After choosing my favourite Country albums of 2013, I came across an album which easily surpasses any of my choices - John Moreland's 'In the Throes'. I've been trying to write this review for a while now; every time I come to it I get the feeling that I won't be able to do Moreland's Art justice - it is not just the best album of 2013, it is the best album I have ever heard!
John Moreland has certainly been 'in the throes'; this record exudes painful honesty as the Oklahoman journeys for truth, purpose and redemption. It is incredible in two senses; song-writing and performance.
Moreland's lyricism is always relevant! Whether he is singing of love or God, what strikes most vividly is the truth of the song-writer's words. In the penultimate track of the album, Gospel, John sings ''I wanna wear my heart on my sleeve but be tough when I have to". This is exactly what he achieves with perfection throughout the album. My favourite line comes in Break My Heart Sweetly where Moreland sings "I should be dealing with my demons but I'm dodging them instead". His ability to lure the listener in with raw poetry is simply staggering!
What makes John's lyrics even more impressive is the way he delivers them. You'd be hard-pressed to find a line or even a single note which is not sung with the same weight of pure and honest emotion. It seems as if Moreland is living his pain all over again every time he sings his songs. It is evident that 'In the Throes' was recorded with one main aim: to deliver Moreland's message in the clearest possible way. The extremely transparent texture, made up mostly of just an acoustic guitar and vocals, and with delightful sprinklings of pedal steel, harmonica, piano and organ (the majority of which Moreland played), ensures that we are always conscious of what the Oklahoman is singing about.
It is also important to acknowledge that 'In the Throes' is not just a heartbreaker. Yes, this is the overriding feeling that we are left with - one of emotional weariness - although this is in no way a bad thing. Once Moreland has taken you down into the depths of despair with the likes of Break My Heart Sweetly and Your Spell, he will remarkably lift your spirits with the up-beat nature of Oh Julia. This is the marking of a truly great album!
'In the Throes' closes with the track Blues and Kudzu in which Moreland is 'trying to leave behind yesterday' on a Mississippi Highway. The song almost feels incomplete but perfectly epitomises the entire album with its fragile vulnerability.
With the baseless nature of contemporary popular music, the art of songwriting has been thrown aside; it's all about image these days. It seems, like Moreland sings, that nobody gives a damn about songs anymore. Well, we should, and Moreland's 'In the Throes' is the reason why!
If the only thing you do today is listen to this album, it will be a day well spent.
Soon after finishing my previous article in the early
hours of Monday morning, I was following the results of the American Music
Awards (AMAs).
The nominations for 'Favourite Female Country Artist'
were Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert. Can you
guess who won? The nominations for ‘Favourite Country Album’ were Luke Bryan
with Crash My Party, Taylor Swift
with Red and Florida Georgia Line
with Here’s To The Good Times. Again,
I’m sure you’ll have no trouble in guessing the winner.
To be honest, I was expecting Taylor Swift to win both of
these awards despite the fact that Red
was released in 2012 and that she has done nothing, NOTHING whatsoever in 2013.
But the most worrying aspect is the fact that the winners of the American Music
Awards are decided by the public. What does this say about the state of modern
Country music when the winner of these awards is most certainly NOT a Country
artist?
The general public perception of Country music is completely
false! They do not know what real Country music is but it is not necessarily
their fault. The blame really lies with the music industry’s commercial hubs –
the executives and the award ceremonies who project a single image of Country
music; one which is so far removed from the genre’s roots. Traditional Country
music only appeals commercially to a minority of people and thus will not be
represented at events like the AMAs which seek only the most commercial music.
This therefore begs the question: ‘Why have a category for Country music?’ –
The answer, as always, is Money.
Whilst Country-Pop, as well as the Pop of Taylor Swift,
thrives at the peak of the genre; REAL Country music is being neglected. The
traditional wheel of the genre is still rolling along but can be hard to find
at times. 2013 has produced some absolutely fantastic Country music – so here
are my picks of the best REAL Country albums of the year.
Tin Star – Lindi Ortega
Canadian Country singer Lindi Ortega moved to Nashville
in 2011 to record her second album for Last Gang Records, Cigarettes and Truckstops. She has since gained all the inspiration
that she needed from Music City U.S.A to produce her latest album, Tin Star. Ortega is one of the brightest
young talents in Nashville’s music scene and can go far if she continues in
this vein.
