He promised us that he would get back somehow, and with help from Grateful Dead archivist Owsley "Bear" Stanley and Amoeba Records' co-founder Dave Prinz he has. The beautiful voice of the late Gram Parsons will be heard again with the release of Gram Parsons Archives Vol.1: The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon 1969.

The birth of the 21st century brought a resurgence of appreciation for Gram's music. Old material was reissued, repackaged and re-sequenced, multiple books were written about his life, and the 2003 film, Grand Theft Parsons, told the story of the interesting events immediately following his untimely death. Furthermore, Gram's daughter Polly threw two amazing tribute concerts for her father and released some stellar footage of them on the 2005 DVD, Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons. In 2006, Emmylou Harris and Rhino Records’ James Austin produced a documentary chronicling Gram’s life entitled, Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel.

This new appreciation of Gram’s work cultured some disparaging dissent amongst a handful of critics, as it’s very easy to dismiss Gram as just a rich kid with rock star aspirations. After all, he was a Rolling Stones groupie, a hipster, and he partied way too much – making him seem unworthy of all his accolades. Essentially, Gram was human, and myth makers seldom like their heroes and icons to reflect the human characteristics of us mere mortals. Fulfilling the Ecclesiastes passage immortalized by The Byrds, perhaps there was a time to cast such stones.

These incredible recordings mark the dawn of a new season of appreciation for Gram Parsons. Gram Parsons Archive Vol. 1s: The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon 1969 has surfaced to remind us that Gram deserves the title etched on his High Desert grave: "God's Own Singer." In these exquisitely preserved recordings, Gram's voice is mixed well enough to hear the heartache in the fragile timbre of his subtle inflections, as well as the fiery soul that longed for peace, love and understanding in his world and ours. Just listen to his version of "Long Black Cadillac" and try not to feel something when Gram's voice breaks at all the right moments!

"The thing about this tape is that it's some of Gram's best singing I've ever heard, including studio recordings," says Dave Prinz. "You can really hear the subtleties and nuances of some of the most beautiful singing that he's ever done. That's a true gift.”

Prinz adds, "But it's not just a celebration of Gram Parsons. These recordings also showcase the amazing chemistry that thrived in the Flying Burrito Brothers. This set, recorded while the band was still high off the sessions that produced The Gilded Palace of Sin, shows the Burritos burning with their raw authentic energy and sound. It’s one of the seminal moments in the creation of country rock and the California sound, and this marks the first time since 1969 that the songs will be heard again. This is a milestone event."

As it turns out, finding these long lost tapes and getting the clearance to release them was somewhat of a milestone as well. The recordings came from the Grateful Dead vault shortly before its contents were procured by Rhino Records. Prinz explains, "There had been rumors for decades that there was some Gram Parsons stuff in the Dead vault, but it had never been verified. And about two years ago Joel Selvin, who is a good friend of ours, heard about our project and got us into the Dead vault. We got to go in there before Rhino bought it. It's a big room just overflowing with Dead tapes! And everything is catalogued. It's all there. I was like…oh my God. There are like 16,000 hours of Dead - which if you do the math is about two-and-a-half years of music. And I'm just looking for three hours of Gram! So when we got there they have "Long Black Limousine" cued up. And here's a version I've never heard. And it's just beautiful. The whole performance is. And at this point I realize that this has to come out for people to hear. It is the best sounding live Burritos that I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot. This version of 'You're Still On My Mind' is maybe the most beautiful thing I've ever heard Gram sing."

“Hearing these recordings and releasing them to the public are two very different tasks,” Prinz admits, "This was the hardest project I've ever done in my life. We're just lucky that Bear taped opening acts. That's the real story. Everybody taped the Dead, but only Bear taped the opening acts. If he liked them, he kept them. In 1969 the Burritos opened for the Dead at the Avalon Ballroom and thankfully, Bear kept the recordings well intact."

Prinz explained how over the years, Bear had been burned by so many shady music industry types that he had no other choice but to keep the Dead vaults heavily guarded. Prinz wrote up a contract asking Bear to let him put out this one recording as the first release on his new Amoeba Records roster.

"I showed the contract to one of Bear's friends and he said, 'You can't do that! That's way too legal!' So getting Bear to sign that contract was the last key to unlocking these recordings to the public. But he wouldn't sign. Months and months go by and I'm trying to make this my mission. And I can't do it. More months go by and Bear's still not signing and I'm getting so frustrated, but I don't know what to do. And then a miracle happened."

At the time Prinz was simultaneously embarking upon a gypsy jazz project with David Grisman and his business partner Craig Miller.

"I'm having lunch with Craig Miller and venting my frustrations and Miller says, 'I can get Bear to sign that contract in one day.' And I said, 'You can do that?!?' And he says, 'David [Grisman] has asked me to do that. He wants to help you.'  That was the nicest thing I've ever heard in my life! And the next day, just like he said, I swear to God, I had the contract faxed and signed with Bear's big beautiful signature. I understand and respect that it was a very guarded situation – the kind of situation where somebody had to vouch for me. And somebody did. Those guys were so cool to do that and I'll never be able to thank them enough."

Prinz also had the blessing of Flying Burrito Brother Chris Etheridge.

"Chris is the nicest guy in the world. He's so supportive and he wants us to do this. He wants to honor Gram and his time with the Flying Burrito Brothers. He wants to be a part of this."

And if a green light could shine even brighter, it was Gram's daughter Polly who gave her blessings for the release of these recordings.

“The first time I heard this music, I was incredibly electrified and excited.” Polly adds, “Gram is quite thoroughly alive and well in this offering.”

Gram Parsons Archives: The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon 1969 is scheduled to be released soon on Amoeba’s new record label. The 25-track set was recently discovered in the Grateful Dead vaults and has never before been made available to the public. Fans of Gram and The Flying Burrito Brothers will for the first time be able to hear them cover Hank Cochran's "Undo the Right" and Autry Inman's "She Once Lived Here." There are two home demo bonus tracks: “Thousand Dollar Wedding” and “When will I Be Loved” from Jimmi Seiter’s vault.

But here's the kicker. This will be just the first in a series of Gram related offerings from Amoeba Records' new label.

You heard it here first. The Grievous Angel shall return again.

-Eric Shea