The next ConservativeLA Radio show (on Duane FM in the Hughniverse, Friday night, 05/15/15, 7:00 Pacific/10:00 Eastern) will focus on the musical world of Gram Parsons.

Call it Cosmic American Music–everybody else does.

The show will include Gram’s own material as he performed it; songs he covered, as performed by the original (or other) artists; songs that he wrote, as performed by others; and perhaps some other combination that escapes my memory–in short, the musical universe he inhabited.

If you don’t know much about Gram Parsons, this won’t be much of a biographical introduction, although there will be a bit of bio. Mostly the show just tosses you into the deep end of the pool to try to make sense of–which seems vaguely appropriate, if a bit self-serving on my part to say so.

Since Gram was one of those 60s folks who flamed out young, there’s more than a bit of hagiography afoot when his name comes up. Suffice it to say that he was a critically important figure in the very best parts of the marriage of rock and country and soul and whatnot–in the right place at the right time with the right idea.

(Just don’t call it country rock. He hated the term. And for good reason. Call it Cosmic American Music, with or without the capital letters.)

But, as my friend Sean O’Grady says, I depress.

Hope you can stop by and listen, and join us in chat!

Here’s the Spotify playlist.

(I’m also on Twitter.)

Set list:

Emmylou Harris Talks About Gram (BBC 1999)
Emmylou Harris: Boulder To Birmingham
Keith Richards Talks About Gram (2011)
The Rolling Stones: Wild Horses
The Byrds: Hickory Wind
The Louvin Brothers: The Angels Rejoiced Last Night
Gram Parsons: That’s All It Took
Roy Orbinson: Love Hurts
Emmylou Harris: Sleepless Nights
Chris Hillman & Herb Pederson: Brand New Heartache
Gram Parsons Interview
Emmylou Harris: Wheels
The Mavericks: Hot Burrito #1
Gram Parsons: We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning
Whiskeytown: Luxury Liner
Uncle Tupelo: Sin City
Cowboy Junkies: Ooh Las Vegas
John Hiatt Interviews Emmylou Harris & Chris Hillman
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings: Hickory Wind
The Byrds: One Hundred Years From Now
Sheryl Crow & Emmylou Harris
J.D. Crowe & The New South: God’s Own Singer
Gram Parsons: Cash On The Barrelhead/Hickory Wind
Band Of Horses: A Song For You
Gram Parsons: Kiss The Children
Gram Parsons Interview
James Carr: The Dark End Of The Street
Norah Jones: She
Gram Parsons: Return Of The Grievous Angel
J. Geils Band: Cry One More Time
Ricky Skaggs: Dim Lights Thick Smoke
Merle Haggard: The Bottle Let Me Down
Chris Hillman & Herb Pederson: Close Up The Honky Tonks
Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris: Love Hurts
Michael Patrick Tracy & Lisa Sears: Return Of The Grievous Angel
The Byrds: Farther Along
Emmylou Harris: The Road