Polly Parsons (credit: John Anderson)
By Laura Ferreiro
Polly Parsons was just 7 years old when her father, singer Gram Parsons, died of a drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 26. Her father was in the prime of his life and musical career, working with the Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and as a groundbreaking solo artist when he fatally mixed tequila and morphine at a Joshua Tree hotel in 1973.
In an effort to help artists like her father, Parsons founded the Gram Parsons Foundation, which supports artists and musicians worldwide with addiction recovery services. “I feel like if there had been a group of people back then who had seen the damage of so much beautiful music and art lost to such addiction, and if he’d had like-minds guide him through recovery or give him resources, perhaps (my father) would be alive today,” Parsons tells Music for Good.
The Foundation originally began in 2004 with a tribute to Gram featuring his close friend, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. It raised nearly $100,000 for MusiCares, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences foundation that aids musicians in crisis.
The Gram Parsons Foundation has been lying dormant for several years, but impassioned letters from fans and supporters inspired Parsons to relaunch it and, serving as its president, reinvigorate the Foundation’s efforts to fund these vital recovery programs.
“They are a very under-cared for population,” says Parsons of artists and musicians who suffer from addiction and alcoholism. “There’s a lot of stigma around the fact that your full-time job is around a bar. Part of their culture is around that workspace. It’s really necessary to give resources and support to these musicians and artists who don’t necessarily have the resources they need to get this support.”
Parsons herself struggled with addiction for several years in her teens and through her 20s, and is now sober in her 40s. “I struggled desperately from (age) 16-26, until I got sober,” Parsons says. Why would she trifle with something that claimed her father’s life? “I believe that 50 percent of drug addiction is biological, and 50 percent is situational. It runs very deep in my lineage. When you are predisposed to addiction the chances are that once you’re exposed to them on a consistent basis, you have a physical allergy and spiritual malady. The mental obsession continues the cycle of needing,” she explains.
Parsons says that oftentimes addicts have to hit rock bottom before they will get the help they need to kick the habit. “The only way to become sober is to hit the bottom yourself,” she says. “You become only as willing as the dying can.”
Musicians have struggled with addiction as long as anyone can remember, but the recent alcohol- and drug-related deaths of Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse have shined a spotlight on the problem, making the relaunch of the Foundation especially relevant and timely. Parsons says that one in every 10 alcoholics she works with will die—a shockingly high rate.
To celebrate its relaunch, the Foundation will throw a two-part party at South by Southwest on March 14, as previously reported. The elaborate bash will be held at Hotel San Jose and feature performances by Brendan Benson, Eric Burdon, Blitzen Trapper, Alberta Cross, Great Lake Swimmers, Jenny O and Poor Man (Christian and Casey from Fleet Foxes), and will be streamed live at VenueOne.
For more information or to contribute to the Gram Parsons Foundation, visit www.gramparsonsfoundation.org.