– “At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight†– Various artists (Bear Family) $250.
Germany’s Bear Family label has reputation for giving loving (obsessive) detail in creating their box sets and “At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight†continues that osession. The Saturday night music radio show was broadcast by Shreveport, Louisiana’s KWKH-AM from 1948-1960 and rivaled only by the more straight-laced Grand Ole Opry for live radio entertainment.
Country and roots music greats abound – Hank Williams, George Jones, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, Louvin Brothers and many more in their prime.
A 20-CD set gives us a view back to live radio before studio wizardry and music was still wonderfully raw and brazon and done without a net.
Presley’s first TV appearance on the television version of the Hayride in March 1955 features and electrifying performance of his breakthrough single “That’s All Right,†as well as 14 songs includes “Baby Let’s Play House,†“Heartbreak Hotel,†and “Don’t Be Cruel†and are just a fraction of the more than 500 tunes stocking At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight. The box set also contains long-buried treasury of like a previously unknown recording of “I’m a Long Gone Daddy†by Hank Williams.
The accompanying 226-page book not only identifies all the performance dates and musicians, but also provides plenty of historical context.
Yeas this sweet collectable clocks in at over $200, but it breaks down to about $.40 a song for these treasured performances. That’s quite a deal.
‘Why Bob Dylan Matters’ by Richard Thomas – Richard Thomas $16.50
Harvard Professor of Classical Literature Richard F. Thomas explores Dylan’s music with a lense on his music influence on society as well as style. Dylan is dealt with in a serious tone usually reserved for classical literary and poetic luminaries. ‘Why Bob Dylan Matters’ set his work in it’s proper place and argues that it’s a work deserving of the ages.
‘Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives’ – Holly Gleason, in Woman Walk the Line ( University of Texas Press) $19.65
Music industry vet Holly Gleason presents twenty-seven extraordinary women scribes writing about twenty seven country music greats that just happen o be women. These personal and uplifting stories dig to the heart of what it means to connect to Music. Yes I still believe that #WomennInMusic is not a genre and that self-segregation is nearly as harmful as outside variety, but damn, this is a great read.
Johnny Cash, “Unearthed†(American) – $228.
THere was a real chance that Johnny Cash might have died in popular obscurity in 2003 had Rick Rubin not had the great instinct to spearhead the Country music legend’s breathtaking late-career albums. This 2003 collection of outtakes
serves a bounty with seven LPs featuring alternate takes and unreleased songs. Cash lends his historic baritone to distinctive renditions of gospel, rock,folk blues, and, of course golden-age country as well as covers by
Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle and others so good you might forget their were sung by anyone before The Man in Black.
Remember when Loretta Lynne won CMA Awards with Loretta Lynn announced as Entertainer of the Year? How about when johnny Cash hosted the event.
Of course you don’t. It was decades ago and most of you weren’t even born yet.
There was a time that the Country Music Awards, like the industry and culture itself, had an edge and a spirit of danger. Performers would roll off a couch in a studio somewhere in town to accept their award. Sometimes they were drunk and looking for a fight. Below find some great moments from CMA history to help us steel through the glitter-choked tailgate party it’s become.
The one video I wanted o find most of all was one of Charlie Rich burning the piece of paper announcing John Denver as the Country Music Association “Entertainer of the Year†at the 1975 CMA Awards. Alas that little gem of industry spontaneity has been shut down.
Dolly Parton sneaks up on Randy Travis
Waylon Jennings performs “America” on what looks like an ’80’s CMA
CMA’s hosted by Johnny Cash in 1978
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbBJE76KU0
Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge perform Me and Bobby McGee at the 1974 CMA Awards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fujhzkyYias
Sonny James and Bobby Goldsboro present the award for the Country Music Association Instrumentalist to Jerry Reed in 1971.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko39cIFowRY
1974 CMA Awards with Loretta Lynn announced as Entertainer of the Year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8370bQ5Izo
Willie Nelson Induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame by Johnny Cash at the 27th CMA Awards 1993
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMrh7aPaagg
Alison Krauss & Union Station performs ‘My Poor Old Heart’ on the 2005 CMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuGJaU25ZIA
1968 Country Music Awards with an induction of Bob Wills into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Skip over the insipid performance by Bobby Goldsboro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BYNuPL0Te4
In 1999 George Jones, recovering from a near-fatal car accident, was nominated for Single of the Year for his autobiographical ballad “Choices.”
