There are a bunch of musicians’ birthdays and musical landmarks today. But sorry, as a Cracker I have to honor what would have been the 69th birthday of the Pride of Waycross, Georgia, Gram Parsons. Here is what was likely one of his first public performances of “Hickory Wind” with the Byrds, in Rome (or “Rome Italy” as Gram would probably have called it). This song invariably brings tears to my eyes.

YouTube video

UPDATE: Afraid I originally posted this with the wrong date. That’s what I get for sleepily failing to check the site before moving on to the next post. Sorry about that.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.