MIXED MEDIA

“HICKORY WIND: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRAM PARSONS” By Ben Fong-Torres

Pocket Books ($19.95) ** Quotes on the back cover from the likes of Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Emmylou Harris sketch country-rock pioneer Parsons as a charismatic mystery man. This thoroughly researched chronicle by former Rolling Stone writer and editor Fong-Torres fleshes out Parsons’ drama-filled life, from his privileged but dysfunctional Southern upbringing to his rhine-stoned life with the stars to his 1973 overdose death. But it falls short in its attempts to illuminate his motivations and mystery. Perhaps the story needs to be told by someone who knew Parsons well, not by a journalist who never met him.