones groupie after that,then throwing his life away. Bitter? - Hillman has no cause to be and never has. Gretchen Carpenter is portrayed practically as a post-teen drugged-out jealous shrew at times. To put up with Gram, especially his peccadillos, she could easily be nominated for sainthood. In her post-Gram life she has been a good wife and faithful partner to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Bob Carpenter, but you wouldn't know it from Meyer's account. To be sure Meyer did get Polly Parsons, Pamela Des Barres, Bernie Leadon, and John Beland among other contemporaries and friends to contribute, but he even admits many of his correspondents were just as out of it as Parsons was in those times. If Parsons had not been a drug-addled, spoiled 'trust fund' boy, and Hillman just a bit more assertive, the Flying Burrito Brothers could have given the nascent Eagles a run for their money. It wasn't to be, because Gram chose heroin and the company of Keith Richards than staying that course he AND Hillman started. If you want another book that is a paean to Country Rock's Kurt Cobain, well, put it on your list. Its as adolatory as the rest, but if you prefer something more succinct about Parsons, read Ben Fong-Torres' 'Hickory Wind' instead.

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