Jackson - Johnny Cash/June Carter (Cover by Casi Joy and Woody James)

Good Beer and So-So Music

This past weekend found us at the Munger Potato Festival in the booming metropolis of Munger, MI.
It was a good time despite the constant drizzle of rain. Our main objective was to take in the figure 8 and the demolition derby.

Much to my surprise they had All Day IPA in addition to Bud Lite-Beer Water. So, the beer was good for a change. We had a great time watching the figure 8 and derby, getting sprayed by chunks of mud and smelling the rich fuel being burned and the roar of the engines.

After the derby we made our way over to the Beer tent to listen to some music and drink some more beer. Again I was amazed, All Day IPA and Oberon on draft....WOW.

The band was Steve Armstrong and the 25 Cent Beer Band. The band was very good for what it was. "pop-country"......Steve has a great voice and stage presence, and the band is good...especially the lead guitar player.

As I sat there listening to the songs...they all started to sound similar. While Steve has a great voice and do most of the covers with ease....after a while, the songs began to meld into one another. The only thing that changed was the lead lick and the actual words. The rhythm and beat seemed to carry from one song to the next.

Thinking about where the state of country music is today versus that of yesterday and what George Jones called real country music, there were three or four key elements missing. The steel guitar, the fiddle, emotion and feeling put forth by the words being sung.

Steve is a great singer with a great voice, but I don't think he's achieved artist status yet. He sang a song that he wrote about his divorce and how his ex took his favorite truck.....I know a typical country song.....but even then the emotional commitment wasn't there....he ground it out like all the other pop covers he did.

I did enjoy the band for what it was....pop country cover band......but hey at least the beer was good and it was cold.

Thank God for XM Radio

My son had a gig to set up for in Detroit, so he is driving my car today. I'm using my mom's car which doesn't have XM radio. My choices for music is either CDs...which I left in my car....or the two different FM country stations.....and I am using that term very loosely.

I have been really getting into the good, old country music as of late. The mindless dribble on these pathetic FM stations is really terrible. A few months ago I probably had a different opinion. I automatically thought about Whitey Morgan's T-shirt....Fuck Pop Country and also a Facebook group called We Hate Pop Country.

The term "hate" is pretty strong and "Fuck" is definitely strong emotion about a particular subject. There are a few "pop" country singers that I actually like, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, and Jennifer Nettles......but with the crap I've heard today, I may be tempted to change my stance on the whole pop country thing.

George Jones, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Hank Jr., Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and others songs will live on for years and years and still have the appeal to country fans as they were the day they were released. After all they are classics, with good writing and emotional delivery.

George Jones did an interview several years ago and talked about the emergence of  "Pop Country" and how they hi-jacked a genre. He felt that they needed to find their own genre and not operate under the label country. George stated that the material being recorded in Nashville was "mush".
He also said that those songs would never stand the test of time and in a few years would be forgotten about, with no hope of ever becoming a classic or relevant in the future....all I can say is preach it out George.....preach it out.

So thank God for XM radio and yes CDs...my ancient 2013 Chevy doesn't have USB capability.

Either I'm getting older or wiser.

Loretta Lynn - Whispering Sea (Live in Studio)

It really surprised me, when my girl picked up Loretta Lynn's latest album, Full Circle. Of course I was perusing trying to find a George Jones CD...when I showed her Loretta's latest. She remarked that she really likes the song Loretta did with Wille...Lay Me Down.

Come to find out Johnny Cash's son, John Carter Cash and Loretta's daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell produced this album. They have been working on a series of releases for the past several years, this being the first of many. Whispering Sea is the very first song that Loretta ever wrote.

Also, included is some "mountain songs" which she learned from her mother, but had never recorded.

Her voice is still very strong and full of emotion. If one doesn't like "twang" this is not the one to choose.....but that makes it Loretta Lynn in my opinion.

I haven't got to the female artists on this blog up until now.....what better way to start than with who I feel to be the Queen of Country Music....Tammy may have been the first lady....but Loretta is the Queen!

The Man in Black

Johnny Cash, the man in black.

From the cotton fields of Arkansas to Sun Records at Memphis and eventually the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

In 1950 Cash joined the Air Force for four years. His training took him to San Antonio, Texas where he met Vivian Liberto who would become his first wife in 1954.