The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars
The duo announced their hiatus in November 2012 but
continued to record their eponymous album which was finally released on August
6th, 2013. One of the highlights of the album is the duo’s cover of
the Smashing Pumpkins’ song ‘Disarm’.
The Highway – Holly Williams
Holly Williams comes from a very royal Country line as
the granddaughter of the Country music’s biggest ever star, Hank Williams. Released
in February on her own label, The Highway contains some incredible feats of
song-writing. It seems that the best Country music is often the music which is
produced independently, free from the hands of music executives.
Pokey LaFarge – Pokey LaFarge
LaFarge’s music is an innovative mix of early jazz,
western swing and country blues from the 1920s and 30s. Pokey brings a
refreshing approach to roots music, transcending the boundaries of genre and effectively
creating his own style. His eponymous album is perhaps his best yet!
Bakersfield – Vince Gill
Vince Gill is a traditionalist at heart, emerging in the
1980s as part of the movement which sought to re-establish the roots of Country
music. Gill is still going strong, releasing
Bakersfield in July which pays tribute to the innovators of the Bakersfield
sound, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.
Southeastern – Jason Isbell
Southeastern is lyricism and story-telling at its highest
level – this album cuts deep into the skin with its raw emotion and painful
honesty. This is a record that everyone simply must have in their collection!
Foreverly – Billie Joe + Norah
It is an unlikely pairing and an even more unlikely sound
that is produced but Foreverly has to be one of the biggest records of 2013.
This album is a complete and extremely faithful reinterpretation of the Everly
Brothers’ 1958 album ‘Songs our Daddy Taught Us’. When Green Day frontman,
Billie Joe Armstrong, first approached Norah Jones about the prospect of this
album, she was naturally hesitant. But after some convincing, the duo began
working on the material for the album and something seemed to click. The result
is beautifully reminiscent of the duets between Gram Parsons and Emmylou
Harris.
Too Free To Live – Brett Detar
Brett Detar is not just a musician; he’s also a film
composer and music producer. His second solo album, Too Free To Live, has been made
available via free download from his website. It is an album which is clearly
influenced by more than just Country music, taking much from Southern Rock,
creating a great diversity and freshness in this record.
Ashley Monroe – Like a Rose
Ashley Monroe’s vulnerable and angelic-sounding voice reminds
me of a young Dolly Parton. Her latest album, Like a Rose, was produced by
Vince Gill which perhaps explains the quality of the record throughout. Monroe
had a hand in the writing of every song on the album which suggests that she
has the talent to go far in the industry.
There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely –
Possessed by Paul James
Konrad Wert, who goes by the name of Possessed by Paul
James, is a one-man band from south Austin, Texas. He is a natural entertainer
with incredible musical talent (he plays the Banjo, Guitar and Fiddle) and his
album ‘There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely’ also shows off his great
song-writing ability.
You may have already wondered: Why does a 19 year-old guy from England, who is studying Classical Music at the University of Bristol, like Country and Americana Music? This is the question I will attempt to answer now by explaining my journey into the musical world of the southern American states.
It began in one of the most unlikely of places - whilst playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas! If you've never played the game before, or any of the others in the series, you may want to watch the trailer just to gauge the nature of the video game.
San Andreas, like every Grand Theft Auto game, has an incredibly diverse soundtrack with at least 10 radio stations you can choose to listen to whilst driving around in stolen vehicles. One of these radio stations was called K-Rose, a Country show which included some of the greatest Country songs ever recorded. At the time, I knew very little music outside of the charts and certainly had no idea what Country music was - my mind was free of any of the negative connotations that the genre is still labelled with to this day! I chose to listen to K-Rose because the music was different which made it stand out amongst the other radio stations. This is still one of the main attractions for me with Country music - It's the sound of the steel guitar and southern accent that keeps me interested.
San Andreas was just the starting point in my journey. My interest in Country music gained real momentum when I discovered Johnny Cash through the film Walk the Line at the age of around 14 or 15. I have no recollection of knowing or even recognising the name Johnny Cash before watching that film, and thus owe a lot to the film for introducing me to the Man in Black despite its many failings in the representation of Cash's life.
