2009-02-10 15:41:46

THE YEAR’S MOST EXCITING DUET: ELVIS COSTELLO AND SIMON COWELL

Filed under: American Idol, Duets, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Music, Spectacle, Television
Posted by: John

Ah hell, why try to lie? I’ve watched American Idol again.

This time, it’s educational! Last week, I spent one hour with Simon Cowell while he destroyed the egos of the talentless and falsely elevated the hopes of the mildly gifted. Then I switched to a second hour of Elvis Costello’s new show Spectacle in which the greatest musicians in popular music talk about perseverance, relationships, musical knowledge and balls. Talent is the least of it.

On American Idol, we receive the impression that neither pop stars nor music have a past. Everything exists in a tense vaccuum of the present. A few of the contestants play instruments, and some are classically trained. A handful sound original. The best of them are able to carry a tune and bust an attitude. They are quintessential fireflies. For the most part, though, we think of them as special needs musicians. They are people who need to be stars, as if nothing else might be required to guarantee a life in music.

On Spectacle, we learn that everything these people believe about music is a lie, that raw talent only goes so far, that stardom is fleeting, that no one succeeds alone, that the musical past is definitive prologue to a real career. Whereas Simon Cowell presides over his universe like a dominatrix with an amused grin for the best goose-steppers, Elvis Costello comes off as the gentle omnivore who can swallow almost anyone, as long as they have paid their dues and aren’t insufferable. And, oh yes, he loves the musicians who never became stars and seems to take a special relish in singling them out.

The differences between the two shows may be obvious, but seeing them together underlines the ways that television now mediates popular music for us. American Idol was never about music. It was always about television stardom. .Spectacle is about music, and the people who practice that trade, whether opera singers or jazz pianists or singer songwriters. The show reminds us that for most artists, music is, in fact, a trade, and not a form of celebrity incubation.

I wait for the day when worlds collide, of course, when Idol producers ask Elvis to be a judge. Till then, I’ll just have to savor the juxtaposition. Tomorrow night, Jenny Lewis, M. Ward, Zoey Deschanel and Jakob Dylan are the guests and we can already imagine the possibilities of the collaboration. Will anyone rise to the level of Renee Fleming when she performed a stunning version of “In The Pines” with Elvis, Rufus Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle (or was it Martha Wainright?). How about the stunning moment when Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Norah Jones, John Mellenkamp and Elvis sang Johnny Cash’s “Big River”? And “Seven Year Ache”?

Meanwhile, over at American Idol last week, an Osmond offspring got deep-sixed without so much as a tear during Hollywood week. I found that just as satisfying, in its own little way.

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2008-07-05 11:26:12

NO DEPRESSION: THE MUS-EPIC-AL!! (PART IV)

Filed under: Be Good Tanyas, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Calexico, Duets, Eilen Jewell, Emmylou Harris, Freakwater, George Strait, Golden Smog, John Doe, John Marks, Johnny Cash, Kathleen Edwards, Kris Kristofferson, Laura Cantrell, Led Zeppelin, Levon Helm, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Maria McKee, Marshall Crenshaw, Merle Haggard, Music, Nick Lowe, No Depression, Old 97's, Shelby Lynne, Son Volt, Steve Earle, The Sadies, The Sadies, Tift Merritt, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, X, allison moorer, jon dee graham
Posted by: John

Our saga continues. For those just arriving, I’m telling an epic story of American love, hate, death and survival through the medium of my favorite music in an effort to preserve the legacy of the great departed music magazine No Depression. For the latest in its on-line life, check out Peter Blackstock’s recent post on Northampton locals the Drunk Stuntmen. I haven’t seen Young At Heart, the movie in which they feature, but I caught their live act a while back and can attest to their glory. More people should know about them.

As most of its fans know, No Depression will resurrect in December as a bi-annual bookazine, but the transition marks the end of an era and offers a chance for an eccentric like myself to offer up a Mad Max vision of the music’s future. For an in-depth explication and rationalization of this fool’s exercise, you can start here.

And so back to our tale. Thus far, we find ourselves in central Kentucky, somewhere between Louisville and Appalachia, i.e. Kentucky, in a small town split between two factions, the Nash and Henry clans. The Rev. Jeremiah Nash storms from the pulpit of the Holy Gethsemane Church. Ben Henry sits behind bars of a federal pentitentiary. The two men hate each other, thanks to a murder case that swallowed the town whole. In a fight, Henry murdered one of Nash’s church members over a woman. Nash sways the town and therefore the jury against Henry, even though the man Henry killed had beaten his wife almost to death.

Years have passed, and the wounds have festered, but we also see hope of reconciliation. Catalina Nash, teenage daughter of the reverend, and Sugar Henry, equally teenage son of Ben Henry, meet in bar and fall in love. At first, they sneak around; it’s clear that the town won’t accommodate their love. Sugar’s ex-girlfriend Etta Place will stop at nothing to thwart the relationship. Meanwhile, Catalina’s stepbrother from her father’s first marriage, Jake Nash, has just returned from Baltimore and a failed marriage, and his semi-incestuous love for his stepsister will soon turn to rage.