CMA executives asked Jones to sing a shortened version of the nominated song, but he opted to stay home as a sign of his protest against the request.
Alan Jackson showed class and reverence for Jones worked “Choices” into the last portion of his scheduled performance of his current single, “Pop A Top.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_WmbAek0-4
In 1956 The Grand Ole Opry invited a young country singer named George Jones to perform on their popular radio show.The 25 year-old Marine Corp veteran was already picking up momentum in his home state of Texas, where he was signed to Starday Records, where a year earlier, his song “Why Baby, Why†had become his first hit. However in his estimation, and many young country performers at the time, an appearance on the Opry was proof you had really hit the big time.
In Jone’s own words, “My success as a country singer, no matter how big it became, would always be limited unless I appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.†When that call from Nashville finally came he drove almost 800 miles from Houston, borrowed a guitar from Jimmy Dickens, and performed one song. His appearance was a success and he was quickly asked to come back and become a member.
Starday Records owners, Jack Starnes and Pappy Daily, knew they had to move quickly if their label was going to keep up with Jones’ newfound popularity. In early 1957 they released George Jones’ first album, Grand Ole Opry’s New Star, which also happened to be Starday’s first LP.
On October 15th this collectable release will be reissued in its entirety for the first time. The first 250 copies of this album will be pressed on Blue Vinyl and come with a bonus reissue of George’s only rockabilly record, an ultra-rare 45 he cut under the name ‘Thumper Jones.’
TRACKS
01. Why Baby Why
02. Seasons Of My Heart
03. It’s OK
04. Let Him Know
05. Play It Cool
06. Hold Everything
07. Boat Of Life
08. You Gotta Be My Baby
09. What Am I Worth
10. Your Heart
11. Ragged But Right
12. Yearning
13. Still Hurtin’
14. Taggin’ Along
Before he could complete his final “The Grand Farewell Tour†tour, country music legend George Jones died last April. Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, Vince gill and others paid tribute to Jones during his funeral at the Ryman auditorium and and Randy Travis and Joe Nichols have released tribute tracks in tribute. Now we can look forward to a new release from The Possum himself.
On September 10, two days before what would have been his 82nd birthday, “George Jones – Amazing Grace.” will be released. Jones recorded all the gospel songs on the album in 2002 with producer Billy Sherrill with the exception of “Great Judgment Morning,†which was produced by Brian Ahern in 1994. “Great Judgment Morning†includes vocals by Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith.
The album will be released on Bandit Records, which Jones established in 2000 with his widow, Nancy. The country music star had to convince longtime collaborator Sherill to come out of retirement to make the recordings. One song on the album, Great Judgement Morning, featuring guest vocals by Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith, was produced by Brian Ahern in 1994.
“I’ve always said that if I could have made a living some way in gospel music, I would have loved to had that break,” Jones said in early 2000, “but it never was offered to me, a job in that field, so naturally, I got lost on that other road.”
If you’re a struggling musician I suggest you take a look at the career of Jim Lauderdale. Between early setbacks as a Bluegrass banjo player, and being marginalized in Music Row there were plenty of opportunities to chuck his guitar in the gutter and call it quits. But he persevered and used his songwriting as a musical dowsing rod to move him always forward toward unexpected and exciting places.
If the Americana genre didn’t already exist it would have to be created for Lauderdale. He’s worked in multiple genres (Bluegrass, country, rock, soul) with multiple artists (George Jones, Ralph Stanley, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and more), but the music has always been grounded in honesty with a twist of risk. This will to be daring, attention to legacy, while pushing forward has allowed Lauderdale to become something you don’t see music in the music industry, unique.
