Last Ride To The Joshua Tree: The Strange Funeral Of Gram Parsons

On This Day in 1973: Gram Parsons Found Dead at 26, Coffin Stolen and Set Ablaze in Joshua Tree

A Life of Music and Excess Cecil Connor III, known to the world as Gram Parsons, lived a short but influential life. Born in Waycross, Georgia, he helped shape the sound of country rock with his mix of folk, rock, and honky-tonk. By 1973, years of heavy drinking and drug use had begun to wear […]

Last Ride To The Joshua Tree: The Strange Funeral Of Gram Parsons

With the benefit of hindsight, Cecil Connor III, rather better known to us as Gram Parsons, was always a candidate to live fast and die young. The hedonistic lifestyle of the man from Waycross, Georgia had hit his health badly even during his brief few years of brilliant creativity. But it was still a tragedy when the news emerged that Gram’s last ride, to the Joshua Tree National Monument in California, had led to his death on September 19, 197…