From Part 1:
“The first time I saw Gram Parsons was shortly after I first heard of him. I was a major Byrds fan and in a band that covered everything they ever did. There was no internet back then so news traveled slow. But word finally reached us that the Byrds had re-grouped to include founding members McGuinn and Hillman, Hillman’s cousin Kevin Kelly on drums, and some guy named Gram Parsons who had played in the Int’l. Submarine Band….”
From Part 2:
…We arrived at the hotel, found out the room(yes they gave out info in those days), and got in the elevator. As fate would have, Chris and Gram came strolling into the elevator just before the doors closed. How awkward. But before things could get weird, Chris sized us up and said, “Do you boys play poker?”. I said, “…
From Part 3:
“The final time I saw Gram Parsons was in June of 1970. The Burrito Bros. had just gone through some personnel changes and Burrito Deluxe was just released. Chris Etheridge had left the band forcing Chris Hillman to move back to bass. They recruited old friend Bernie Leadon to play lead guitar. Bernie of course had something much bigger coming down the road but there was no idea of that at this point in time. Bernie could also sing and write. At this point my only knowledge of him was as a co-author of “Train Leaves Here This Morning”, with Gene Clark, and as a member of the Dillard and Clark Expedition….”
For the rest of all three accounts of Toke’s meetings with Gram Parsons, join No Depression’s Gram Parsons InterNational group: https://www.nodepression.com/group/gramparsonsprojectBB