He’s now a Grammy winning singer/songwriter, the subject of a crowd-sourced biopic (Jim Lauderdale: The King of Broken Hearts)
He hosts, along with Buddy Miller, “The Buddy & Jim Show” Saturdays 10 pm ET on SiriusXM Outlaw Country. He also hosts the “Music City Roots: Live from the Loveless Cafe”, weekly Americana music show broadcast live on WSM from the Loveless Barn on Highway 100 in Nashville. He is also the MC for the Americana Music Awards and Honors show in Nashville where his catch-phrase “Now THAT’S Americana” is as much of a delight as the stellar performances on the storied Ryman Auditorium stage.
I talked to Lauderdale, through spotty reception, on the road to Nashville the day after his birthday performance at the Music City Roots spin-off, “Scenic City Roots, in Chattanooga Tennessee
——————————————————–
Twang Nation: Jim? How are you today?
Jim Lauderdale: Just fine. Driving on a beautiful, crisp spring day heading back to Nashville from Chattanooga Tennessee.
TN: Happy belated birthday, You share a birth with Bob Harris ( “‘Whispering Bob Harris” the legendary is the host of the BBC 2 music program The Old Grey Whistle Test, and a supporter of country and roots music)
JL: Really? It’s also George Shuffler’s birthday, who played guitar for the Stanley Brothers.
TN: Cool. So you’re taking some time off from your tour supporting the “Buddy and Jim” album. How’s that going?
JL: It’s been great! We too some time off because Buddy is producing the Wood Brothers and he also co-produces the music for the TV show Nashville with T Bone Burnett. He’s got a pretty full plate most of the time. Our next date is in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall. I love playing that space.
TN: I’ll be there. The first time I saw you and Buddy working with the new material it was at last year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. It was a morning slot but the place was still full.
JL: I love that festival. Warren Hellman has done so much for the community. He’ll be missed.
TN: True. So let’s visit your childhood in Troutman, North Carolina. Your father was a minister and your mother was a music teacher. How did this shape you musically?
JL: I believe it helped to train my ears. They were both great singers, so it was a combination of hearing a lot of church music. Hearing my mother, who was a choir director at the church, a chorus teacher, and a piano teacher, I was hearing stuff all the time. My older sister was the first to start buying records like the Beatles when I was in the first grade. At the time music was just exploding and so much was coming from the radio and in North Carolina radio then was a mixture of rock and roll, soul music like Stax and Motown, and then there were peripheral country stations where Bluegrass was being played. So there was just so much great music being played and available. I think Buddy and i share a lot of the same influences. that’s how all these influences made me want to sing. I started singing really early and then started playing drums for a few years when I was 11 and then, when I was 13, I started playing blues harmonica. When I was 15 I started playing the banjo and getting more into Bluegrass music. I always wanted to do a Bluegrass record but it took me a long time to get a deal to do one. When it happened I got to do it with Ralph Stanley and his band, the Clinch Mountain Boys (1999’s I Feel Like Singing Today)
TN: Not bad company to keep for your inaugural Bluegrass venture.
JL: That was kind of a dream because I grew up loving his work. I used to try and play banjo in his style and sing in a tenor like Ralph would. One of the best things to happen out of that was that I began writing with Robert Hunter (poet and lyricist for the Grateful Dead.) A friend of mine, Rob Bleetstein, put me in touch with him in the Bay Area. i knew that Robert and Jerry Garcia were huge Stanley Brothers’ fans, so that’s how I started writing with Robert and since then we’ve created 4 albums. The last two were Bluegrass of stuff we’ve done together. I have an upcoming album with the North Mississippi Allstars coming out in the fall and it has stuff that Robert and I wrote as well. So, even though it took me a long tie to get something out in that world, it was worth the wait because of all the good things that have happened.
TN: Making up for lost time.
