This year Radioinfo will take you back 50 years to songs from 1974. It was a mighty fine year for music.
This is one of the most extraordinary tales of all time.
Let’s start with the song. Love Hurts was written by the fabulously named Boudleaux Bryant for the Everly Brothers in 1960. Boudleaux usually wrote with his wife Felice and the two were incredibly successful personally and professionally. They eloped five days after meeting and were totally devoted to each other across the four decades they were married until Boudleaux died in 1987. The song was certainly not written from current or personal experience.
The Everly Brothers were in the midst of a falling out with their management so they never released it as a single. As a result the Bryants’ close personal friend and later neighbour Roy Orbison then had a go in 1961. It was the B side of Running Scared in most countries. In Australia we loved it so much that we made it a double A sided single so here is where the song charted for the first time, getting to No 8.
I also want to mention 1976 where it charted here simultaneously for former Traffic frontman Jim Capaldi (a kind of stoic version) and for Scottish rockers Nazareth, a ‘my heart is actually bleeding’ version. Both are Australian one hit wonders.
Heading back to 1973, Gram Parsons (pictured above), formerly of the Byrds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, was recorded his now legendary album Grievous Angel. The 26 year old had a wife called Gretchen, a nasty drug addiction and a tendency to procrastinate rather than create.
Two years earlier he’d seen Emmylou Harris perform at a club. Emmylou was headed down a folk path and about to give up her hopes for a music career. Meeting Gram changed everything.
Willie Nelson once said:
“There are two kinds of men. Those who are in love with Emmylou Harris, and those who haven’t met her.”
Emmylou is also a one hit wonder in Australia with a rather naff version of Mister Sandman from the early 80s. From the moment she met Gram though, through to today, she is the ultimate wing woman. I believe I own all her albums, but in my opinion her most outstanding role is as a vocalist who brings out the best in others.
She and Gram worked together on the album GP which was a commercial flop. It was during the recordings of Grievous Angel that Gram died from an overdose. The recording of Love Hurts that the two do together, where it feels like Emmylou is holding him up at times, hits hardest because of the state he was in and the profound connection between the two.
About a year later Emmylou wrote and recorded Boulder to Birmingham to acknowledge the grief she felt on losing her mentor, friend and perhaps great love. Gretchen, threatened by Emmylou, removed Emmylou’s face from the originally planned Grievous Angel album cover.
Gram Parsons died in a hotel room near the Joshua Tree National Park, a place he felt spiritually connected to. He had told his record producer Phil Kaufman that he wished to have his ashes spread over Cap Rock, a natural feature there.
After he died his body was to go back to his family and be buried. And this is where the story becomes legend.
Kaufman and a friend rented a hearse and stole Parson’s body from LA International Airport. They drove back to Joshua Tree and then attempted to cremate the coffin themselves, using so much gasoline that a giant fireball was created.
They were arrested a couple of days later and fined about $1000. The site of the incident has, naturally, become infamous.
Grievous Angel was also not a commercial success but in the years since its esteem has grown. It now is considered a pivotal hybrid between country music, folk and rock.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.