18)“Until You Came Along”, The Golden Smog—Every time I hear this song, it makes me happy. It’s a perfect piece of pop craftsmanship from some No Depression giants, including Jeff Tweedy of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco and Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, and it has one of those hooks that start in the ears and ends up in the deep interior. It hits us like a sugar-coated bullet to the gut.

In our story, it’s the moment when Sugar Henry lets us know how deep his feelings go. He would rather die or leave home than give up Catalina Nash.

19)“The Road to Gila Bend”, Los Lobos—The catalogue of the Hidalgo Brothers is so rich and deep that I could have turned a dozen directions, but I knew I’d have to reach for one of their rock tunes, which have always managed that Springsteen feat of holding hope and despair in the same hot cup.

I can remember the record shop in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I bought their debut album Will The Wolf Survive?. I played the title track till it warped. I first saw Los Lobos in 1987 at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Dave Alvin along for the ride, and it was a magical evening steeped in personal unhappiness, a night toward the end of a dying relationship. Twenty years later, I saw them again in Northampton, and it felt like a much happier family reunion. The same year I’d first seen them, after the other relationship had gone to its long home, I met my wife, and we’ve been together for two decades. So has the band.

In our story “The Road to Gila Bend” introduces more new characters, cousins of Marisol Nash, illegals who have crossed into the United States for work and are trying to find their lost family member. Back in Coahuila, her mother has died. Marisol gets word that they are in Texas, working lawns and slaughterhouses, and tells Catalina, unaware that her daughter is about to strike out for the territories. The Los Lobos song, off their more recent record The Town and the City is a gorgeous song about flight both to and from our hopes.

20)“Not the Tremblin Kind”, Laura Cantrell—Following a muse that has lured others before her, most recently Shelby Lynne, Laura Cantrell has just released a record in the spirit of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and the only disappointment is that we won’t hear more of her own original work. Cantrell has a rare gift. On two previous records, this New York DJ, host of the once indispensable Radio Thrift Shop, turned her exquisite musical taste into sweet, tough, gorgeous country tunes of her own. Her first record, Not The Tremblin Kind wandered through months of my life, and the title track has never quite faded from my mind.

In our story, Catalina Nash stands up to her father, who has just discovered the love affair. This song marks the great break between doting father and beloved daughter.

21)“Dias Y Noches Perdidas”, Freddy Fender—Wonderful news that the town of San Benito, Texas has given one of my musical heroes, a giant of conjunto, the late and lamented Freddy Fender, his own museum! In that spirit, I have to include one of the greatest of all country songs sung in Spanish by a man whose voice rivals that of Sam Cooke in its silky, sad texture. How many times have I sat in a darkened Broadway music hall and asked myself—why couldn’t someone just start to sing “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights?”

In our saga, Marisol Nash sings about her life, far from family, far from home, in the household of an increasingly angry man, her husband Jeremiah. She knows her daughter will leave, and she is thinking the same thing. Time to light out for Texas, where her cousins are waiting.

22)“The Beast in Me”, Nick Lowe—Did I first hear this song at the end of the Sopranos episode or did it really make an impression as sung by an aging Johnny Cash? One way or another, it is poetry about the divided soul, and it would be almost as beautiful without the music. Lowe’s song here on its own terms, but it seems right to me that an early punk champion of country music, someone who learned a lot from the practicioners of the classic Nashville songwriting, should be part of this cavalcade.

In our story, the song goes to Jake Nash, who unveils his murderous thoughts towards Sugar Henry and his wayward stepsister Cataline. He has discovered the affair and means to kill them both. “The Beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bonds, restless by day and by night, rants and rages at the stars.”

23)“Light Enough To Travel”, The Be Good Tanyas—Hello, Vancouver! These three women, criminally neglected folkies, gave me a reason to rethink “Oh Susanna”, and I’ve never said a proper thank you. Their first record offers one gem after another, the harmonies, the strings, the mournfulness. I love the moment in this song when one of the gals has to throw down her accordion to get away from the police.”Light Enough to Travel” is a song about the ability to move, as often as necessary, and the price of that movement.

In our story, Catalina sings it, and it’s about being young and getting the hell out of Dodge.

24)”Wedding Day”, Alejandro Escovedo—What’s more to say about one of the great singer songwriters of our time? He transcends any label. I’ve seen him in concert twice, once at the Iron Horse in Northampton, where he delivered one of the best musical performances I’ve ever seen. The man still looked a little fragile after his years of struggling with hepatitis, but my God the power of that show, like some hurricane blowing out of a dark corner of the bar. He’s already written a musical cycle, so it’s redundant of me to bring him into this mus-epic-al. Still, I have to. If I’d known about “Wedding Day” when I got married, I would have asked the band to play it at my wedding. Here’s my penance.

