A tragic figure in that he was influential in leading American popular music back to the country but never really realized the fruits of his labour.  He did leave a fine, if brief musical legacy, best represented by the two solo albums that ended his career.  He also had a signinfcant impact on the music the giants of his era including the Rolling Stones, the Byrds and the 70's groups like the Eagles.  He was born into wealth and that allowed him to pursue his muses which included drugs and alcohol as well as music.  His reckless life of excess and rootless travels on the rock and roll road resulted in an early departure form an drug overdose. But songs like Streets of Baltimore, In My Hour of Darkness, Return of the Grievous Angel and my personal favourite A Song For You are an excellent chronicle of his time here.

Sometimes inherited wealth isn't a blessing.

Gram will always be remembered for reviving real country music in the late '60s and early '70s.

I guess that I didn't know that he was dead! (I admit that I liked Streets of Baltimore.)

The story and legend of Gram Parson is kind of tragic in more ways than one. He influenced a large number of musicians and groups ranging from Emmylou Harris to the Rolling Stones. He's one of those musicians whose death fed more rumors and made him more famous than when he was alive. For example some people thought he wrote "Wild Horses" for the Rolling Stones but the song was actually written for him to sing and in a Rolling  Stones first, they allowed him to record the song before they did. He did the arranging for their country version of Honky Tonk Women called "Country Honk" and was also the key inspiration for The Stones' "Country-ish" movement following Exile On Main Street. For a short time he was a member of the Byrds and recorded "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" with them which was their only country album. In 1969 he formed the Flying Burrito Brothers Band with Chris Hillman, Chris Ethridge, Sneaky Pet Kleinow and later Michael Clarke. They recorded "Gilded Palace of Sin," toured the Southwest, and played local gigs. In 1970, the Burritos recorded "Burrito Deluxe". In 1972 he invited Emmylou Harris to sing harmonies on his first solo album. To this day she still pays tribute to Gram often mentioning him when introducing songs in concert. Some people have said he invented the country rock sound but Gram despised most of the labels the publications were calling his music, such as "Progressive Country", "Continental Country" and "Country Rock", preferring instead to call his style "Cosmic American Music". The name was not taken seriously and is only heard among hard core Parson fans, old timers who remember when, and music historians. Why he never achieved greater fame and success is kind of a mystery as he had all the right combinations and was admired by and worked with some of the top talent of his day. Even his death was largely ignored because the day after Parsons died Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash and it received the majority of the media's attention. He was only 26 years old when he died and who knows what the last 30 plus years would have brought us had Parsons lived and continue to write and record.