JL: Right. And the same with Buddy. We had met back in New York in the early 80’s. We were both living there and both had country bands going and Buddy, to me, had the best band there. There was a nice country scene going on in New York at the time. There were about 5 bars in New York like the Lone Star Cafe that featured country music. So there was a lot of work. Eventually we both ended up on the west coast and started playing gigs together. Then Buddy came to Nashville first and ended up playing with Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris. His career really took off! So we’ve known each other for 33 years and have talked about doing a record for the past 17 years so this new album was also worth the wait. Our schedules just wouldn’t allow it. But last year we started this radio show last summer on SiriusXM Outlaw Country (The Buddy & Jim Show , Saturdays 10 pm ET) and that started moving things toward us sitting down and writing material. It happened pretty quickly, we spent a few days in pre-production and wrote some stuff but we cut the album in three days in his home studio. He produced the album and we’re really happy with it. I love playing with Buddy, he always makes me smile.
TN: There’s a song you wrote that was covered by George Strait called The King of Broken Hearst. It’s got a great story.
JL: I moved to L.A. partly to be in the same atmosphere that Gram Parsons had been in. There was this story that came from (former rock ‘n’ roll groupie and author) Pamela Des Barres, who was a friend of his, who said he had this L.A. party and was playing George Jones records. These people had never heard him (Jones) and he started crying. he said “That’s the king of broken hearts.” It was one of those times when an idea just comes to you. I play that song all the time and I love it.
TN: Gram is seen as the patron saint of the Americana genre and , I believe, you and Buddy have earned a place at that table. With your work with the Americana Music Awards and Music City Roots would you consider yourself an ambassador of Americana?
JL: Oh, I don’t know about that. But I’m certainly happy it’s out there. The guy I mentioned before, Rob Bleetstein, helped to coin there term (along with Jon Grimson of Nashville) for a trade publication that’s no longer around called Gavin Report. It was like Billboard and R&R (Radio & Records) magazine. They needed a chart for rootsy American music and Rob said “How about Americana?” So that put a name on it. But to me it’s just great that Americana allows a broad umbrella for roots music – Blues, Bluegrass, folk, rock, country – music that is not overproduced and it’s all connected, And it’s a place that, in his later years, someone like Johnny Cash can get played on the radio. And Merle Haggard, and folks like Guy Clark and Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and jimmie Dale Gilmore. Stuff that’s too rootsy for mainstream radio. it’s nice to have a place where people can be recognized.
TN: You’ve worked in the Music Row world and the Americana world and been successful in both. What do you think contributes to your success to work in both of those environments?
JL: Well I had plans but things would work out a different that what I thought. It was accidental in some ways. I wanted to make Blue grass records as a teenager, but it never worked out. Then in my early 30s I finally got a record contract in the country genre. But that record was too country at the time to be accepted in 1988. Dwight Yoakam’s producer and guitarist Pete Anderson did it with me (The unreleased CBS album that later appeared on an overseas label as Point of No Return.) My next album wasn’t as traditional but it was pretty far out there. It was co-produced by Rodney Crowell and John Leventhal (1991’s Planet of Love) Even though that album didn’t have a lot of commercial success, 8 of the 10 songs went on to be recorded by other people like George Strait. So that too me into that world of songwriting though my plan was to have a successful career with my own records. I kept putting out my own records and, when it wouldn’t work out, the only way to rise above of the disappointment was to write myself out of it. I still had a contract for a few more majors, but I started doing some independent labels and was more eclectic. Bluegrass with country mixed with R&B ad soul. The work I’m doing with the North Mississippi Allstars I did with Robert Hunter is more blues, rock and soul. I’m also trying to finish up a stripped down acoustic record that I’m writing with Robert. He’s really important in my like as far as music, so I want to keep that going.
TN: Speaking of Robert Hunter lest year you were in the Bay Area with the American Beauty Project. How did that come about?
JL: Those two albums (Grateful Dead’s) Working Man’s Dead and American Beauty opened up a door in my spirit when I heard them. All the things I’d done before – country, Bluegrass, rock – came together in those two records. To me they were like the Gram Parsons solo albums with Emmylou, those records are touchstones. The New York Guitar Festival which was put together by David Spellman, each year, would choose a different album and then singers and guitar players would play a song from that record. A few year’s ago they chose American Beauty and it went over really well. The singer Catherine Russell, Ollabelle, Larry Campbell and his wife Teresa Williams became the core of the American Beauty project which we took around the country. We still do it occasionally and will probably do some more shows in the future. It’s always a lot of fun.