For the next 3 years after Walk the Line, I survived on a diet made up almost exclusively of Johnny Cash's music. After exhausting his Greatest Hits album, I went in search of Cash's less well-known output - going through the 'lost' albums of the 1970s and 80s. I now have a playlist of almost 900 Johnny Cash songs and I still don't think it's complete. With Cash, it's not just his recording output that marks him out as one of the greatest artists of all time in any genre. His music transcends the confines of genre - it's Country, Folk and most certainly American but his music is the music of the people! Cash's ability to tell stories through his songs is one of the most appealing aspects of his music and one which he gained from the tradition of folk ballads (often about murder) in Country music.
The most interesting aspect of Cash is the man himself - he was and still remains both an enigma and an icon. He is my idol because of what he stood for and represented - listening to his signature song, Man in Black, will tell you all you need to know.
Johnny Cash opened the doorway to the world of Country music for me - his covers of Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers introduced me to a genre which was new and fresh but which was also partly recognisable due to the K-Rose soundtrack. The next stage of my journey came in the form of a 6 CD set called Superstars of Country which was comprised mostly of Country music from the 70s and 80s including songs by Dolly Parton, George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Listening to these CDs furthered my understanding of Country music and its diversity - I was still becoming acquainted with many of the sub genres of Country music and had not formed any opinions about what true Country music should sound like.
This occurred only last summer when I began to read up on Country music. The book which has influenced my opinion the most is In the Country of Country - A Journey to the Roots of American Music by Nicholas Dawidoff:
'To call today's mainstream country music country at all is a misnomer...it's kempt, comfortable music - hyper-sincere, settled, and careful neither to offend nor surprise...contemporary country music thrives because it is sleek and predictable, a safe adventure in a smoke-free environment'.
Writing in 1997, Dawidoff was referring to the Country-Pop of the 1990s with the music of Shania Twain and Billie Ray Cyrus. Despite the roots revival at the turn of the century, it can only be argued that this trend of Country-Pop is still flourishing and dominating the genre today. If you were to ask the average person to name a modern Country singer, they would probably answer with Taylor Swift - and that's the moment my head would drop in shame. The Country music industry has abandoned the roots of the genre in favour of commercial success - out goes the music of Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent and in comes the Pop trash of Taylor Swift. This defies everything Country music stands for. It was a medium through which many could escape the hardships of their troubled lives. You can picture a young J.R. Cash sitting eagerly by the family radio, listening to the Roy Acuff on the Grand Ole Opry after a hard day's work in the cotton fields. The music had firm foundations which the people could relate to, but now that he genre has been contaminated with the baseless nature of popular music, mainstream Country music has just become another form of commercialism which doesn't give a damn about the people. This is why I have now begun to discover Americana music with its emphasis on roots music. It is through the medium of Americana that real Country music and the roots remains and survives in music today.
Waylon Jennings' career could have been over before it had even begun if he had not given up his seat on the plane that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson on 'The Day the Music Died'. He began at RCA with producer Chet Atkins in Nashville but enjoyed his largest period of success as one of the key players in the 'Outlaw movement' which carried images of the Wild West, Texas, cowboys and independence. This movement was extremely influential in refocusing attention on the performer as musical creators and for creating an establishment for Country music outside of the corporate traditions entrenched in Nashville. Jennings' sound was also important for reintroducing a stripped-down and twangy counterbalance to the music of the classical country style.
4. Merle Haggard
Growing up in Bakersfield, California, Haggard spent most of his childhood as a loose cannon and ended up serving time in San Quentin for trying to rob a bar. It was in San Quentin where Haggard was inspired to become a Country musician after hearing Johnny Cash play for the inmates in 1958. Haggard's music owes much to Buck Owens' Bakersfield Sound with its emphasis on the Fender Telecaster Guitar searing through hard-driving traditional honky-tonk music. Haggard paid tribute to many of the first generation of Country singer like Jimmie Rodgers and Lefty Frizzell throughout his career. Merle Haggard is seen as one of Country Music's biggest stars and has been revered as a legend by almost all subsequent generations of Country singers.
