Sometimes in my fast paced life I get a wake up call. I try to keep up with current things such as the latest movies, books and music. Many times the current stuff leaves me empty. Take Pop, Rock and Country music. There are many factory made stars out there who get all the air play while great musicians are left to be discovered.
Last night we went into the urban wideness of Northwest Arkansas to one of our favorite music venues, the Walton Art Center, in Fayetteville. In concert was 5 time Grammy winner Mary Chapin Carpenter and 3 time Grammy winner Shawn Colvin performing in an acoustic concert of Mary's music, Shawn's music and their favorite songwriter's music. If you are unfamiliar with Mary go to iTunes and check out "Stones in the Road."
2 women with guitars and they were excellent with their guitars. Finally a concert where the artist did not over amp the sound to hide bad voices. These two are still at the top of their game. They talked between every song about the writing of it, the story of it or just the time in their lives at the writing.
During the show they talked about their life as teenagers (and mine) when in the 60's you could tun on the radio and hear the Beatles followed by Motown then followed by the Mammas and Papas. It was about THE MUSIC.
The night reminded me of our local production at the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame: "Music Begins With A Song".
People my age came from near and far including a truly chance meeting. A couple came in and took the seats beside us. They were friends from our church days in Tulsa and had not seen them in 25 years!
My favorite singer came back to Tulsa today for a free concert in the park. I had a front row seat and was in a great position as he sung his last song. He sung "Take your love with you where ever you go" as he walked through the audience shaking hands and asking people to sing the chorus (including me!).
I don't know if I have told you, but I didn't use to like Kenny Chesney. I could not get by songs like, "She thinks my tractor's sexy!" BUT I have mellowed and so has he. His brand of Caribbean Country fits great with Jimmy Buffett & Zac Brown.
His new CD, "Welcome to the Fishbowl" is GREAT!
It seems like every country singer has formula songs: A small town song, a rock song, a party song, a tug the heart strings song, etc. Kenny does that too but he does it right.
Small town song: "I'm a Small Town" tells a story from a town's point of view. It is a more accurate story of growing up in small town America than others. It doesn't talk of getting drunk and painting water towers, it talks of all the emotions and events in its history: Deaths, first kiss, learning the ride a bike, and even wanting to leave. It is very well written.
Heart String song: "While he knows who I am" tells the story of a guy who has a dad that is going deeper into alzheimer's. His mother tells him that he is loosing his memory and the son is going home to see him "while he still knows who I am". All I will tell you is I write this with a huge lump in my throat for even thinking about it. The other day when I listened for the first time while on a trip, I cried.
Rock Song: "Whatever Makes You Feel like a Rock Star" is a fun song kenny and Tim McGraw singing together.
"Sing'em Good My Friend" is about a man selling his guitar to Kenny because his wife is dying and he is selling everything for her. It is also a story of regret because the guitar was more important to him than family. He tells of all the events he missed while on the road. Great Stuff.
I'm not going to write about every song. You should explore for yourself.
I will say that the documentary about the making of this CD is available on I Tunes and will help you enjoy it even more.
If I was rating CDs this would be *****star.
FYI The CD title is a song about a world where no one is safe from the intrusion of photos, videos, and messages that invade our privacy.
We went on Vacation last week in Nashville during the CMA Music Festival. It was 4 days of concerts, eating, walking and downtime. I OD'd on Music. I haven't listened to any this week!
To give you an idea of the concerts. Each music set at the festival averages 5 to 6 songs each.
On Thursday we went to the Riverfront stage and watched 4 of the eight acts on that stage (four different stages). Then that evening we went to the concerts at LP Field with 50,000 others and watched: Glen Campbell, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band and Brad Paisley. It was over about 12:30!
Next three nights we repeated with other stars from Blake Shelton and Carrie Underwood to Faith Hill and Alan Jackson. There were many we liked and many we put up with!
