Keith Richards to Play Parsons Shows in California

06/27/2004 10:16 PM, Reuters


Keith Richards will pay tribute to his late pal, country rock pioneer Gram Parsons , by performing at two all-star charity concerts in California next month, organizers said on Sunday.

The Rolling Stones guitarist will join the lineup of Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, on July 9 at the Santa Barbara Bowl and July 10 at the Universal Amphitheater near Hollywood.

Other performers will include Norah Jones , Steve Earle , Lucinda Williams , Dwight Yoakam, Raul Malo/The Mavericks, John Doe , eastmountainsouth, Kathleen Edwards and Jay Farrar.

The concerts (http://www.gramparsonstribute.com) are being organized by Parsons' daughter, Polly, with net proceeds going to the Musicians' Assistance Program, which provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation to members of the music industry.

Parsons belonged to the Rolling Stones' inner circle during the early 1970s, and is credited with turning Richards onto country rock. His band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, performed at Altamont in 1969 and covered "Wild Horses" on their 1970 album "Burrito Deluxe" a year before it turned up on the Stones' album "Sticky Fingers." Parsons died of a drug overdose in Joshua Tree, Calif. in 1973.

Richards was last in Los Angeles in early May when he performed at Willie Nelson's annual televised concert at the Wiltern Theater.

Reuters/VNU