> Uh, oh, the big guns are out now. David, Joe and Jon all weighed in, more
> or less saying that whatever arrangement is chosen is A-OK as long as it
> sells records.
Geez, did I say that? I don't think so. I said I like the cuts you don't.
> ps And while Bobby Bare probably doesn't regret making a zillion bucks
> from those pop records, will any of you guys entertain the possibility
> that he regreted having to sap up his sound in order to make those zillion
> bucks? I'm not second-guessing his choices; I'd have done the same thing
> probably. But did he like the choices he was given? Judging from
> the music he made in the 70s, I'd guess he didn't.
You don't know until you ask - and even then, treat the answers with
caution. Bobby Bare in the 1970s wasn't, unless he's unlike a lot of other
folks, the same person he was 20 years earlier.
Here's an interesting tidbit from the notes to the Essential comp, in which
his first departure from RCA is the subject:
"Reportedly, Bare became uneasy with his reassignment to various new
producers once Chet Atkins began backing away from daily production duties
at RCA."
Which at the least doesn't support the idea that he regretted working with
Atkins at the time.
Also, I'll argue that Detroit City> would have been just as big a hit if
they'd given the hook to the suburban
> I'd argue,
> again purely from an aesthetic standpoint, that whereas a lot of Skeeter
> Davis' stuff cried out for a glossy pop treatment, that a song about a
> displaced Appalachian, making do in Detroit, just isn't the type of song
> where that kind of crap makes artistic sense.
Obviously not to you, but I don't see exactly what you mean by "artistic
sense." Do you mean songs about happy subjects should be bouncy? Songs
about sad subjects slow and in minor keys? What I find distressing about
this line of reasoning, though, is the implication, which you may or may not
want to make (or maybe I'm just reading it in) that it's inappropriate or
inauthentic for an artist or artists of a working-class background, or for a
piece of music with a working-class subject, to be given a musical treatment
other than one that jibes with someone else's notion of what it's supposed
to sound like. (BTW, Chet Atkins wasn't exactly an Ivy Leaguer himself, you
know.)
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
