GP

His first solo album, 1973’s GP, is probably the best realized expression of Parson’s musical personality. Working with a crack band of LA and Nashville’s finest (including James Burton on guitar, Ronnie Tutt on drums, Byron Berline on fiddle, and Glen D Hardin on piano), he drew from them a sound that merged breezy confidence with deeply felt southern soul, and he in turn pulled off some of his most subtle and finely detailed vocal performances; She and A Song For You, in particular, are masterful examples of passion finding balance with understatement.

Parsons also discovered that rare artist with whom he can be said to have genuinely collaborated (rather than played beside), Emmylou Harris; Gram and Harris’ spot-on harmonies and exchanged verses on We’ll Sweep out the Ashes in the Morning and That’s All it Took are achingly beautiful and instantly established her as one country music’s most gifted vocalists.