Elegy for a Lost Legend

When Dan and Evelyn Shirbroun purchased the 10-room Joshua Tree Inn for around $400,000 in 1988, they had no idea they were acquiring a piece of rock ‘n’ roll history.

The couple, who originally turned the property into a residential treatment center for children, didn’t learn until three years later that the inn was where Gram Parsons, a singer-songwriter they had never heard of, died in 1973 at age 26.

The Shirbrouns aren’t alone in not knowing about Parsons. None of his records--those with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers or the two solo albums for Reprise--ever came close to the national Top 40 charts.

But Parsons, whose memory was saluted in a series of events here Saturday, was one of the most gifted and influential figures of the modern pop era, thanks to music that expressed the conflict between innocence and temptation by pitting the purity of sentimental country with the seduction of rock.

Parsons’ various recordings helped shape the vision of such hugely successful artists as the Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello and even the Rolling Stones, whose tunes “Wild Horses” and “Faraway Eyes” reflect some of his wistful country spirit.

In one of his most enduring songs, “Sin City,” Parsons laid a virtual blueprint for the Eagles’ classic, Grammy-winning “Hotel California.”

The song, by Parsons and Chris Hillman, includes the lines:

This old town, filled with sin

It’ll swallow you in, if you’ve got money to burn.

Take it home, right away

You’ve got three years to pay.

But Satan is waiting his turn.

*

Tragically, Parsons was already being swallowed by the sex and drugs component of rock ‘n’ roll by the time he wrote “Sin City” in 1969, even though he fought off his demons until the night he died of a combination of morphine and alcohol in Room 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn.

Since turning the inn into a bed and breakfast spot in 1992, the Shirbrouns have been amazed by the constant trek of Parsons fans who check into the inn, where for $95 a night they can stay in Room 8, which has been decorated with a couple of Byrds posters and a photograph of Parsons.

Emmylou Harris, who toured and recorded with Parsons in the ‘70s, stayed there with her daughter in August (though not in Room 8). Also contemporary singer-songwriters Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, Matthew Sweet and Pete Droge, they recall.

Though there have been numerous gatherings of Parsons fans over the years, there was no formal tribute here until Saturday, when a couple of hundred people attended “GramFest ‘96,” the first of what local organizers hope will become an annual salute. They plan to use any profits to place a memorial plaque honoring Parsons, either in nearby Joshua Tree National Park or at the inn. His body was cremated in the area by friends after it was stolen in a celebrated incident from a loading platform at Los Angeles International Airport.

Saturday’s inaugural affair featured lectures, a barbecue dinner and tours of the inn, including a stop at Room 8, which opens onto a patio pool and a gorgeous view of the desert. The focus of the day, however, was a pair of concerts at the 168-seat Hi-Desert Playhouse, next door to the inn.

The big draw: Parsons’ daughter Polly, who was to sing some of her father’s songs with a Nashville-based duo, the Calamity Twins.

It was the first time the 28-year-old singer and her mother, Nancy Parsons, had been at the inn, where they sat on the bed in Room 8 briefly and said a prayer. Both women have tended to stay away from Parsons gatherings because they didn’t want to open themselves to all the questions and comments of the intense cult following.

“It was time to come, not only to support Polly, but to tell Gram I loved him and I miss him,” Nancy Parsons, who was never actually married to the singer, said after visiting the room.

Jon McKinney, who helped organize the day’s activities with Randy Stone, said he understands what frequently drew Parsons to the peace of Joshua Tree, a 2 1/2-hour drive from Los Angeles.

“If you are in the city, it’s hard sometimes to get away from the chaos and turmoil,” McKinney said, standing in the Playhouse lobby before the first concert. “It’s hard to get much peace. So people come out here and have a chance to collect their thoughts. I think that’s why he came out here. If he had found the same peace in his life that he had felt in his music, he might still be alive.”

“Sin City” was played over the sound system as fans from as far away as England started moving into the Playhouse auditorium shortly after 7:30 p.m.

Backstage, Polly Parsons seemed calm despite all the attention on her. Only 5 when her father died, she sang in a band called She that attracted some club attention in Los Angeles around 1990. But the soft-spoken young woman didn’t feel comfortable performing at the time and dropped out of the music business.

She is now a nurse who works with female cancer patients and has no plans to return to music, though she seemed excited by the chance to sing her father’s songs.

There was some grumbling during the evening when some of the acts played their own songs rather than tunes identified with Parsons, but there was something in their earnestness that was reminiscent of Parsons’ own ambition and all the nights he entered the talent contests at the old Palomino Club in North Hollywood.

Yet Parsons’ memory was best evoked when his daughter and the Calamity Twins sang “Return of the Grievous Angel,” a Parsons song that summarizes his sometimes tormented search for comfort and salvation.

“I’d like to thank everybody for coming out tonight,” Polly said before singing the song. “Some really wonderful people did a lot of really wonderful things to put it together. . . . the support and the love of it all.”

Pausing, she added, “I’d also like to say happy birthday to my father. . . . We love you.”

There was more music to be played, but the moment had been defined. Gram Parsons would have been 50 on Nov. 5.