Jon Weisberger wrote:
>
> A couple of things about the quoted Flippo passage, the first of which is
> that this:
>
> > The producer as king -- that fuedal notion was
> > shattered. Country artists gained control over their own record sessions,
> > their own booking, their record production, everything else related
> > to their careers, including the right to make their own mistakes..."
>
> is, I think most everyone would agree, sadly dated <g>.
>
> More to the point, though, is that when he says that the Outlaw thing
>
> > ...came to represent a real
> > determination by a handful of artists to bring country music into line
> > with the rest of the musical world -- artistically as well as financially.
>
> what that meant from a musical point of view was, among other things, the
> incorporation of rock and rock-related influences into the music. That's
> the irony of trying to frame Jennings et.al. as conservators of "real"
> country music. In the terms Flippo's talking about, Shania Twain is a
> direct descendant of sorts from the Outlaws, struggling with the
> powers-that-be at her label in order to make the kind of record *she* wanted
> to (with Any Man Of Mine), incorporating contemporaneous extra-country
> sounds and attitudes - which is a notion I don't have much trouble with,
> actually, but I suspect others might <g>.
>
> Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
Yeah, ironically enough one of the things brought about by the efforts
of the Outlaws was the injection of rock sensibilities into Nashville
record making, which leads directly to HNC as a sort of "oh no, look
what happened" end. Waylon and them boys weren't trying to conserve
traditional country, they were trying to play it a new way and break
free of the rules. I was there in the thick of it in the 70s and a large
part of it was about Texas vs Tennessee styles, Honky Tonk vs. Mountain,
hard-headed Texans having their own ideas about how to produce a record.
All of this was boosted when Willie finally left nashville (after
letting Chet and them try to make him a star for years) and cut "Red
Headed Stranger" in Dallas for $10,000 in two days and had the biggest
country single in years off it. It was like a return of the old days
when Lefty Frizell cut all of his records in Dallas and when Hank asked
him why he wouldn't join the Opry he said something like "I don't need
no steenking Opry, man...", doing just fine outside the power structure
there. Really, when you step back the Outlaws were just demanding the
same things the rock guys were getting- control over their own projects.
However, then as now, Nashville is a song-driven, publishing-driven
town, which means the producers and writers and publishers have more
control over the process than in rock where bands usually write their
own material. This leads to a repetition of the scenario: producer and
label groom singer, hand him great songs, cut hit records, he gets big
and runs his own show.
I guess where I'm heading with this feverish rant is that in a weird
way, Garth is just the inheritor of the Outlaw ground-breaking and even
his forays into pop music are rooted in what they did. If you break
through the barriers between country and rock and pop, then one logical
result is something like Shania and Garth. Not the only one; I would
also say that Lucinda owes as much to the Outlaws (in terms of the
freedom she has in Nashville now) as to Dylan.
Further random thoughts: what we really have now is several distinct
versons of "country" music, the big powerhouse brand, the folk-ish
brand, and the rock-ish brand. And, of course, the traditionalist
purists, who cherish a certain era enough to want to replicate it.
I think it is a good sign that Lucinda got a grammy. It means there is
still more than one way to skin that cat.
--
Joe Gracey
President-For-Life, Jackalope Records
http://www.kimmierhodes.com
