Grievous Angel is part biography, part visual scrapbook – a compilation of intimate conversations, rarely-seen photos and unpublished letters, all tied together with a vivid retelling of Gram’s amazing story. With Polly’s inside viewpoint of her father and his world, Grievous Angel offers a rare, intimate insight into the life of a visionary artist. To celebrate the book’s release, Jessica Hundley will be undertaking a brief yet festive national reading tour, accompanied by live musicians and a slideshow.

Gram Parsons was a member of The Byrds, as well as founder and frontman of The Flying Burrito Brothers. He was best friend to Keith Richards and mentor to Emmylou Harris. And he uncannily predicted the “alt- country” movement that is so hugely popular today, combining country and rock when the two were like oil and water.

Grievous Angel features dozens of interviews with fellow musicians – both with Parsons’ contemporaries, including Richards and Harris, as well as dialogues with three decades’ worth of musicians influenced by Parsons’ music, ranging from Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson and Steve Earle to contemporary artists including My Morning Jacket, Norah Jones, Dinosaur Jr., The Thrills and Bright Eyes.

Grievous Angel provides a vibrantly illustrated history of Gram Parsons, his times and the unforgettable aesthetic that resulted from their collision. Parsons’ enduring allure lies in large part in his unique look and tastes, his crooked Southern smile and a style which was entirely his own. He was a whiskey-burnt cowboy, folk hero, psychedelic rambler and Elvis Presley in full glitter and flash – all at the same time.

The book also serves as a further part of Polly Parsons’ ongoing personal mission to ensure that her father’s legacy lives on – through tribute concerts (the most prominent of which, Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, has received great critical acclaim in its recent star-powered DVD release), interviews, public appearances and now, through the publication of this comprehensive new memoir.

With the participation of family, friends, contemporaries and the multitude of musicians influenced by Gram’s work, Grievous Angel places Gram’s own dramatic within a much greater context: a century’s worth of musical history. Grievous Angel is not just Gram’s story, but the story of all that came before and after his brief shining moment: the singing cowboys of Old California, early Nashville glamour and Bakersfield grit, the decadent days of the 1960s and the continuing evolution of the rock ’n’ roll history.