3. George Jones
George Jones, nicknamed The Possum, is regarded as one of the greatest vocalists in the history of Country music. Jones began his career as a rockabilly singer with hits such as 'Why, Baby, Why' and 'White Lightning'. His style and sound changed once he began working with Tammy Wynette whom he married in 1969. The couple recorded many hit duets together including 'Golden Ring' and 'We're Gonna Hold On'. Although Jones' sound often incorporated elements of the Nashville Sound period, his voice possessed such a full range of expressions from tears and cries to quivers and wails that conveyed the raw, direct emotions of the honky-tonk style. His self-destructive, alcohol-drenched lifestyle only added to his appeal and added an autobiographical aura to his honky-tonk reputation.
2. Johnny Cash
Not to place Johnny Cash at number one is probably quite a controversial decision. I even shocked myself! Johnny Cash was an enigma and an icon - he was Country music's biggest modern star and an artist whose appeal transcended the boundaries of genre. Cash began at Sun Studios in the 1950s as a rockabilly artist with the Tennessee Two and cultivated a raw and completely original sound. The majority of Cash's biggest hits came at the beginning of his career - 'I Walk the Line', 'Folsom Prison Blues' and 'Ring of Fire'. His career faded during the 60s due to his drug addition but his comeback with the live albums at San Quentin and Folsom Prison at the end of the decade re-launched Cash's career and turned him into one of music's biggest names. His ABC TV show The Johnny Cash Show, which ran from 1969 to 1971, was hugely influential in bringing different types of music to mainstream television including his first guests on the show, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. It seemed as if Cash's career was coming to an stuttering end in the 1980s but he made another comeback with Rick Rubin's American Recordings in the 90s which saw the Arkansas man return to the minimalist and stark sound of his early career. Cash died in 2003, leaving us one of the longest, most successful and most influential careers in Country music.
1. Hank Williams
Hank Williams died at the age of 29 in 1953. During his short career as a Country singer, he was neither the biggest-selling artist nor the one with the most hits and yet Hank Williams is seen as the pure embodiment of Country music. The Honky-Tonk sound, which reached its creative peak with the music of Hank Williams, is seen as the purest and most traditional form of Country music. The emphasis on the steel guitar, fiddle and raw southern accent of Williams would be emulated in many different guises through the rest of the twentieth century. Much of Hank Williams' life is shrouded in legend and myth - his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry in June 1949 was a stunning success and it has been claimed that he played as many as nine encores that evening. Williams' health plagued him throughout his short life. He suffered from spina bifida which he self-medicated with alcohol and narcotics, making his personal and musical life extremely unstable. In 1952, Hank was fired from the Opry due to his drinking and was divorced from his wife, Audrey, whose wicked ways were the inspiration for many of his heartbreak songs such as 'Cold, Cold Heart' and 'Your Cheatin' Heart'. The death of Hank Williams is the most mythologized event in all of Country music history - his lifeless body was discovered in the back of car on its way to a New Year's Day show in Ohio in 1953. The cause of death was alcohol and drug abuse. Although this was the end of Williams' life, it was the beginning of the legend - due to his death just before the birth of Rock n' Roll, his style appears frozen in time. He began and finished with the same kind of music. Hank Williams' biography itself is a tragic honky-tonk song and thus, he has been used as a symbol of pure authenticity in Country Music.
10. Buck Owens
Buck Owens, with his band The Buckaroos, was responsible for the cultivation of what became known as the Bakersfield Sound in the 1960s, combining the traditional Honky-Tonk sound with elements of 50's R&B. At the heart of the Owens' sound lay the Fender Telecaster Guitar which was used to play twangy high notes like a steel guitar. One of the other main features of his music was its use of the 'Bakersfield Shuffle' which combined swing rhythms with a walking bass line, giving the music a real 'drive'. Owens' Bakersfield Sound was so influential in Country Music as it directly opposed the slick Country-Pop that was being produced in Nashville at the time and succeeded in its aim of keeping the true Country music tradition alive.
