1970-72 - The Void Years



As the rather snappy heading may suggest, for a while after leaving the Flying Burrito Brothers, there wasn't an awful lot going for Parsons. It might have seemed that way at first when he was almost immediately snapped up onto a solo contract with A&M and, teaming up with producer Terry Melcher (having worked with the Byrds and the Beach Boys over the years), went about attempting his first solo album. After the unproductively drug-addled sessions, Parsons lost interest and the album was shelved. As you might be able to tell from the above picture, he joined the Rolling Stones on tour in 1971 primarily to hang out and get zonked with his friend Keith Richards, but also in the hope that they might record an album together. It was while he was shacked up with Richards during the Exile On Main Street sessions in France that his dependency on alcohol, cocaine and heroin started to spin out of control. Parsons' behaviour became increasingly unpredictable and he was soon asked to leave.

It was after his return to the US of A that he married, successfully ditched his heroin habit and went about getting his career back on track. After a one-off reunion gig with the Flying Burrito Brothers that year, Chris Hillman and Parsons went to Washington DC to see a then small-time singer-songwriter by the name of Emmylou Harris. After thinking about inviting Harris to join the Burrito Brothers, Hillman recommended her to Parsons as a potential creative partner. The friendship, working relationship and albums that followed would turn out to be very important in country music history...