Things I learned:
1. You CAN rhyme "Tail gate and George Strait". I heard that in two different songs by too different artists.
2. We saw the singer, Josh Thompson, sing on Thursday. He sung about being genuine country and being third generation farmer, driving tractors and eating corn bread, and being a real southern red neck. One of his songs says You haven't seen country because real country is John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere.
Well, Mr Thompson was born and raised in Milwaukee! His dad was a concrete contractor and Josh worked for him and split for Nashville. No proof that he has ever set on a John Deere! Aren't song writers crafty.
3. There are a whole crop of Georgia red neck country rockers (Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Kip Moore, Luke Bryan and on and on. They all sing the same type of songs about dirt roads, getting drunk at bonfires, driving tractors, tail gates, coming from small towns, dipping snuff, and having sex with every red neck girl. It is real deep stuff. I guess they will be singing this when they are 70! they all mention either George Strait, Hank Williams or George Jones at least once in a song. BUT they sound NOTHING like them. On the Radio, the songs have fiddles, and banjos but live the have three electric guitars and a drummer with spiked hair (Like George Strait!), It is over-amped rock music that is loud so that the singer can not be understood! Weird
4. Glen Campbell opened the Thursday Night show and tried to sing his giant hits. It is so sad that it should not be allowed. He has advanced Alzheimers and gets disoriented. The first song went ok but when it finished he tried to leave the stage and his daughter had to stop him and tell him he had more songs. His mic was on and you could hear the conversation enough. It happened after every song and as the set progressed he forgot lyrics and his voice got weaker. It was one of the most uncomfortable and sad things that I have witnessed of a super star. I have good memories of the past and that is enough.
5. We went to a screening of a documentary of the making of Kenny Chesney's new CD. It will be great!
6. We went to a celebrity softball game Saturday morning and got to see Vince Gill, Carrie Underwood and other country stars and Titan pro football players. The highlight though was the Major League caliber fielding of the singer David Nail. He is a great athlete!
7. We ate well also. There is a family style breakfast-dinner place called Monell's. You set at tables seating 12. Bowls and platters are passed: grits, corn chowder, bacon, ham and sausage, pan cakes, potatoes, eggs, home made preserves, biscuits, gravy, fruit, cinnamon rolls, and I might have left out something. You don't order it just comes and keeps coming!
The other place was Demo's downtown. It is a Steak, Pasta, and Seafood place with famous homemade rolls. The prices are as unbelievably cheap as the food is unbelievably good. It was a one hour wait but well worth it.
8. We saw Great entertainment as well!
9. Our surprises: Little Big Town, Dierks Bentley and the Mavericks are GOOD.
10. Faith Hill and Alan Jackson are as strong as ever.
11. Oklahoma singers are on top. Carry Underwood, Blake Shelton, etc.
12. My Favorites are still my favorites: Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Band and Jarrod Niemann.
I went down to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame today for an event and stumbled onto an interview that was about to begin. Ron Boren came out and said, "I'm about to film an interview with Mike Settle. Do you know him?" I said, "No, but I have been to his concerts." Ron said for me to come with him and he introduced me to him. Then they said that they wanted me to film me telling Mr. Settle about my experience which goes like this:
In 1965 I first real date (when I spent real money) with my future wife was to go to the Tulsa Assembly Center to see a concert of the New Christy Minstrels. This group was a hugely popular folk group (think Hoot-n-nany days) that featured a group of super talented singers including Mike Settle (from Muskogee) and Kenny Rogers.
Later in 1968 while at Oklahoma State we went to see a new group called "The First Edition" that had the current Number 1 song, "I don't know what condition my condition is" . The First Edition had in its group Mike Settle and Kenny Rogers. The drummer was Mickey Jones.
When telling the last part, Mike said, "Was that the tour with Pat Paulsen?"
It was Paulsen was a TV comedian who launched a fake campaign for President during the same year that Robert Kennedy and Nixon were running.
It was an honor to meet him at such a unusual instance.
Yes, he does deserve to be inducted into the OK Music Hall of Fame as performer and songwriter.
