POP MUSIC REVIEW : Birthday Tribute to Parsons

By nature, the annual birthday tribute to country-rock tragic hero Gram Parsons can’t be as sharply focused on the honoree as some of L.A.’s similar gatherings, like the parade of rockers who each dig into a song or two from Elvis Presley’s vast repertoire on the King’s birthday each year.

Parsons was only 26 when he died in 1973, so he didn’t leave enough material to fill a long evening. The acts at this year’s tribute, held on Tuesday at the Palomino, typically played a few of their own songs or some country standards, then finished with a Parsons selection. Consequently, the evening didn’t shape his body of work into a coherent whole.

Of course, any country-rock performance carries an implied nod to Parsons, without whom there would be no such music. He was the link between George Jones and the Eagles, injecting country into the rock vocabulary first with the Byrds, then with the Flying Burrito Brothers and his solo albums. So even if there was little connection between Parsons and the song on the table, a sense of celebration and thanks did emerge.

The performers’ connections to the birthday boy ranged from thicker-than-water (his daughter Polly Parsons is a member of the group She, though her backup-singer role is strictly supportive) to remote (young local acts like the Plowboys). In between were such people as Johnny Cash’s longtime pianist Earl Poole Ball, who reminisced about early sessions with Parsons, and ubiquitous fiddle ace Byron Berline, a later member of the Burritos.

Most of the music was at least respectable, though some had very little Parsons in it: Carla Olson’s roadhouse blues were fine, but it wasn’t until she dug into “Wild Horses” that her and Parsons’ common Stones associations linked up powerfully. Jim Lauderdale, a local country-scene regular with a Rodney Crowell-produced album due this month, hit an emotional high with his version of the aching “Hickory Wind.”

All good enough, but the evening might reflect more of Parsons’ daring if it made more demands, such as requiring all songs to have a clear link to him. And how about bringing in some performers from outside the country circle? Stylistic adventure was what Parsons was all about, and that kind of stretching would make his birthday that much happier.