Gram Parsons Derry Down
Posted by: 
Markerman62
N 28° 01.493 W 081° 43.915
17R E 428051 N 3100174
Located at 297 5th Street Northwest
Waymark Code: WMXC4D
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 12/24/2017
Views: 5
On December 20, 1964, Winter Haven businessman Bob Parsons opened the Derry Down in this building. The English-themed teen club’s primary purpose was to give his stepson, Gram Parsons, a performance venue for his folk band, The Shilos. The club not only provided a venue for local youth musicians, but it helped elevate Winter Haven as a destination for traveling groups in the region. The Derry Down became part of a circuit of Florida teen centers in the 1960s that provided fledgling musicians a place to hone their skills as performers. In 1968, Gram Parsons joined the American folk rock standard-bearers The Byrds. In 1969, he founded the country rock band, Flying Burrito Brothers. Parsons recorded two genre-bending solo albums with then-unknown folk singer, Emmylou Harris. He died in 1973 in Joshua Tree, California, at age 26. In 2013, author Bob Kealing raised awareness that the building was slated for demolition. The building’s owner, Six/Ten, LLC donated the building to the community-driven Derry Down Project, a Main Street Winter Haven initiative, to restore the building and preserve its legacy by nurturing new artists.
Marker Number: F-869
Date: 2015
County: Polk
Marker Type: City
Sponsored or placed by: Derry Down Project, Main Street Winter Haven, Inc., Bob Kealing, and the Florida Department of State
Website: [Web Link]
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