Born to a wealthy Southern-Gothic family of alcoholics and suicides, Gram Parsons possessed a genius for the American sound. He led the Byrds to create the first country-rock album and taught the joys of American roots music to Mick Jagger. His album, Grievous Angel, remains a haunting masterpiece, but before it was released, Parsons, aged twenty-six, died from a lethal mix of morphine and barbiturates. Author David N. Meyer paints an unprecedented portrait of the man who brought together country music and rock and roll. Masterfully told, Twenty Thousand Roads is a dazzling evocation of an artist, his music and his times.