9. George Strait
George Strait arrived during the first wave of Neotraditionalism in the 1980s and was one of the key pioneers of the movement which resurrected earlier, distinctive styles of Country music and updated them with modern recording studio techniques. George Strait's own brand of Neotraditionalism married Honky-Tonk with the 1930s Western Swing of Bob Wills, heavily emphasising the twang of the fiddle and steel guitar. In terms of commercial success Strait was unsurpassable, amassing forty-four number one Billboard Country hits and achieving eleven number one singles in a row. Strait's success is even more impressive with the knowledge that he was able to gain commercial popularity whilst ensuring his music was centered on the roots of Country music.
8. Bill Monroe
The 'Father of Bluegrass', Bill Monroe, is credited with the creation of an entire musical style. Beginning with his brother as the Monroe Brothers in the 1930s, Bill went on to form his Blue Grass Boys which really took shape in 1945 with the addition of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. The latter's three-finger banjo-picking style would be the main characteristic of the Bluegrass sound and would give the music its 'drive'. Other than as its creator, Monroe's contribution to Bluegrass music was mainly evident in his role as a bandleader: generations of musicians learned their trade as members of his band which was a training ground for Bluegrass players. Monroe also developed a different style of Mandolin playing which imitated the intricate melodies played on the fiddle, transforming the instrument from a supportive one into a leading one. In short, Bluegrass music owes its entire existence to Monroe!
7. Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers is seen as the 'Father of Country Music' but not in the same way that Bill Monroe created Bluegrass music. From being discovered during the Bristol Sessions in 1927, Jimmie Rodgers went on to become the first big star of Country music - in 1929, Rodgers made a short movie for Columbia Pictures called The Singing Brakeman in which he sang three songs. He was the first artist to adopt the image of the 'tragic troubadour' and his personal life and recordings came to represent the very essence of Country music - his battle with tuberculosis ultimately led to his early death but his influence did not die with him as he inspired the next generation of Country performers such as Ernest Tubb and Gene Autry.
6. Willie Nelson
Despite the fact that Willie Nelson has not always stayed within the boundaries of Country Music, he is still seen as one of the most iconic Country stars of the second half of the 20th century. Nelson began as a songwriter during the Nashville Sound era of the 1960s and wrote hit songs such as 'Hello Walls' which was sung by Faron Young and 'Crazy' for Patsy Cline. Willie Nelson's most notable success came with the beginning of the Outlaw movement which saw a move away from the rigid Nashville production style to independent studios in Texas and ensured the artist more control over their work. His 1975 album, Red Headed Stranger, was a clear product of the movement with its sparse texture reflecting the barren lands of his native Texas - it was a huge success and was named number one on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music.
Part Two of the Top 10 Most Influential Men in Country Music will be posted on Wednesday 6th November.
Ideology forms the basis of the way we live our lives from the music we listen to, to the books we read - we all follow a set of ideas and values that we have either decided for ourselves or have been prescribed by the society we live in. Ideology effects every single area of our lives and music genres are certainly no exception to this rule. The very nature of Country music is determined by the ideology that the genres' 'initiates' subscribe to.
Exclusivity
After the awarding of the 1974 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year award to Australian Pop singer Olivia Newton-John, twenty-two Country artists gathered at the Nashville home of George Jones and Tammy Wynette to discuss the future of their music. A week later they announced the formation of the Association of Country Entertainers (ACE) - an organisation restricted to Country performers (those who they deemed worthy of performing Country music). They even set up a committee to determine the Country credentials of prospective ACE members.
In Country music, as in most other genres, there are a set of embedded rules founded on the social and cultural climates that the music emerged from - this has created a form of exclusivity, highlighted in the actions of the Association of Country Entertainers, separating those who subscribe to the music (initiates) and those who do not, thus forming an invisible 'bubble' around the genre. Yet it is evident, from the example, that the 'bubble' of Country music is somewhat penetrable by the forces of popular music.
It is this idea of exclusivity which has defined and characterised Country music throughout its history and will continue to shape its future.
Anti-Commercialism and the Country 'Canon'
In a recent interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Americana artist Slaid Cleaves expressed a view held by many traditional Country music fans about the state of modern mainstream Country:
"I guess I just can’t stand that bigger-than-life, good ol’ boy kind of country music. It’s all pretty cheesy if you ask me. Whenever I accidentally come across any nationally-recognized music, it turns my stomach pretty much. All the videos are sexed up with people just trying to push buttons and get people all riled up. I have a friend who writes for a living in Nashville, and he tells me that last season it was all about banjos and now it’s all about tailgates and trucks. He tells me you got to hit those notes if you ever want to get your song cut. I mean, c’mon."