TN: Tell me about your work with the roots-rock band Donna the Buffalo.
JL: I met them at the Newport Folk Festival while opening for Lucinda Williams on her “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” tour. I met this group of folks that were really friendly, but I had missed their show earlier in the day. We made this friendship and we then jammed together at Merlefest in North Carolina. They then invited me to play their festival that they put on in the summer and offered to back me up during my set. So over the years we’ve worked festivals and sat in with each other. I started to write songs for all of us to do and when i had an album’s worth we went into the studio and did it (2003’s Wait Til Spring) We still do stuff when we can. They’ve got a new album coming out in June which I’ve heard and it’s fantastic (tonight Tomorrow & Yesterday – June 18) They are one of my favorite bands as an audience member and I love to sit in with them. We have a few new songs we’ve written but i need some more material to do another record.
TN: Any other new artists that have caught your ear?
JL: There’s a lady that just moved to Nashville, Lera Lynn. There’s another band that just moved from L.A. to Nashville called HoneyHoney that I like a lot. There”s a songwriter named Ryan Tanner I think is really good. And there’s a guy in North Carolina named Daniel Justin Smith that I think is really good. There’s no shortage of new, young singer, songwriter and pickers that are acoustically influenced and have their own style of country and roots music. I’m really encouraged by that. When i host the Music City Roots showcase it gives me an opportunity to be exposed to new performers. There was a band on the other night out of Birmingham, Alabama called St Paul and the Broken Bones. They are a kind of soul review kind of band and they are just out of this world. There’s a woman called Sara Petite out of San Diego who I like a lot. I also love Shovels and Rope, Robert Ellis , Max Gomez and the Milk Carton Kids.
TN: Who would you like to write music with someone that you haven’t?
JL: Gosh, I wish I could work with Eric Clapton. I love his work. I would also like to work with Keith Richards. I got to sing harmony with him on the song Hickory Wind on a Gram Parsons tribute called “Return to Sin City.” Norah Jones was on that, I’d like to work with her. I did a song with John Leventhal called Planet of Love that was pitched to Ray Charles to do with Norah Jones, but that didn’t happen before he passed away. I always wanted to work with Doc Pomus before he passed. And I always wanted to do something with Jerry Garcia and I’m sorry that didn’t happen. I’m slowly getting to work with a lot of folks I hold in high esteem. I got to write with Dan Pen and we’ve been working on some things in England with him and Nick Lowe’s great band. I got to song with George Jones years ago and that was a treat. You just never know in this up and down world of music.
TN: You’ve moved deftly between genres in this time, is there a musical era you would like to travel to and perform?
JL: The 60’s and early 70’s for the soul, country and rock music that was coming out and then the late 50’s early 60’s for Bluegrass. And the 50’s for Blues music. Being able to work in those times at the peak of the music would have been great.
TN: You’re a great singer, songwriter but your also a consummate showman. You’re very personable and funny on stage. Many have also taken note of your rhinestone bedecked clothing when you perform. How many suits do you have and where do you get them?
JL: Oh, I think i have 20 or 25 suits with shirts. I have gotten a few vintage pieces here and there, but i get most of my things new and custom made from Manuel (Cuevas) who is a designer and tailor here in Nashville that used to work with Nudie (Cohn) out of L.A. when he was a teenager. He’s still here producing things for people like Jack White.
TN: Thanks for your time and keep your eyes on the road.
No overt themes in this episode, just great music.
One of my favorite bands Durham, North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger kicks things off with the raucous Red Rose Nantahala from their new album Hawwe also take a listen o new work from Jason Isbell being supported by members of his band, the 400 Unit, and his newly betrothed Amanda Shires. Patty Griffin gives us the beautiful Mom & Dad’s Waltz from her new American Kid and we get an early listen to Shonna Tucker, and her new band Eye Candy.