While in the service he honed his singing somewhat. Upon his return to the States, he traveled to San Antonio and married Vivian, together they returned to Memphis. Johnny worked by day as an appliance salesman, and took lessons at a local broadcasting school in hope of getting some kind of work in radio.

During this time he met guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant, together they started playing small gigs as "Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two". Eventually working up the nerve Cash auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records, the same Sun that had just put Elvis on the map.

Phillips didn't like what he was hearing initially and Johnny returned with a couple of new songs, Hey Porter and Cry, Cry, Cry, both did reasonably well. Cash's next record, Folsom Prison Blues went to #5 and I Walk the Line went to #1.....and the rest is history as they say.

Battling all the same demons that so many performers waged war with-drugs, alcohol, and the pressures of the road Johnny Cash persevered in spite of himself.

Deemed Rockabilly in his early years...Cash always perceived himself as Country-rooted in Gospel.

Johnny seemed to be a natural crossover, into pop and not so much on the rock charts but many of rock's greats looked up to him and were inspired by the music he was making. Cash is a lot like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer....downhome and redneck but appeals to the hipsters....even today.

Cash like so many of the traditional country singers became disillusioned with the "Nashville Sound" and all the trappings of so called country radio. He was one of the few that told Nashville to piss off and he was going to make his music the way he wanted to....and he did.

Joining up with Willie, Waylon, and Kris seemed like a natural progression.....Cash was deemed an outlaw way before the advent of the HIghwaymen. It's funny my girl, Linda, said that when she and her sister played house....Johnny Cash was Linda's imaginary husband....imagine someone born in 1972 picking Johnny over many of the teen heart-throbs of the day to be her husband.....I guess she likes a man in black.

WAYLON JENNINGS

Another of the greats, Waylon Jennings. It amazes me that so many of the great country singers were simply born with a God-given talent, and they recognized that talent and just went for it. Waylon was always fascinated with the guitar and his momma taught him a few basic chords and he went from there. After winning some local talent competitions Waylon started doing DJ work and began to sing some jingles and later played and sang on local TV stations.

Eventually he would meet Buddy Holly and began playing bass for Buddy. Yes, Waylon did give up his seat on that fateful flight to the Big Bopper aka J.P. Richardson, who incidentally wrote "White Lightning", George Jones first big hit. I think most of you know that the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens died in that crash.

The death of Holly haunted Jennings for the rest of his life, and added to the demons that he chased with booze and drugs.

Waylon didn't like the "Nashville Establishment" where an artist was expected to dress a certain way, sing a certain way, use the studio band and sometimes orchestra....Jennings like his ole friend Willie balked at the demands of Nashville and moved on to do music his way.

After suffering an illness and hospitalized Waylon changed mangers, kept his beginnings of a beard at the urging of his new manager and never looked back. His new manager negotiated new, more lucrative contracts, and more creative control over his own music. One of the original outlaws of country music.....the term "outlaw" comes from Waylon, Willie, and Johnny Cash basically telling the Nashville Establishment to piss-off.

George Jones - The Race Is On (Live at Farm Aid 1986)

"If we could all sound like we wanted to, we'd sound like George Jones."
                                           Waylon Jennings

Prolific Original

Producing in large quantities or with great frequency; highly productive...that is the definition of prolific.....and Hank Williams song writing was extremely prolific, producing many number 1 hits and songs that crossed over into a variety of genres....even after his death.

Hank Jr. said to accomplish what his dad did in 29 years is unbelievable and has never been duplicated by anyone else, ever. It's amazing when looking over his catalog of songs, the sheer number alone is staggering.

Then to think that not only did he write the songs, he performed them as well. His only musical education came from a poor black street performer in Alabama, yet Hank was able to parlay that along with his uncanny arrangement of words and stories into songs that have stood the test of time.

As so many great performers he died a tragic, early death.....but as Hank Jr. says about his dad.....his journey continues on even in death.....and it always will. Hank was born into a very low-income beginnings and could not read, write or notate music but somehow with his God given talent, he forever changed the face, sound and destiny of country music.

Not bad for a hillbilly from Alabama.....such an amazing talent.....and some say the original Honky Tonk country music outlaw....ride on Hank !!!

Super Stoked

Super Stoked !!!! Got my tickets yesterday....going to be an awesome show. Whitey is a hometown boy from Mt.Morris actually. I worked many years at Sears with his Grandma Shirley and also worked with his mom too. I can remember him coming into the store on occasion as a wee lad.

