Friday, 19 July 2013

JOHNNY CASH AND JUNE CARTER "JACKSON" . . . . WELL, WELL, WELL, HASN'T 'THE MAN IN BLACK' MADE THE BIG CROSSOVER INTO MAINSTREAM SUPERSTARDOM IN THE LAST DECADE AND A BIT . . . . THE BOY NAMED SUE WASN'T ALWAYS SO POPULAR AMONG THE BROADER COMMUNITY, IN THE SAME WAY WILLIE, WAYLON, KRISTOFFERSON, HANK AND A HOST OF OTHER COUNTRY GENTS AND LADIES WEREN'T . . . . ALWAYS DUG THE 'TUDE IN JUNE'S VOICE.

IT'S A GOOD THING TOO, THE WAY IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ALL ALONG BUT I GUESS IT TAKES SOME FOLK LONGER TO STICK THEIR TOES IN THE MUDDY WATER AND DECIDE IT'S OKAY TO JUMP IN . . . . SAID IT BEFORE AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN, WITH MUSIC AS IN LIFE, FOLLOW YOUR HEART, DON'T SWEAT THE HATERS . . . . YOU ONLY GET ONE SHOT AT THIS CAPER.

6 comments:

  1. Now you're talkin' my kind of musical language Whitey!
    I became disillusioned with Rock & Roll in the early eighties when I heard "Take it on the Run" by REO for the umpteenth time on the radio. Something inside of me head just snapped. I started exploring blues, bluegrass and country. Don't get me wrong, a lot of, if not most country music sucks. But folks like Cash, Jennings, Nelson and Haggard have that Soul that crosses all boundaries.
    I believe that Emmylou Harris is an angelic songbird sent from heaven.

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    1. Cheers buddy, I love Emmylou, like love, and her connection to the guys we're talking about, I really dig Dwight, Steve Earle and a bunch of other more left field, non commercial fodder artists . . . even some of the more syrupy stuff to be honest, I'd rather listen to Kenny Rogers that those drosstards like REO and their shallow ilk, that's why I loved and embraced punk, the whole US and UK rock thing was a corpulent, dying dinosaur by the late seventies, fucking bland and beige . . . Shelby Lynn does it for me in a modern twist on the Emmylou thing, soul.

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  2. got to agree with you boy's, my 'guilty pleasure' is the magnificent lucinda williams, especially the 'car wheels on a gravel road' album, 'drunken angel' pure filth, 'concrete and barbed wire' pure honesty and she even has a song called 'jackson' on there too, [not the same song, but a brilliant song nevertheless] steve earle too, he's been around the block a few times, don't forget neil young either, i know his stuff with crazy horse rock's but he's got that country thang going on too, your thought's on mr young whitey?

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    1. Funny you should mention Lucinda Williams Loveless. If anyone has ever supplanted Emmylou Harris as my fave female artist, it would be her. Emmylou has an awesome voice, but Lucinda is an incredible writer. Anguish bleeds frome her every pore. If you haven't already, check out her newest called "Blessed." It will not dissapoint. Her first album (1979) "Ramblin'" is also killer

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  3. Bill Graham used to put together some interesting shows in the Bay area. Went to one that opened with Muddy waters, followed by Waylon Jennings, and then The Grateful Dead. One of my friends thought "Wailing Jennings", was a hard rock group...He didn't have a clue when "a bunch of old black guys", complete with a wash board player came out. At one point he turns to me and says,"Hey, their doing a Led Zeppellin song!". I just about fell down laughing. And the Dead, who were test firing the new Mega-concert set-up (that I believe Alembic had put together for them) totally blew his mind with Marty Robbin's covers and other rocked-out country stuff. Damn, that was a great one! Never got to catch Mr. Cash, 'cept on the TV. Don't laugh, I saw John Denver, in Reno before his ill-fated plane flight...and that country boy had a real tight jammin' band with him. Did a rousing cover of "El Paso".Yep Hermit, most of the "formula-country" just plain sucks...

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  4. I believe we have a consensus here gentlemen . . . Lovey, Mr Young is one dude who seems to be imbued with the very soul of what great country is all about, possibly kept fresh and raw by the amount of personal sorrow in his life, love him to bits . . . Laz, you are the Crown Prince of timely and pertinent anecdotes, feel totally free to continue, appreciate them all.

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