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February 11, 2006
Bill Shapiro Cracks Me Up
Just heard on Cypress Avenue, talking about the great songwriter John Denver and his impact on country music:
"Not to speak ill of the dead, but I found him to be an insipid singer."
Which led to him playing Ray Charles' cover of Country Road. I'd never heard it before and it was just gorgeous. Actually, the whole hour was dedicated to Ray's country songs.
For those who don't know, my parents have a country band. While it's hard for me to get into any post-Eagles country music, I do have a soft spot for the older stuff like Cash, Nelson, Williams Sr, and Rodgers. There was a real humanistic quality to the lyrics, the performances, and the performers themselves that's so rare in modern music, and just plain absent in modern country music. I really find a lot of similarity between original country and original blues, a genre I lean more towards in my own preferences. Blacks weren't the only poor people in the 1920's, and people like Hank Williams Sr and Buddy Rodgers were writing songs describing the same hard times and common elements. Sure, there's the racial divide, but it seems that with early country and early blues that these guys may have been living on opposite sides of the same blocks, you know?
John Denver had that in a lot of his lyrics, too. My folks perform some of his songs, and it really brought out a new level appreciation for Denver the Writer in me.
Posted by Schamberger at February 11, 2006 01:48 PM