And lastly we say goodbye to a country music legend with Choices by George Jones.
As always. I hope you like this episode of the Twang Nation Podcast and thank you all for listening. If you do tell a friend and let me know here at this site, Google+ , Twitter or my Facebook page.
1. Hiss Golden Messenger – “Red Rose Nantahala”- Album: “Haw†(Paradise of Bachelors)
2. Shannon McNally – Song: “If It Were Mine To Keepâ€- Album: “Light Walker Demos EP†(Sacred Sumac Music)
3. The Builders and the Butchers– Song: “Dirt In The Groundâ€- Album: “Western Medicine†(Badman Recording Co. – July 2nd)
4. The Dustbowl Revival – Song: “Hard River Galâ€- Debut Album: “Carry Me Back Home†(self-released)
5. Jason Isbell – Song: “Traveling Alone†– Album: Southeastern (Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers. – out June 11th)
6. Rita Hosking – Song: “Nothing Left Of Me†– Album: Little Boat (self-released)
7. Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy – Song: “Linda Please†– Album: ? ( ? )
8. Patty Griffin – Song: “Mom & Dad’s Waltz†– American Kid ( New West Records – out May 7 )
9. Eastbound Jesus – Song: “Katie Belle†Album: Northern Rock ( Self-released)
10. George Jones – Song: “Choicesâ€
They laid the greatest voice in country music to rest today.
I checked in to the online stream on and off and , truth be told, it got to me. But the emotional performance below from Vince Gill & Patty Loveless of “Go Rest High On That Mountain” brought the magnitude of the moment into reality.
Alan Jackson closed the service with a heart-wrenching version of Jones’ best known song He Stopped Loving Her Today.
This is as real as it gets y’all. This is the life blood of country music. Lest we forget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbk19vEhy6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSLmlBlWp0k
Travis Tritt performs ‘Why Me Lord’ by Kris Kristofferson for George Jones memorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhJPbq5RK4o
Golden Ring (With Tammy Wynette)
Although their tumultuous marriage didn’t last, when they were singing it was duet magic. The rings is the symbol of life being cyclical. A couple find a pair of wedding rings in a pawn shop, get married, break up and the rings are returned to the shop wherre they catch the eye of another couple. George and Tammy’s chemistry is undeniable.
Good Year For The Roses
Elvis Costello knows a great song when he hears it and he chose this one to cover on his country-tinged Almost Blue. This song has soe of the best lines and imagery in country music. “the lip-print on a half-filled cup of coffee that you poured and didn’t drink” Th roses thrive in contrast to a dying marriage that also make certain the roses aren’t picked as a gift.
The Grand Tour
This walk around a lovely house -with an empty bed, a wedding ring and an empty nursery, the photo of the woman who left – is an emotional gut punch tempered slightly by the smooth tempo and piano refrain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApiRp8zGsUw
Mr. Fool
I personally just love the sound of this song. Pure tear-in-my-beer honky-tonk material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATnsoZOa9zc
She Thinks I Still Care
Talk about passive aggressive! He floats her name to friends, accidentally calls her, retracing her actions. It doesn’t mean anything, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owWNCNyEuYI
Choices
Jone’s reminded people what country music sound like in this 1999 Grammy winner of refection of his life. Scottish tones fused a hard county barroom foundation lifts Jones. It’s Jones own more contrite version of My Way.
He Stopped Loving Her Today
This 1980 Grammy-winner set the gold standard for country music ballads. A story f a man sick from pining lost love ends in a twist really seals the deal. Jone’s voice draws you in ad makes it real.
I Don’t Need Your Rocking Chair
This anthem of golden years self-reliance won a 1993 CMA Award for vocal event of the year and remained a crowd favorite for years.
Why Baby Why
A few singles before went nowhere but in 1955 Why Baby Why brought that timeless voice to a wider audience by becoming a hit and establishing themes of love and loss that Jones’ would use throughout his career.
Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes
Where’s all the great country music? Fans have been asking this for decades. In 1985, the wake of the Urban Cowboy phenomenon, Jones was right long with them by name-checking heroes like Hank, contemporaries like Conway Twitty, Lefty Frizzell, Cash and followers like Haggard, Jennings and Willie. it’s a authentic and heartfelt tribute to a country musics heritage the Jones helped established and it’s sentiment is echoed to this day.
Recently Jim Lauderdale recounted to me a scenario he read from a book by author/entrepreneur/groupie Pamela Des Barres. This scene featured Gram Parsons allegedly sititng in room surrounded by LA. party people as he played George Jones records and cried. When someone asked who he was listening to he is reported to have answered “The king of Broken Hearts.” This story led Lauderdale to write , and George Strait to latter cover, “The King of Broken Hearts”
Here’s a verse:
The king of broken hearts is so sad and wise
He can smile while he’s crying inside
We know he’ll be brave tonight
Cause he’s the king of broken hearts
Is the story factually true? I don’t know, but it’s essence is dead-on. Lauderdale and Parsons had it right. Regarded by many to be one of the greatest voices in country music Jones defined and lived country music as authentically as anyone. He spoke from a place where he lived and struggled and showed us all he, and we, are fallible. He had lived and breathed empathy into every word.
Not far from Jones’ birthplace of Saratoga Texas, thirty-eight miles northwest of Beaumont, producer and co-owner of Starday Records, Pappy Daily, signed Jones to his first label in 1954. Four singles were released soon after that went nowhere..
Jones then released “Why, Baby, Why” , produced by Daily, in the summer of 1955 resulting in his first hit. it peaked at #4 on the Billboard country charts that year before being eclipsed by Webb Pierce and Red Sovine doing a version of the very same song (things were done differently back then.)
Then came the 14 number one country hits, multiple Male Vocalist of the Year and Duo of the year awards with Tammy Wynette, 4 Grammys, a tumultuous marriage with Wynette, hundreds of bottles of bourbon and enough controlled substances that would make Keith Richards flinch. Many missed performances (branding him “No Show Jones” by promoters) and one infamous arrested for DUI while riding on a John Deere lawn tractor and a legacy was established.
in the 80’s Jones and many of his contemporaries found themselves ostracized from Music City in the wake of the Urban Cowboy phenomenon, which led the country music industry to pursue the contemporary pop elements of the day. Sound familiar? Through most of the 80’s and 90’s his career had stalled by the new economics of Nashville big labels. Though playing in smaller venues people that knew of his place in history continued to attend how shows. Many of these people brought their kids along. A few of those kids probably make up the Americana performers I now cover.
Jones was nearly through half of his farewell “The Grand Tour,†when, on April 18, he was admitted to Nashville’s. Vanderbilt University Hospital with fever and irregular blood pressure. This morning, April 26, 2013, I received an email from TMZ that Jones had died. Wikipedia had not been updated with his news and his tour dates were still listed on Ticketmaster, so I was skeptical. But almost one minute later the news was confirmed by an email from Jones publicist. The man Frank Sinatra once said was the “second best singer in this country…” was dead.
Jone’s final concert was to be held on November 22, 2013, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The show sold out far in advance and Garth Brooks, Kid Rock, Shelby Lynne, the Oak Ridge Boys, Charlie Daniels, Jamey Johnson, Lorrie Morgan, Randy Travis and Gene Watson. Tanya Tucker and many others were to join jones for the for the event. Whether the show carries on in his absence is yet unknown.
Personally I was fortunate to see Jones perform in 2007. Visibly weakened and unable to play guitar dut to recent surgery, he performed on with those majestic standards
in front of an rapt Carnagie hall audience. We knew we were in the presence of history. As opener Kris Kristofferson stated during his lone acoustic set, ‘George Jones is the only person alive I’d open for.”
i met Jones briefly last year after he shared the stage with the Allman Brothers, Glenn Campbell and Diana Ross for the lifetime Achievement Grammy awards. i was kind and smiled as I gushed and he posed for what must have been his millionth fan pic. What a gentleman. It made me happy to know he was still part of the world I was part of. I am sadder today.
