to produce Parsons's first solo album but backed out at the last minute. According to Meyer's Twenty Thousand Roads, Warner Bros. arranged a meeting at Haggard's Bakersfield home and the two musicians seemed to hit it off but later, on the afternoon of the first session, Haggard canceled. Parsons, an enormous Haggard fan, was crushed, with his wife Gretchen telling Meyer, "Merle not producing Gram was probably one of the greatest disappointments in Gram's life. Merle was very nice, very sweet, but he had his own enemies and his own demons." Parsons did manage to hire Haggard's engineer Hugh Davies for his upcoming album, as well as the core of Elvis Presley's band: James Burton (who had also played on Haggard's records) on guitar, Glen D. Hardin on piano and organ, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. Parson's biggest coup, however, was discovering Emmylou Harris, an unknown singer from Washington, D.C., who was recommended to Parsons by Chris Hillman. In the BBC documentary Beyond Nashville Harris recalls, "I would say until I had met Gram and started working with him I didn't really understand or have a real love or feel for country music. Like most of my generation, you know, country music was politically incorrect for us at that point. It was associated with Republicans and Right Wing and that sort of thing. He taught me the beauty and the poetry, the simplicity, the honesty in the music. And the love of harmony came from really singing with him." The sessions for GP ran from September through October 1972 and were produced by former Blind Faith bassist Ric Grech. Parsons was beside himself with excitement at being surrounded by such stellar musicians but also severely intimidated by their presence; in a February 2013 cover story for Uncut, David Cavanagh recalls the singer's reticence: "Rehearsals for GP descended into drug binges. The songs were coming together – 'Still Feeling Blue' (a Parsons original), 'Kiss The Children' (by Grech), 'Streets of Baltimore' (a 1966 composition by Tompall Glaser and Harlan Howard) – but Gram was falling apart at the seams. He was in the grip of alcoholism. He gorged on cocaine. He was bloated and sweaty; friends in Los Angeles estimated he'd put on three stone (42 pounds) since his Burrito days. Singer and rhythm guitarist Barry Tashian remembers him being 'nervously excited' about the album, but strangely paralysed by inaction." In