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It's a publication I had never heard of until I spotted
it recently on a magazine rack, in the music section. (Any magazine
with Sam Cooke on the cover will catch my attention).
The magazine is
published quarterly, and this issue is the 8th Music Issue. It’s
a treasure.
The CD
At the heart of
the magazine is a
cover-mounted CD that puts on display some of the
superb variety and soul of southern American music. There are
accompanying articles about each of the 23 artists featured on the
CD.
What a great
selection, and a great mix! Just check how it starts:
-
Joe Liggins &
His Honeydrippers performing “Goin’ Back to New Orleans” (1950), one of
the greatest songs ever about that city.
-
Jeannie C.
Riley, “Words, Names, Faces".
-
Uncle
Dave Macon, “I’ll Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy” (That’s
“Greazy” as Macon sings it). Recorded in 1935 by the classic banjo
player.
It ends with a
fabulous assembly of songs; the music is as wonderful as the unexpected
changes the CD reveals in its last 5 cuts:
-
Eartha Kitt
(“The most sensual voice ever?” the liner notes ask. Maybe.)
Singing (and the word doesn’t do her justice) purely in French:
“C’est Si Bon”.
-
From there, to
the hard-edged, superbly titled punk song “(I Belong to the) Blank Generation”,
performed by the
equally well-named
Richard Hell and the Voidoids.
-
From hard to soulful... “The best singer who ever lived,
no contest” in the words of the great music producer Jerry
Wexler. (And he should know --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Wexler).
Sam Cooke reveals “Tennesse Waltz”. But then, I’d listen to Sam singing
from the phone book.
-
After that
gorgeous rendition, we drop down into some serious emotional
depths, with Townes Van Zandt, one of the great American
songwriters of the last few decades, and the veritable
definition of 'tortured soul", performing “Nothin’”
:
And if you see
my friends
Tell them I'm fine
Not using nothin'
Almost burned out my eyes
Threw my ears down to the floor
I didn't see nothin'
I didn't hear nothin'
-
And finally,
while still keeping one virtual foot in the south, we leave this planet
for Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra performing “We
Travel the Spaceways”. I recently heard local music promoter
Gary Topp recount one of his experiences with Sun Ra. There was
a problem with immigration at the airport: Sun Ra of course
explaining he had nothing to do with this process, since he was
from Saturn.
In between, you'll find the great,
the interesting, and the oddities. Tex Williams & His Western Caravan
with "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)"; the phenomenal North Mississippi guitar soul of Junior Kimbrough; gospel from The Swan Silvertones;
one of the great honky-tonk artists, the tragic Gary Stewart with
"Single Again"; Muhammed Ali, "Theme from Ali and His
Gang vs Mr Tooth Decay" (yup!) and Andy Griffith with "Mama
Guitar".
The writing
The writing lives up to the
magazine's slogan. One of my favourite southern music writers, Chet
Flippo, writes a fascinating profile of Jeannie C. Riley. Of course I
knew her hit "Harper Valley PTA", but not her story. She was a
secretary at a music company on Music Row in Nashville, and was
pretty angry (to put it mildly) learning that her recording
opportunity was to be what she considered a pop song. "She fairly
spat out the words" in two takes, but was impressive enough that the
normally blasé session players wouldn't leave, and listened to the
song "ten or twelve times".
The sultry photo of Riley is as
good as the article.
Other articles are written by Peter
Guralnick (Sam Cooke's biographer),
Roy Blount
on Bob Dylan, and many other
excellent writers, with articles about the CD artists, and others,
including a
great profile of the owner of the best used record shop
in Arkansas (located in Bee Branch, pop. 65).
Louis Armstrong,
Johnny Cash & Jimmy Rodgers
One fascinating story (and a great
photo) concerns Louis Armstrong's final television appearance. He
was ill enough at the time that his doctors advised him not to play
trumpet anymore. He was a guest on the Johnny Cash show,
appropriately since his newest album (his final recording) was of
country songs. This was nothing new for Armstrong; in 1930, he
played trumpet on Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel No. 9".
On the Cash show, he sang a number
of songs from the album, together with Mother Maybelle and the
Carter Family, and finally sat down with Cash to recreate the
Rodgers recording. Cash sang Rodgers' part, and Satch --
contrary to his doctors orders -- played himself, blowing the
trumpet piece he recorded 40 years prior. (To "top off" the piece,
there's an amazing picture of Louis with biggest damn cowboy hat
I've ever seen).
The Armstrong article is available
online, as is
a short video clip about Louis, including his performance with
Cash.
Great magazine,
tough to find
All in all, a superb collection
of the breadth and soul of southern American music. But, be
warned: the issue will be hard to find in Toronto at this point.
It's carried only by a small number of book stores (the ones
with the better or larger -- not necessarily the same thing! --
magazine racks). Many who do carry it are now sold out.
If you want a copy and can't
find it, it can be
ordered from the publisher
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