Eamon Blog

Today's Shelf Pull: Gram Parsons, Now Playing

Country roots, close vocals, and room for mixed feelings.

Gram Parsons makes a useful companion for anyone suspicious of a cheerful tune with a clean conscience. Read the full story from Kilmorna in Listowel.

Gram Parsons makes a useful companion for anyone suspicious of a cheerful tune with a clean conscience. Now Playing offers a compact vinyl introduction to his country-rooted songs, with emotional directness doing more of the work than any grand declaration.

This is a compilation, not an original studio album. Its ten selections occupy two sides, giving a newcomer a manageable route into Parsons rather than a map with every lane marked. There is something considerate about a record that knows the difference.

The attraction is the meeting of melodic warmth and unsettled feeling. Close vocals keep the human scale intact, while the country-rock arrangements leave the songwriting in view. Listen for that balance before worrying about where folk ends and another category begins.

For a record shop in Listowel, that is a more useful starting point than a lecture on influence. A musical family tree can wait. First, there should be a reason to want the next song.

Side A starts with Still Feeling Blue, followed by A Song For You and She. Those opening positions offer a simple listening exercise: follow the voice across the sequence, and notice how a bittersweet melodic pull can hold the songs together.

The New Soft Shoe comes next, before Return Of The Grevous Angel (Remix) closes the side. That final title and its remix designation are worth retaining exactly as listed here. This particular collection has its own running order, rather than borrowing a studio album's shape.

Across that first side, give the arrangements a little attention without making them the whole subject. The rootsy setting matters because it supports the emotional plainness. Warmth need not mean reassurance; a melody can welcome you in without promising to settle anything.

Parsons sits at a crossing of country tradition, folk feeling and rock sensibility. The useful thing about those terms is what they encourage you to hear together, not the separate boxes they might suggest.

Side B opens with Hearts On Fire, then moves to Brass Buttons and $1000 Wedding. Take those middle positions as an invitation to slow down. In a concise selection, the songs between the side opener and the finish deserve more than passing attention.

Listen particularly to the relationship between the close vocal presence and the reflective movement of the music. Emotional directness is not the same as emotional simplicity. The country-rooted framework gives the songs a familiar outline, while their bittersweet character keeps easy comfort at a distance.

Love Hurts occupies the fourth position, with Las Vegas closing the record. Resist treating that penultimate title as the whole destination. Hearing the final pair in order lets the compilation finish its own thought, rather than stopping at a familiar name.

There is no need to turn this into a test of recognition. Knowing a title beforehand and finding a place for it within a side are different pleasures. The second asks only that you keep listening.

This 2024 LP is an overview, so completeness is not its job. It offers breadth within a short selection, useful both for a first encounter and for returning listeners who want a concentrated visit rather than an archive.

What stays with this approach is proportion: songs first, reputation afterwards. Parsons' importance to country-rock is part of the context, but the warmer invitation is to hear how a close voice and a strong melody carry complicated feeling.

Now Playing makes sense for someone beginning with Parsons, or someone wanting his music gathered into a single sitting. Neither listener needs to pretend that ten tracks tell the entire story. A good introduction leaves something to follow.

For today's shelf pull, that is enough: two sides, a clear focus, and room to listen again. No examination at the end.

On the shelf today:

Gram Parsons - Now Playing

LP, 2024

Folk / Songwriter

EUR 19.95

Available from The Kilmorna Collection, Listowel

Buy or reserve: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl/gram-parsons-now-playing

Buying vinyl records in Ireland: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl-records-ireland

On the shelf today

Gram Parsons - Now Playing

LP / Folk / Songwriter / 2024

EUR19.95 / Available now

Order / Reserve