"Walker, Jason" wrote:
>
> You REALLY don't like him, do you? Don't sugar coat it for me, I can take
> it.
> All the best,
> Junior
Actually, I do like him in sort of the same way you like a goofy old
uncle who wears a terrible toupee and gets all worked up about weird
stuff. See, Hank was so weird (he wore pink nudie suits, a bowtie, and a
really terrible rug and got on all of these off the wall soapboxes from
time to time) that he was impossible to take seriously. Obviously the
reason he was a star was because of his great voice, his songwriting
talent (and song choosing talent), and last but not least because he
cultivated the Opry establishment, which I do not begrudge him.
In fact, I was just playing some of his songs today with Alvin Crow and
Freddie Powers and marveling at how much fun they are to play.
I almost think of him as a footnote or something, but not unkindly. One
reason I'm slightly grumpy about him is that later in life he became
very vociferous about his religion and his distaste for all of us
longhaired hippie savages who were ruining country music. Then, he did a
sudden about-face and held a press conference in which he announced that
since he couldn't beat this new wave of progressive country music, he
would join it. This was greeted with awe and astononishment since he was
about 200 years old and couldn't make a progressive country record to
save his life, but Willie invited him to one of his big wing-dings in
Houston and he was just pretty damn weird. I dunno, I think I get him
all mixed up in my mind with Roy Acuff and Richard Nixon, or something,
that whole era of politics and music.
Musically, he's pretty dang good.
--
Joe Gracey
President-For-Life, Jackalope Records
http://www.kimmierhodes.com
