Fri, 28 Sep 2007

Which makes me wonder why it is that every country singer has to sound Southern, and why it bothers me so much when they do. And yet while that makes me crazy about country, and not the good kind of crazy, doesn't bother me at all when it transmogrifies into bluegrass. Am I being irrational Or is it just when it's done this well that the good outweighs the bad so much that I can't complain? And believe me, I've tried. Lord, how I've tried.

Fri, 20 Jul 2007

Mon, 04 Jun 2007

Fri, 20 Oct 2006

Mon, 21 Aug 2006

Perhaps that was the idea.

Mon, 29 May 2006

Wed, 03 May 2006

Anyway, I'm enjoying the Chicks' new release, both as a song and as a response to those who, even if they're willing to forgive and forget, haven't yet figured out that the Chicks aren't the one who should be seeking forgiveness. Not very Christian to avoid turning the other check, I suppose. Then again, I'm not very Christian either.

Fri, 17 Mar 2006

(I almost said something about getting the willies, but I'd never abuse a pun like that. Never.)

Mon, 13 Mar 2006

Wed, 22 Feb 2006

The recent passing of her father, mother and stepmother inspired this latest work. As we might have guessed from that inspiration, Black Cadillac is poetic, contemplative and not exactly upbeat. And yet it's not a downer either; in loss she finds comfort and understanding, honoring those she's lost while ackowledging both the good and the bad in their humanity. I particularly like God Is In the Roses, which in its calm and gentle center tries to find balance in the universe. Without dwelling on it, it betrays a different kind of ache from Ache.

Fri, 30 Dec 2005

Which is how I encountered Slim Dusty, who performed several classic tracks on that album. His version of The Man From Snowy River is stirring stuff. And his rendition of Namatjira, about a famous aboriginal painter, is fascinating both for its paternalistic attitude and for the strangeness (to me, at any rate) of an artist being the subject of a traditional song. It's stuff like that that reminds me, if I ever need it, that it isn't just with the Brits that we're separated by a common language.

Wed, 14 Dec 2005

I mention the preceding because I felt a rant about the iTMS's categorization coming on. Or maybe about my feelings about country music. But I have a feeling that Real Woman got placed under Country by mistake. It really belongs in Folk; both Ms. Pompea's voice and her material clearly fit that tradition. Except on the title track, which to my ear is more Jazz. In any event, if you prefer clear, pure solo vocals and a leisurely pace to your music, you might find something to like here, whatever bucket you'd use to describe it.

Mon, 05 Dec 2005

Wed, 10 Aug 2005

Which may explain my shock when at that age I found myself on an extended trip to London and encountered nightly television commercials for records by some weird guy named Slim Whitman. First, I wasn't ready for the idea that the Brits, the people who'd given us Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who? and Monty Python, might like country music. Even worse, what was the deal with this dude's yodeling? What was that all about? That the ads described Whitman as a big star in the UK confused and horrified me even more. Warm beer I could learn to like. But country music? With yodeling? Never!

It would be years before I heard Whitman's name again, and in an even more bizarre context. Of course, by then I'd learned that there were more things on heaven and earth than were dreamt of in my philosophy. I'd even discovered the appeal of yodeling, at least when done by Riders in the Sky's Ranger Doug. So maybe it's time to give Slim Whitman another try. After all, I learned to like warm beer. And he did save us from those Martians...

Fri, 05 Aug 2005

Fri, 27 May 2005

Wed, 11 May 2005

My second prejudice is against anything that falls under Country. But that's the one I verify with each new album. Generally it takes about five seconds of twangy guitar to confirm that an album isn't my taste. This is a rare exception.

I'd never heard of Jessica Rogers. And judging by a quick Googling, neither has anybody else. This is her first album, which her own site describes as Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening or Country Crossover. But what I hear is more interesting that that. There's traces of 60s bubblegum pop, of Sonny & Cher in Ms. Rogers' arrangements. And a maturity and world weary quality to her voice to which I can relate.

I get the feeling music is the latest act in a story that's had more than a few. Can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Mon, 10 Jan 2005

I grew up around a much older brother, hardly what you'd call an unmixed blessing. But one benefit was his taste in music. It was on his big reel-to-reel tape recorder from Lafayette Radio Electronics that I first heard Tom Lehrer. And there were other, less ironic works as well: Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel, Lightning Strikes by Lou Christie, Town Without Pity by Gene Pitney and plenty more. Including Johnny Horton singing Sink The Bismarck, a WWII story in song I loved and had memorized long before I had a clue what it was about. (I was a pretty oblivious child. Which may explain all the torment at the hands of said brother.)

Bismarck was only one of many "story" songs Horton recorded. The Battle of New Orleans is probably the best known, although I discovered it only after encountering Homer & Jethro's parody version.

Horton deserves to be better remembered than he is. He's certainly a more interesting way to get into history than some dusty old textbook.

Mon, 20 Dec 2004

So we went. And the bar was good. And they took a break from the opera for their special song of the evening: a little number by Tom Lehrer called I Hold Your Hand In Mine. Which is a particular favorite of mine. So the whole opera bar thing turned out to be a success. But that's not the point of the story.

The point is that a while back I was watching 60 Minutes. And they had a report on this country band called Bering Strait. And what was special about them is that they're all Russian. And now they're in America, doing their country music. And even though I don't much like country music, I bought their album. Because the idea of a Russian country band was enough to make up for the fact that they're a country band.

Besides, these folks can sing. It's not like that Leningrad Cowboys¹ CD I bought. There's no excuse for that one.

1. Who are neither cowboys nor from Leningrad. Which is neither here nor there, but I just thought I'd mention it.

Fri, 08 Oct 2004