“Return Of The Grievous Angel” by Gram Parsons

"Return of the Grievous Angel" comes from Grievous Angel, the second and last album Gram Parsons made, out on Reprise in 1974. He wrote it with the poet Tom Brown, and it's a road song in the grand tradition, following a character as he rolls from one side of America to the other.

Parsons sings it with Emmylou Harris right there beside him, and the band behind them is borrowed royalty, the core of Elvis Presley's TCB Band: James Burton on electric guitar, Glen D. Hardin on piano, Ron Tutt on drums. Emory Gordy plays bass, Byron Berline fiddle, Al Perkins pedal steel and Bernie Leadon acoustic guitar, with Parsons producing and Hugh Davies engineering and mixing. It's country music with a rocker's restlessness in its boots, loose, twangy and a little heartsick.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.