Whitey's grandpa was quite the accomplished guitarist. There is a large number of people in the Flint area that came from the south to work at GM, and a good number of them play or played music.Whitey's gramps was one of them, Bill Morgan.

Whitey has a song called Grandpa's guitar. Apparently he was the only one of Bill's kids or grandkids that had an interest in music. Bill taught Whitey how to play guitar. Whitey in his teen years and early 20s played punk or alternative music.

However, something was missing and he went through all of Bill's vinyl...which were all country....and he discovered that country music was his true calling. The rest they say is history.

Cody Jinks is a fantastic country singer and player as well....I don't know much about him other than he is the real deal......give these boys a listen on youtube.....you won't be disappointed.

Current Times

Basically I've tried to give a brief and it's very brief history of how I've come full circle back to my Country Music Roots. The twang is something that I now crave. Something about the moan and wail of the steel guitar along with the sad sounds of the fiddle mixed with the crooning twang of the singers that really strike a chord with me.

One of the things that draws so many to what is considered Country Music these days is the words of the song. The words or story of the song got lost somewhere along the way with Rock and Roll. In the late 80s and into the 90s Heavy Metal seemed to take up the mantel of Rock.

Some of the Metal is pretty cool, but the lyrics are just lost to me. I love the hard driving guitar work and drum work....but the lyrics are so hard to understand. One thing I never got into was the whole kill the puppies screaming lyrics....to me they just didn't translate. Nirvana was genius and Pearl Jam okay....probably because of the moody edge of Eddie Vetter. Nickelback, Shinedown, and Daughtry are all very cool...but I was lacking something.

Listening to "Pop Country" today is a strange experience. It seems like pop rock music with a southern accent and usually a fake accent at that. The country of old or as I like to call it Legacy Country is a soulful way of telling a story. It's the white man's blues in my opinion, and believe me the blues is cool....I'm a sucker for guitar what can I say.

There is a big movement going on that "Hates Pop Country".....hate is a pretty strong word. There are some that have stronger feelings than that. Whitey Morgan for example has t-shirts that say "Fuck Pop Country", I can relate to his sentiments because country radio will never play his music.

Even in the 90's George Jones wasn't getting the air play he deserved. Everything is run by matrix numbers which are computer generated and based on demographics. It's all about the numbers and sales. Eddie Arnold in the 60's was accused of not doing country music, to which his reply was he didn't care if it was country or not he was selling records.

At the latest CMT awards they had artists like PitBull and other rappers in the line-up....really....what they hell do they have to do with country music and who gives a shit if they are there or not....only the number crunchers and producers that turn out the mindless dribble like Florida Georgia Line and Sam Hunt.....they are pop artists at best. Even Taylor Swift had enough respect to say that her music is really "pop" and not even "pop-country" and she got out and catered to the "pop" crowd......at least she showed some respect.

Glen Campbell was the first highly successful cross-over artist from country to pop and paved the way for hundreds of others along the way......but there seems to be a resurgance of interest in "true" Country Music.....and the only outlet seems to be XM/Sirrus satellite radio.....there are plenty of "Classic Rock" stations but no "Classic Country" stations that I'm aware of.

.Blake Shelton and his ex Miranda are about the only ones I have any respect for on country radio. They seem to have some allegiance to those who went before them for the roots that are making them rich. We'll see which way they go.

Ralph Stanley....Rest In Peace

One of the true Pioneers of Bluegrass Music.....chilling rendition of an old Native-American songs

New Country ???

The mid 80's brought about a new wave of Country Music with some bleed over of the standards. Perhaps the ultimate country song was released by the King, George Jones, "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, and Garth Brooks were gaining in popularity along with a huge stable of "New" country stars.

The new country seemed to respect those who had gone before them and one could even detect a slight "twang" in some of the songs.

All the while this new country was gaining a foothold....Willie Nelson had left Nashville after his house burned down. Willie found a new home in Austin, Texas. The Nashville Music machine which had come into being in the late 50's and became very strong in the 60's and 70's....it was extremely important in those days to have that Nashville Sound....complete with orchestrated accompaniment, back up vocals, and huge production efforts. Willie being disillusioned with the Nashville Sound saw the fire as a sign to get out of Dodge and go back to Texas.

While in Austin, Willie began to release records with that pure, raw, country music with an edge and a twang. He had a respectable showing against the manufactured youngsters making noise in Nashville.

