GP is American singer-songwriter Gram Parsons' debut solo album, and the only one released during his lifetime. It was originally released in a gatefold sleeve in 1973. GP received critical acclaim upon release, but failed to reach the Billboard charts. In the original Rolling Stone review, which individually covered both GP and its follow-up, Grievous Angel, the reviewer praises Parsons' vocals and delivery paraphrasing Gram's lyrics, "boy, but he sure can sing".
Background
After being dismissed from his previous band, the critically acclaimed Flying Burrito Brothers, Parsons decided to embark on a solo career. Unlike his two albums with the Burritos, which melded country and western with soul and rock music, Parsons was determined to make a more traditional country record this time around. However, Parsons' ongoing drug problem (which was a deciding factor for his being fired from the Burritos) and his friendship with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones would delay his solo plans. As Mojo writer John Harris recalls in his article "The Lost Boy," Parsons had spent March 1971 hanging out with the Stones entourage on their 10-day "Goodbye Britain" tour and then, after spending much of the summer in London, he and (girlfriend) Gretchen Burrell flew to the South of France and spent two months "living in Nellcote, Keith and Anita's rented abode-cum-zoo-cum-studio." As the Stones spent months struggling to complete their ragged masterpiece Exile on Main Street in the basement, Parsons could be found upstairs where he was often joined by Richards spending hours passing the guitar back and forth singing old country songs. However, Parsons' condition eventually deteriorated to the point where he was booted from the premises, as David N. Meyer recounts in his 2007 Parsons biography Twenty Thousand Roads: "At Nellcote no one, not even Richards, saw rescuing Gram as a project that had much chance of success. Tolerance for his self-destruction had run out. The Stones had an album to record. Gram provided inspiration for much of what ended up on the record, but he had become a drag. It was time for him to go." Devastated at being ousted from the Stones inner circle, Parsons returned to London and, for a brief period, stayed with his former bandmate from The International Submarine Band Ian Dunlop in Cornwall before returning to Los Angeles intending to make a solo album for Warner Bros.
Recording and composition
Country megastar Merle Haggard agreed to produce Parsons's first solo album but backed out at the last minute. According to Meyer's Twenty Thousand Roads, Warner Bros. arranged a meeting at Haggard's Bakersfield home and the two musicians seemed to hit it off but later, on the afternoon of the first session, Haggard canceled. Parsons, an enormous Haggard fan, was crushed, with his wife Gretchen telling Meyer, "Merle not producing Gram was probably one of the greatest disappointments in Gram's life. Merle was very nice, very sweet, but he had his own enemies and his own demons." Parsons did manage to hire Haggard's engineer Hugh Davies for his upcoming album, as well as the core of Elvis Presley's band: James Burton (who had also played on Haggard's records) on guitar, Glen D. Hardin on piano and organ, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. Parson's biggest coup, however, was discovering Emmylou Harris, an unknown singer from Washington, D.C., who was recommended to Parsons by Chris Hillman. In the BBC documentary Beyond Nashville Harris recalls, "I would say until I had met Gram and started working with him I didn't really understand or have a real love or feel for country music. Like most of my generation, you know, country music was politically incorrect for us at that point. It was associated with Republicans and Right Wing and that sort of thing. He taught me the beauty and the poetry, the simplicity, the honesty in the music. And the love of harmony came from really singing with him."