Cleaves continues, "I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the craft, and sometimes you can just tell that if a particular song had been done acoustically, it could have worked. There are well-crafted songs out there. I don’t know. Let’s just say I am very comfortable being on the tiniest little fringe of country music these days."
The purists of Country music believe that their music exists or should exist in a World outside of the commercialism of Popular music. It can be said that Country music strives to be Anti-Commercial! But how can music be anti-commercial in such a commercial industry? In its purest form, Country music doesn't tend to sell outside the genre's 'bubble'. For example, stars like Dwight Yoakam who have been revered by 'initiates' have often been scorned by the press on tour in Countries like England. On the other hand, Country music which abandons traditionalism for aspects of Popular music in order to achieve commercial success (e.g. the music of the Nashville Sound and the Country-Pop of the 1990s) have been rejected by traditional fans but have gathered a following outside of Country music's traditional circles.
If we take a look at the Canon of Country music, we can see a clear hierarchy in its ideology. Authentic and traditional Country will automatically rise to the top of the genre - the music of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and George Jones will always be seen as the highest form of Country music. (For more on this, read my previous article on Authenticity in Country Music). So What?!
There is no doubt that the incorporation of pop elements into Country music in the form of the Nashville Sound of the late 50s and early 60s SAVED Country music from potential commercial extinction. Rock & Roll had taken the music industry by storm and threatened the very existence of the Country music industry.
However, the Nashville Sound opened the doorway for the merging of Country music with popular styles to the extent where we now have very little pure Country music in the Country charts today. The 'bubble' has been fully penetrated, allowing the pure air of Country music to be contaminated. This has caused many aspiring, traditional Country artists like Slaid Cleaves to become disillusioned with the industry to the point where they no longer want to label themselves as Country. We may have already reached the stage where Country music as a pure genre now ceases to exist!
'The man come to shake my hand and rob me of my farm. I shot him dead and I hung my head and drove off in his car'
Listening to Americana singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham can at times be a true test of emotional strength. Born and raised in rural Texas, ranching and competing in rodeo competitions during his teenage years and living alone through most of this time, Bingham's hard-living gives a real feel of authenticity to his music, embodied in the whisky-drinking, gravely nature of his vocals.
Authenticity is one of the most defining features of what good Country and Americana music should be. It is often said that you have to have lived it to be able to sing it and this is certainly the case with Bingham. But what does authenticity in Country music actually mean and is it really all that?
Authenticity of experience
Take the example of one of Country music's most famous names, Johnny Cash. Born in Arkansas in 1932, Cash picked cotton in the fields from the age of five and sang Gospel songs taught to him by his mother to help them through the day. At every opportunity J.R., as he was known, would listen to the family radio, especially the Grand Ole Opry on WSM radio where he would have heard the likes of the Carter Family and Roy Acuff. Many of the experiences Cash had as a child would later re-appear in his songs. 'Five Feet High and Rising' is about the flooding of his family's farm:
This is authenticity at its highest level.
Another example can be found in Hank Williams' melancholic 'I'm so lonesome I could cry':
'Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
That midnight train comes whinin' low
I'm so lonesome I could cry'
True poetry from The Hillbilly Shakespeare, no doubt inspired by the sounds he heard in the wild, growing up in Alabama.
The case put forward by many traditional Country music fans is that modern Country stars lack authenticity because they haven't lived the 'hard life' and therefore cannot sing true Country music. It certainly seems that country artists have to have the right background to be accepted in the genre.
However, there are exceptions to this rule - take the Americana artist Slaid Cleaves for example. Born in Washington, raised in Maine and majoring in English and Philosophy at Tufts University, Cleaves' upbringing was as far away as you can get from the likes of Bingham and Cash. But this does not have any effect on his ability as a singer and songwriter in the genres of Country and Americana. One of the most authentic features of his sound is his extremely impressive yodelling ability, highlighted in the album, Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge in Austin, Texas on the tracksTexas Top Hand and Rolling Stone from Texas.