Soon others began to join Willie in Austin....the likes of Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and the man Waylan Jennings.

Meanwhile Garth, an Oklahoman who had a strong rock influence brought huge legions of fans to country music. Garth was and still is new country, but he still has a little bit of an edge and plays slight homage to the classic sound.

During the late 80s and through the 90s, I saw quite a number of country shows. Alan Jackson opened for Randy Travis, always thought he should have been the other way around. Another great show was Brooks & Dunn opening for Reba. Reba puts on a hell of a show, and she has that classic country female sound. Also, Lorrie Morgan, George Jones, and Conway Twitty. George stole the show. Lorrie seemed kind of bitchy and Conway just walks out and sings.

In the 90's at the old Pontiac Silverdome was a country music fest. There were so many I can't
remember them all. I do remember the Dixie Chicks before the shit in their nest, and George Strait who was awesome. A lot like Conway....George just comes out and sings and does it very good.

I wish I could remember more about George Jones though, he definitely was the highlight of that show. Definitely the King of Country Music, this I now realize, it took a while but it's a fact in my opinion and that of many others.

What is Going On ??

The early eighties was pretty much a complete era of confusion for me musically. The supposed rock scene was going what we called "bubblegum" and it just wasn't satisfying. The punk scene morphed into alternative, so I was seeking out the rock of the 70s and 60s.

In the early 80s the Urban Cowboy thing got really popular.Cowboy hats and boots and mechanical bulls swept the nation for a minute.

This brought attention to country music and the first country cross-over mega star, Glen Campbell came out with Rhinestone Cowboy.



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Willie Nelson also came out with Honeysuckle Rose, and Willie gained new popularity as the Redheaded Stranger and a whole new sound from Austin.

Country radio began to build in popularity and thus Pop Country was taking foothold

FM Album Rock

Sometime in the early 70's FM radio came into it's own. Up until then it was pretty much restricted to what we called "Dentist Office Music" and classical.

Suddenly AM radio and it's static and pop music gave way to "Album Rock" on WWCK FM and it opened a whole new dimension to my musical taste. WKMF country and WTAC rock was a thing of the past.

Led Zepplin, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and countless others like Grand Funk Railroad blared through the air with a clarity we had never heard from the radio.

As we moved into High School....and I do mean High....VanHalen was white hot....and also some "Southern Rock" like Lynard Skynard and 38 special gained some popularity....but the hard driving rock was my favorite of the time.

There were a number of great concerts at old IMA Auditorium....some of the ones I remember are Foreigner, REO, Heart, Santana, then the IMA Sports Arena...Ted Nugent, Foghat, April Wine..I'm missing a few but you get the idea.

Right after graduation WCK changed their format to "pop" instead of album rock and my musical tastes didn't have a local radio outlet.....punk rock was coming on the scene with The Cars, The Clash, the Sex Pistols and others....it was fun for a while but something was missing.

Early Years

Where do I begin?

My parents moved to Flint, Michigan in search of better opportunities as so many did in the early 50's. The migration was heavy from the south. The people of the south were great for the expanding and booming auto manufacturing business. They were no strangers to work and their work ethic was beyond reproach.

My dad tried his hand at construction until he got hired at GM. The unfortunate part was that he couldn't be shackled to the production line. He told me that all he could think of was his team of mules who pulled the plow and shit and pissed in their work and couldn't waiver from the row they were in.

The above sounds like a country song on it's own. I grew up listening to WKMF 1470 AM in my early years. My dad patting his foot to the beat of the song is something that always had a special part in my memories.

In elementary school I discovered Elvis. Probably the mindless dribble of Elvis movies made quite an impression on me. Elvis was my idol beyond belief. Everything I could take in movies, 45s, albums, magazines...anything as long as it was Elvis.

Thumbing through my parents albums....what no Elvis???....you've got to be kidding me....all country...bummer or so I thought. In my parent's cars was always country crooning through the glories of AM radio.

My first concert was Glen Campbell. My cousin who was 8-10 yrs older than me had convinced her parents to take her to see Glen at the Whiting Auditorium. Dad and I happened to stop by their house as they were getting ready to leave for the concert and somehow to my amazement we went along.

Glen definitely wasn't the feature but definitely stole the show....he was not Elvis but would do for a hot Sunday afternoon...hey it was air conditioned.....Glen put on a good show, I was about 7-8....it sure would be great to know who he appeared with. I may have seen a great country star and not even realized it.