Tonight, I had the privilege to go to a screening of the new documentary, "The WaymanTisdale Story". It will be shown tomorrow night on the NBA channel. It is the life story of Oklahoma's best Basketball player and NBA great. It is also the story of his love of music and his second career as a Jazz Base guitar player. It is also the story of his battle with cancer and his victory.
He did die of cancer, but it did not beat him.
If you get the chance see this film. It is of a man with a smile and a deep faith.
It made me feel bad for ever being sad. He is an inspiration.
The master of ceremonies tonight was sportscaster, Chris Lincoln and a musical tribute by a band that included Grammy Award winner, Marcus Miller, a Jazz Bass player who influenced Wayman's Music.
Today I mowed the yard, listening to my favorite throwback nashville, hippie folk singer on my iPod. Todd Snider will get your attention. He has silly songs, deep thought songs, and songs to incite. I have seen him live and he did not disappoint. In his music I find all kinds of useful things. I am preparing a class for church and revisited his song, "Somebody's Coming" that I will read in one session. No, I won't play it. There are people who would have a stroke! BUT he works as poetry as well.
One song I listened to was called "Easy Money". The chorus goes like this:
"He wants that easy money,
it's sad but it's true.
Everybody wants the most they can possibly get,
for the least they can possibly do.
They want that easy money.
I don't understand.
You scheme and you plan but you can't get your hands
I'm needing to clean out the attic. It is my look back at my music collection. I may have about 300 vinyl LP records dating back the the Chuck Berry album (shown). I started collecting in the 1960s and quit buying LPs in the early 80's. That's when I started buying cassettes. I have 8 boxes and each bode has about 80 each covering the 80s and early 90s (640+/-).
I have many of these on CD (about 800) now as well as digital (500+ albums).
I am researching EBAY, etc. to decide what to do with them. Most of all: What to do with me?
I thought I owned every Jimmy Buffet song, but the other day I was listening to his XM Radio station and they played a song from his "Take the Weather with You" album" called, "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On". It was a super cool song, but I did not find it in my collection. The crazy thing is I have a Jimmy Buffet ball cap that says: "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On"! I bought it at his shop in Vegas not knowing that it was a song about what to do after Katrina:
Today is my birthday! It is an age that I've thought about since college since it was at that time when the Beatles produced "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (One of the best albums ever!). On that disk was the song "When I'm Sixty Four". Of course, in 1967 I was just 20! 64 seemed for ever away. It must have been for them as well because one verse says,
"If I'm out to a quarter to three, would you lock the door?
Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?
When I'm Sixty-four."
Who at 64 stays out until 2:45am, on purpose?
Well I welcome this song because the Beatles have always been the soundtrack of my youth and when I want to think young!
They also recorded the best birthday song ever on the "White Album":
"They say its your birthday. Happy Birthday to you!"
For the past few years we have flown to Vegas for this weekend. It is the ACM Awards. The absolute best country music event of the year. We are setting out this year, because of, well, money. We hope to return next year and will be satisfied to watch it on TV and save our coins.
I must say though that if you like country or rock music mark this weekend on your schedule for 2012. AND if you need a cruise director...........
I was getting ready to do a talk about Oklahoma music and I am starting with the story of a song. When I was in Elementary school, we had music class where we learned historical songs. Among the songs was "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" which was always portrayed as a Negro Spiritual equated to slavery. It became popular again while I was in High School because Joan Baez had recorded it and it was used during the Civil Rights Movement.
What I did not know then was that it was written by a Choctaw freedman (Wallis Willis) in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) before the Civil War. He was looking at the Red River on Oklahoma's border with Texas and the thoughts of the Jordan River came to him and the story of the Prophet Elijah being taken away to Heaven in a Chariot.
It has been said that the song has a hidden meaning about the "Underground Railroad" but who knows. It is equally effective.
One interesting note: In 1988 UB40 recorded the song for the English Rugby team to use as a theme song for the year. They won the World Cup.