Americana artists like Kelly Willis and Caitlin Rose and Holly Williams, Country music legends like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Charlie Daniels, and contemporary country artists Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton flooded twitter with their sentiments and memories. As I write this #GeorgeJones is still trending on Twitter. Fitting for a man that once released an album entitled “High-Tech Redneck.”
Here’s my small tip-of-the-hat to a man who, along with Hank Williams, defined not only country music’s style, but it’s moral complexities mirrored in the best of it’s narratives.
UPDATE: George Jones’ funeral will took place on Thursday, May 2nd at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, it was open to the public. People lined up 24 hours beforehand to get in.
“George would have wanted his fans and friends everywhere to be able to come and pay their respects along with his family,” said publicist Kirt Webster.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that contributions be made to the Grand Ole Opry trust fund:
Opry Trust Fund
2804 Opryland Drive
Nashville, Tennessee 37214
or to the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum at http://store.countrymusichalloffame.com/categories/Donate/
COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM
222 FIFTH AVENUE SOUTH
NASHVILLE, TN 37203
EDIT:
George Jones’ funeral will take place on Thursday, May 2nd at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, starting at 10 am (Central) and will be open to the public. Doors will open at 9 am.
In addition, national television networks CMT, GAC, RFD, and FamilyNet, as well as local Nashville stations WKRN 2, WSMV 4, WTVF 5, WZTV 17 will broadcast the funeral service “LIVEâ€, with radio partners WSM 650AM and SiriusXM Willie’s Roadhouse (Ch. 56) broadcasting the service. Fans around the world can listen online at wsmonline.com or watch online at opry.com.
People often wondered why Gram Parsons, a member of a 60’s generation that cast off the past so dramatically, would choose to perform music so informed by country music clad in the garish uniform of the institution, a Nudie suit. Granted the suit was adorned in spangled by pot leaves. But still, what gives? Was he a novelty act? But then you heard “Hickory Wind” and you knew this wasn’t hippie irony. This was reverence.
Ontario-based singer/songwriter Daniel Romano stares at you from his latest release ‘Come Cry With Me” donned in a brown, Nudie-style, bespangled suit. Stetson, hipster ‘stache and sideburns. Like a retro Instagram filter set to Country Gold. Romono dares you not to ask “is this dude kidding?”
By music don’t lie. ‘Come Cry With Me” is as real as anything that’s come out as country music scene since it moved from the porch to the studio mic.
Like Chuck Ragan and Austin Lucas, Romano spent his youth in punk and hard rock msuic founding the indie-rock outfit Attack in Black. Like them his journey led him to the music he grew up listening to A music with stylistic and thematic ties to punk and hard rock. Country and folk music.
Hank (Williams and Snow) Gram, Willie, Waylon, Billy Joe, Ernest, George Jones – they would all identify Romono’s fourth solo record as spiritual and melodic kin.
Weepers like “The Middle Child” and “Two Pillow Sleeper” used to spend weeks at the top of the jukebox charts and brings to mind long-forgotten smokey bars, broken hearts and cheap beer.
But it’s not all tales of the misbegotten and downtrodden. “Chicken Bill” takes a page out of the Cash book of Boom Chicka Boom and pulls the chair out with a mysterious ending. The wry humor and double entendre soaked “When I Was Abroad” sound like a result of a Roger Miller and Shel Silverstein amphetamine-fueled songwriting session at the Playboy Mansion.
And the excellent celebration of 3/4 waltzes “Just Before The Moment” would make Lefty Frizzell smile and cause Music Row execs the night sweats.
The rebellion that shapes punk and hard rock music has led Romano to one of the most rebellious acts he could undertake in today’s cultural environment. Creating an honest-to-God country music record.
People often wondered why Gram Parsons, a member of a 60’s generation that cast off the past so dramatically, would choose to perform music so informed by country music clad in the garish uniform of the institution, a Nudie suit. Granted the suit was adorned in spangled by pot leaves. But still, what gives? Was he a novelty act? But then you heard “Hickory Wind” and you knew this wasn’t hippie irony. This was reverence. 