In our story, Sugar Henry and Catalina Nash get hitched, and he sings this song to her. We’re coming to the moment of departure, and once the two of them leave, they know, they will never be back, which brings us to…

25)“Windfall”, Son Volt—For as long anyone cares about this music, there will be arguments about Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar, the duo that gave Uncle Tupelo its distintive sound and then went on to found what may seem like separate nations. In fact, I can’t imagine either the pages of No Depression the magazine anymore than I can imagine the last fifteen to twenty years without the music of both of them. Between them, they tackled vast range of roots sounds, reinventing and rethinking to such an extent that it’s hard to go back to the original source material, whether the Carter Family or the Beatles, without hearing their musical descendants. For me, as much as I love Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar’s “Windfall” will always be the crowning achievement in song craft. At Tramps, in New York City, God rest its seedy soul, I saw Steve Earle cover the song, and he said beforehand “there’s real lonely in it”, a high compliment. I couldn’t live without this one.

In our story, it’s the accompaniment to the departure of Catalina Nash and Sugar Henry, just married, from their childhood home. Its lyrics talk about the freedom of the sadness of the road, but they also foretell the literal and figurative storms to come. This love will be tested.

26)“The Levee’s Gonna Break”, Bob Dylan—What do you want? There had to be Dylan, and I love this song, and I needed rain, so here it is. “I can’t stop here, I ain’t ready to unload, I can’t stop here, I ain’t ready to unload, Riches and salvation can be waiting behind the next bend in the road.” It’s one more doom-laden ride from the Modern Times record, and I can listen to it again and again. Bet there’s a Dylan musical in the works. I don’t care. The man has to be here.

A thought about the meaning of this enterprise of mine. Does anyone else here remember the moment in the Clinton presidency, before Nixon died, when all the presidents from 1968 forward were still alive? I recall a photo of the men in the New York Times, and I marveled at the living history represented in the image. It was Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Sr., and Clinton, more presidents than had ever been alive at the same time. Maybe the No Depression moment is nothing more than an extraordinary statement of living history. At one and the same moment, a very brief one, in the end, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Ralph Stanley, Iris Dement, Beck, Neil Young, George Jones, Ruth Brown, Wanda Jackson, Solomon Burke, Gillian Welch, Son House, Jay Farrar, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Norah Jones, B.B. King, Tom Waits, Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens were all alive and performing at or near the top of their games. That alone would justify the movement, the magazine, the mus-epic-al.

In our story, as the chorus sings, we realize that a hurricane is coming, and the levees won’t hold. Is it any surprise? Katrina or one of her wild sisters makes an appearance. What epic of American life, particularly in this decade, would be complete without huge weather?

26)“Eastwinds”, The Sadies—Quite simply, one of the most haunting songs ever recorded. We hear spectral lyrics of death and destruction sung by Freakwater’s Catherine Irwin. This isn’t just spooky and pretty. It’s transcendent. The fact that most American music lovers have never heard this song is its own argument for the mus-epic-al.

In our story, “Eastwinds” is sung by a chorus, and it charts the arrival of the storm that will separate families. Sugar and Catalina have headed south and are near the Louisiana-Texas border when it strikes. They join of an army of refugees headed east. Hot on their trail, the Reverend Nash, Jake Nash and Etta Place are scattered to the winds.

27)“Wide River To Cross”, Levon Helm, Written by Buddy Miller and Julie Miller—I first read about this record in the pages of No Depression, and it was one more reason to be grateful for the magazine. Levon Helm’s voice had always been familiar from the Band era, but nothing really prepared me for this record. One of these days, when better times are here, I want to go see The Midnight Rambles in Woodstock, New York, that gathering of musicians around Daddy Helm. You might way my mus-epic-al was inspired in part by the idea of these evenings in celebration of a sound, a community and an era. God bless Levon Helm. Truly. “Wide River To Cross” has given me more comfort in the last year than most songs in a decade. And see? Buddy and Julie Miller are here, their songwriting geniuses rather than their voices.

In our story, the Rev. Jeremiah Nash sings “Wide River To Cross”, and we know that in this one moment, with this song, in the aftermath of the storm, he has become an old man. His rage at his child, and his foolhardy pursuit, have destroyed something in him, and he understands that his life will never be the same. He will never return to Kentucky, but he no longer knows where he will go. He sees himself as outcast.

28)“Walt Across Texas Tonight”, Emmylou Harris—When we hear the name Emmylou Harris, we don’t usually think of this song. It’s an obscure gem, and it shows a more joyful, less mournful side of one of the undisputed greats of the music here. Emmylou was a key artist for me, educating my musical sensibility through her assistance to others and through her incredible taste in songs. Among her many albums, my favoriote is the lesser-known Cimarron from the early 1980’s, and “Waltz Across Texas Tonight” strikes me as a song in the spirit of that remarkable record. Also, I needed an uplifting number to end Act One, for that’s where we are.

In our story, the lovers Sugar and Catalina have crossed into Texas, where they will begin a new life. Home lies behind, along with parents, lovers, brothers, an entire past blown apart by the storm. They are young, married and adventurous. Catie Nash sings this song to Sugar, and the curtain comes down.

NEXT: ACT II

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