I was listening to some music yesterday and turned my IPod to Sugarland and their new CD "The Incredible Machine", A song written by Jennifer Nettles called, "Shine the Light" latched on to me and did not turn loose. It is a long lyric and here is a part from the center of the song:
I will shine the light.
When your worries they won't let you sleep
And rob you of your days.....
And you've looked in all directions but you
Still can't find your way.
When you just need someone to remind you that it's
All gonna be ok I will shine the Light.
I will shine the light.
I will shine the light.
When you're staring down your demons
Weighing in your darkest night
I will shine the light.
Sometimes we jump into the great unknown.
Sorrows we all have to walk alone.
Waiting there in the end is a heart that calls you friend.
That's me clapping the loudest welcoming you home.
It is a great song. YOU need to download this.
It also reminds me of a shorter song by David that starts like this:
I saw this poster today on FACEBOOK. My facination with music started one Saturday in the 50's when I went to Muskogee with my Mother to shop. The local music store had "Joe Huff and the Matadors" playing on the back of a truck parked by the store. I thought they were as cool as it got. That was about 400 vinyl albums, 400 cassettes, 600 cd's and several hundred concerts ago!
The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inducted Jamie Oldaker last Thursday night. You probably don't know him but you have heard him. This Tulsa boy was drummer for Bob Seger and later Eric Clapton. As a matter of fact the band that Eric had when he did "I shot the Sheriff" and "Cocaine" and "Tulsa Time" was ALL from Tulsa! Jamie was also the drummer for the Tractors and a session drummer for Leon Russell, the Gap Band and others.
For his induction he put together a band of 15 of his OKIE friends, many of which played in the bands mentioned. I was a once in a lifetime moment! It was music history played out before me. And it was super cool.
By the way he has a CD out called: Mad Dogs and Okies which features a whose who of talent including Eric Clapton and friends. It is also great.
Tonight was the Induction Concert of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. As a founding board member it is a great rush each year. Tonight, though, was cool. We inducted broadway singer and showman deluxe, Sam Harris from Cushing and Sand Springs. This guy can sing anything and sing it great!
It was special for another reason though because his dad, Bill, was my seventh grade music teacher in Haskell. He was fresh out of college and was our town's new band director. You could say that he had an impact on my love of music. In a Small, Small way you could say that I had something to do with Sam's induction. After the concert I found his dad, Bill Harris and mentioned the connection.
He said to me, "I tell you something that you didn't know. Sam was born in Cushing, but he was conceived in Haskell!"
I say again: Sam Harris is GO-O-O-D! Probably because of the Haskell thing!
Saturday Night we went to see Paul Thorn Band in concert. It was a small venue in Fort Smith that seats about 200. It was perfect! The sound was good and we set about six rows from the stage.
I'm going to keep talking about Paul Thorn until every one checks him out. He became my favorite singer/songwriter by being the most sincerely real person that I think I have ever witnessed in public. He grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi and remains there. His dad is a Church of God of Prophecy Minister and he brings that element into his songs. He sings of his(and my) failures, and he sings of in life is important to him (and me). He tells funny stories, sad stories, and stories of Southern, rural life. He is small town, but not REDNECK. He is very intelligent, very expressive, extremely creative and very sensitive.
He is more R&B than country. He has toured with Delbert McClinton and Bonnie Raitt. If you like their music, you like Paul. Two nights before our concert, he opened for B.B. King. He writes his own songs and when he does a acoustic guitar solo, you start seeing the folk singer as well.
The three piece band that travels with him is as good as their is. They can rock! The show is comedy (He talks a lot in his southern drawl and tells the stories of his music), their is gospel because of his background, and their is R&B rock.
I say all this because he is coming to Tulsa, Wednesday, November 17 at the Cain's. I have my tickets and you need yours! I know some of you are thinking: "I have Church that night."
I wouldn't normally say this, but consider this a little different praise service.
I used to be a big Willie Nelson fan. I have seen him in concert so many times that I knew what song he would sing next. I was messing around today and loaded some of his songs on my playlist. If you turn your sound on you can here some at the top or you can stroll to the bottom for more.