Authenticity of Sound
The music of the Honky-Tonk era (1940-53) is seen as the most traditional and purest form of Country music with its focus on the twang of the steel guitar and the raw nature of the Southern accent - Hank Williams called it 'pure, unadulterated country' and the Honky-Tonk sound would be emulated in many different guises throughout the remainder of the 20th century.
But authenticity isn't simply gained with the addition of a steel guitar. For eample, the Gram Parsons' dominated Byrds' album Sweetheart of the Rodeo had a strong emphasis on the steel guitar, yet the band were shunned when they played at the Ryman Auditorium, the Mother Church of Country Music, in 1968.
Shania Twain was one of the main figures of the 1990s 'Country-Pop' scene - her sound often incorporated the vibrancy of the pedal steel guitar but every other aspect of her music comes from the 'Pop' world - the slickness of production, the semi-tonal key changes and the song topics - The use of the steel guitar doesn't make her music country!
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the very early music that Johnny Cash produced at Sun Studios in Memphis didn't use the steel guitar at all and instead innovated the new boom-chicka-boom sound. Yet, Johnny Cash is seen as one of the most authentic country artists to have ever lived, and rightly so.
Conclusion
So what are Country music fans actually looking for when they talk about the need for authenticity in their music?
I see authenticity as more about feeling and expression than anything else - the ability of the artist to relate emotionally to its audience. It certainly helps to have lived the 'hard life' and to adopt a pure Country sound. However, with the 'hard life' having already largely disappeared, it is rare to come across artists like Ryan Bingham.
Thus, with little authenticity of experience remaining in Country music, we now have to place heightened emphasis on its sound and the replication of traditional Country music. Of course, the genre must move forward with the times but it must do so by looking to its past. The roots revival of the late 1990s, peaking in the soundtrack to the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, showed how Country music can still remain authentic and relevant in today's society. This also highlights the importance of Americana music in keeping the tradition of American roots music alive.
Canadian Country singer, Lindi Ortega, is back with a thunderous twang in the form of her new album Tin Star, her third in the last three years.
Having moved from Toronto to the 'shining stars' of Nashville, Tennessee to record CigarettesandTruckstops in2012, there is no doubt that Tin Star owes much of its influence to Music City, U.S.A. The title track is a tribute to the aspiring musician, many of whom she would have heard play to almost empty rooms despite their immense talent. Ortega sings: "Well we don't got fame, no name in lights, no billboard hits and no sold out nights". But Tin Star is also a tribute to music itself. Ortega sings that she might just walk away "but the music keeps on running through the blood in my veins and it just makes me stay". Voodoo Mama also touches on this theme, expressing Ortega's love of New Orleans and wanting to go back to "music on the streets".
The album as a whole contains an entertaining combination of heartfelt country ballads of love and pain along with foot-stomping rockabilly songs which really get you up off your feet. Tin Star really takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. The opening track Hard as This sounds like it's been taken from the opening credits to an old Western movie - The next thing you probably expect to hear is the voice of John Wayne booming out through your speakers. Instead we hear the expressiveness of Ortega and this is no disappointment as she entices us into the album.
Gypsy Child tells us of Ortega's move from Toronto to Nashville and a major feature of her sound is its sheer attitude, especially when she powerfully launches into the chorus, proudly professing: "I'm a Gypsy child, that's what my Mama told me." One of the stand out songs from Tin Star has to be Lived and Died Alone with its eyebrow-raising theme. Ortega sings: "When the sun has set, I will go dig up the dead, lift their bodies from their graves and I'll lay them in my bed". Looking beneath its clearly gory nature, Lived and Died Alone simply expresses the natural human fear of not being loved - something we can all relate to! Ortega sings this with such pain in her voice, it has the potential to move the listener to tears. This is Not Surreal can be found on the same haunting level as Lived and Died Alone and perhaps carries with it the best lyric of the entire album: "One must always suffer for the sake of their art."
In between these two, deeper songs lies the emphatic I Want You which shows off Ortega's feisty side, singing "I want you" as a command rather than a request. She's certainly letting us know who's in charge!
It is very rare to feel that no track is worth skipping on any album but this is certainly the case with Ortega's Tin Star and with the state of modern country music, Ortega's contribution is a breath of fresh air. The only disappointment is the inability of the Country Music establishment to welcome her with open arms!
