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What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone is having a nice week. The official signifier of fall (for me) has finally arrived here in Raleigh, the State Fair. I know lots of people have mixed feelings about the fair. Some love it, some hate it, and some just like going for the food or people watching. I happen to be one of the people who loves the fair, the rides, exhibits, carnies and all. It just has such a distinct feel to it that’s never really changed to me, and I have a blast every year. That doesn’t really have anything to do with the record I’m writing about today; I’m just excited for the fair, man. Anyway, I sometimes seem to obsessively dive into things I get into, especially music, movies, etc., and go down a rabbit hole. Today I would like to talk about the Gram Parsons rabbit hole I’ve been going down this year. It all started back in March when I went to a Billy Strings show (shocker) in Charleston, South Carolina. He did a cover of the song Hickory Wind, which was unknown to me at the time, and I remember hearing it and being like, “man this is a really good song.” The next morning, while in the cheap, sketchy, smoker friendly motel room we had gotten, I thought of the song again and looked it up to see who it was by and was surprised when The Byrds popped up. I was confused. “The Byrds made this country song? I thought they were a rock band?” I returned to work and regaled Dominic with stories from my trip. The song came up, and I told him how much I liked it but was confused it was a Byrds song. That’s when Dominic introduced me to the wonderful world of Gram Parsons. The fact this guy just joined this rock band and was like, “nah fuck this, we’re making country music now” was so cool to me. Especially cause I feel like the end result could be so horrible, but it ended up sounding so amazing and authentic. I started listening to Sweetheart of the Rodeo a bunch and it quickly became a favorite album of mine. What really solidified this interest in Gram was when Billy came here in June and played a couple shows, he did a cover of Sin City, also unknown to me at the time, and I had the exact same thought of, “man this is an amazing song.” After the show I look it up and what do you know, it’s a Flying Burrito Brothers song. I started learning more about Gram Parsons’ story and realized what an incredibly interesting, badass, impactful, and tragic life this man had. It blows my mind this was just a dude who was my age doing all this stuff. Sweetheart of the Rodeo is just about a perfect album to me. Amazing original songs and very thoughtful and timeless covers of country and folk classics. This album just has it all for me, even a murder ballad! My favorite tracks on here are You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, I Am a Pilgrim, Hickory Wind, and Pretty Polly. Music is like a map and if you look in the right direction and start following it, you can be led down a path of incredible discoveries you might not have found otherwise.