Is anyone a fan of Gram Parsons, the "father of alt.country"? Pretty much anything Gram Parsons-related (or anything he's affiliated with) is good.
He's made some awesome contributions to country and rock'n'roll music (and paved the way for artists like Wilco).
See: the Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" (1968), the Byrds crossover album, which featured Gram on guitar throughout the album, and lead vocal on a couple of songs.
Then there's his group with Chris Hillman and kickass pedal steel player Sneaky Pete Kleinow, the Flying Burrito Brothers.
He did amazing solo records and sang beautiful duets with Emmylou Harris (absolutely heartbreaking).
His music can be pretty depressing... but in the best possible way!!

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Originally posted by Twin Forces!:
Is anyone a fan of Gram Parsons, the "father of alt.country"?

Count me as a big fan. Sweethearts of the Rodeo is the entry to alt-country.

I like Gram a lot, although I think his overall influence is often overestimated. His body of work is good, but not outstanding. The INternational Submarine Band record is fair, his work with the Byrds very good, and his solo records ranged from amazing to spotty.

I think he tends to get more credit than he might deserve for the same reason Jim Morrison and Jeff Buckley and Kurt Cobain do...because of the mythology of their deaths, rather than the body of music.

That being said, though, I still enjoy 70-80% of Gram's catalog a good bit. And, as a fan of alt-country, I appreciate his influence as much as I appreciate the songs themselves.

There's a good biography of Parsons by Ben Fong-Torres called Hickory Wind which is well worth a read.

I just watched Grand Theft Parsons. It's pretty good.

I'm in the same camp as pE. I like most of the things he was involved with, but think he is often overrated. He did a lot of good stuff in his short time, but I don't think any of his albums are masterpieces.