Gram Theft Parsons

A little over 41 years ag0 the body of Gram "Mr. Charisma" Parsons was discovered by hikers at Joshua Tree, Ca.  It looked like a charred log, they said.  Indeed,  as it turned out, after he ODed in a motel room, his friend Phil Kaufman--former producer of that Charlie Manson record--had stolen the body at an airport, loaded in his hearse, and taken it out in the desert and torched it.  Arrested later, Phil was initially charged with (as police put it) "Gram Theft Parsons."  A couple years later I would tell (with a co-author)  the whole story for the first time at Crawdaddy.

Anyway, here's a long-hidden and rare video of Gram performing with his discovery, Emmylou Harris, on his last tour (which I caught at Max's in NYC).