A Grevious Angel celebration

Contributed. Gram Parsons plays at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, Calif. Dec. 6, 1969.

 The tribute festival is a commemoration of Gram Parsons’ musical legacy and the body of work that he left behind following his death in 1973. On a secondary note, the festival is also a celebration of original music, art, and harmony spawned from Parsons’ hometown in Waycross.

“We use the tribute festival to not only celebrate Gram’s life and legacy, but to also shine a light on a lot of incredible talent,” said Dave Griffin, founder of the Parsons tribute. “Waycross inhabits some of the most talented songwriters, musicians, and artists that I’ve ever come across. It’s simply amazing.”

The event came to be in November of 1998 when Griffin held the first Guitar Pull in his own back yard. This simple occasion foreshadowed the development of an extremely prominent festival in South Georgia. Griffin remembers, “It was just a germ of an idea at that time. Simply my own excuse to get local musicians together,”.

Since its commencement in 1998, the southern embodied festival now attracts well over 1500 Gram devotees every year, as well as musicians who were priveledged enough to share Gram’s musical expedition during the late 1960′s. Musicians ranging from legendary songwriter and pianist Leon Russell, to International Submarine Band bassist, Ian Dunlop.

The festival’s faculty and staff are constantly brainstorming ways to increase the audience turnout, spice up the performance line-up, and embody all of the wonderful characteristics that define ‘southern hospitality.’

“I’m always hoping for a year when all revenue and profits made during the festival will be used to finance the next years guitar pull,” Griffin said. “I see no reason to doubt what we can and cannot do.”