 sj |
||
|
||
Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube!
|
|
|
Subject: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Rick Fielding Date: 21 Nov 00 - 02:09 AM Oh how I wish I'd known ahead of time that this was going to be on tonight. I'd certainly have tried to let any folks here who want to know what REAL American folk music is, have a chance to see some. Two episodes of "Austin City Limits" from the eighties, featuring Bill Monroe and his guests. No Dylan, no punk-country rock, no slick "New Country" mush, just the true folk music from that first generation of musical pioneers who defined it in the 1940s. Mr. Monroe, Jim and Jessie McReynolds, Mac Wiseman, Ralph Stanley, Curly Ray Cline, "Tater" Tate, Jack Cooke, the truly magnificent Kenny Baker, and a number of the really serious young singers and pickers who've learned so well from these old men. They were all showing their age to some degree when these shows were taped, but the pride, the absolute insistance on playing this music with respect, as well as technique, was as strong as it would have been almost fifty years ago. No "dressing down" of course..Sunday best suits, (contrasting hilariously with the laid back Texas audience) and of course that inevitable "tip o' the hat" from Mr. Monroe at the end of each song. After two incredibly disappointing (to me) A&E pseudo-country programs this week, I'd just about given up hope that something like this could still be shown (and interest a sponsor) but get shown it did, and the chance to see some of the folks who literally "invented" this wonderful music, might not come again for quite a while. I love so many kinds of music including Classical through Jazz, but there's just SOMETHING about the sound that Bill Monroe created when he walked onto the Opry stage in 1944 with Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise and Cedric Rainwater. Soon they'll all be gone..but what a legacy they've left. Rick |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Steve Latimer Date: 21 Nov 00 - 09:19 AM Rick, Will this be airing again? I'd love to see it. |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: SINSULL Date: 21 Nov 00 - 09:34 AM Rick, I saw the title to this thread and was afraid you were recommending last night's Dixie Chicks' special. I will catch hell from Matt_R but I didn't last through the first song. There is another special on PBS(?) coming up, a history of the Grand Ole Opry. Bill Monroe will be featured in it. His latest biography was a real disappoinment, not his fault of course. The photos are great. The research pathetic. I never saw Bill Monroe live. But on film, he seems to simply command respect. Beyond the sound and the talent is this very intimidating gentleman. |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: GUEST,Matt_R Date: 21 Nov 00 - 09:58 AM That's ok Sins. I don't really like the Dixie Chicks either. |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Jim the Bart Date: 21 Nov 00 - 10:34 AM Sinsull - I tried to watch them. I tried. and I genuinely like country music. The ladies playing fiddle and banjo were OK; from reading about them in Acoustic Guitar mag they have paid some dues. And, as much as I agree with Rick about revering the real thing, I believe you have to give the inheritors a chance at least. After all, if you don't the music could die along with the originators. But I just did not hear anything other than "commercial product" with the Dixie Chicks. Where is the originality? Where were the references to tradition? I heard nothing worth keeping. I will have to keep an eye out for a replay of the Austin City Limits. thanks for the heads up, Rick. |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Mark Clark Date: 21 Nov 00 - 10:34 AM Rick, I remember seeing the program, it's at least as great as you describe. Did you see it on CBC or a Buffalo PBS station? Local PBS affiliates are free to broadcast any ACL program pretty much any time they pleas so there is no continuity of schedule across the continent. Our PBS station has no plans to air the program this year. On the theory that someone might be selling videos of old episodes, I hunted around the Net some but didn't find anything. Evidently they are not made available for sale. The good news is that may change. I found a great article about Austin City Limits on the No Depression Web site. If the article is correct, it looks as though videos are going to be made available for purchase. Oh, and it's just possible that I taped the Monroe show you mentioned long ago and still have it sitting around somewhere. ;) - Mark |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: mousethief Date: 21 Nov 00 - 10:59 AM Bill Monroe invented folk music? Francis J. Child could have just stuck with writing plays and not wasted his time with all those ballads. Alex |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Rick Fielding Date: 21 Nov 00 - 11:33 AM Occasional Austin City Limits shows crop up on things like "The Learning Channel", or our Buffalo PBS station. Bart..couldn't agree with you more. The third (and forth) generation of practitioners of this music SHOULD be given some exposure. God knows they play it superbly..but other than Ricky Scaggs, who gets TONS of exposure and Marty Stuart, NONE of the other people who've actually paid their dues in the way I suggested in my first, post get any at all. The Dixie Chicks are very talented ladies, but they don't do anything for me on the kind of emotional level I was speaking about. Ha! Ha! Alex. Ya ain't gettin me on THAT one! I used the word "defined" and "the sound Monroe 'created'!! I've been down that "what is folk music" road too many times. You could tell I was simply hyper-ventilating with emotion when I wrote that last night.....BUT...an amazing EXAMPLE of AMERICAN folk music was "locked in" (still stayin' away from "invented") on the Opry, that night in '44. Mark..thanks for the article. Rick |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: mousethief Date: 21 Nov 00 - 11:39 AM Well, Rick, you said: I'd certainly have tried to let any folks here who want to know what REAL American folk music is, have a chance to see some. And then you said: ...the chance to see some of the folks who literally "invented" this wonderful music, might not come again for quite a while. I hope I can be forgiven for thinking you were saying that Bill Monroe invented folk music -- or at least American folk music. Just yankin' yer chain, of course! (and what a nice, long, thick chain it is!)
Alex |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Steve Latimer Date: 21 Nov 00 - 11:48 AM In Defense of Rick, Bill Monroe invented Bluegrass with that Line-up of the Bluegrass Boys. Bluegrass is a form of folk.
|
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Rick Fielding Date: 21 Nov 00 - 11:54 AM Bugger!!! I DID say "invented"! Damn you, Moriarty! Oh well at least I said "literally". (Thanks for the "mulled wine" site, by the way)
Actually, I've been thinking (over the last few minutes) about other "apocalyptic" moments in "folk". Here's a few that come to mind that might be significant. When jean Ritchie first came to new York to teach school in the mid 40s....and brought her dulcimer (P.S. says he'd hardly ever seen one before) AND her family's vast trad repertoire from Viper Kentucky. Pete himself, says a defining moment for him (he'd played tenor banjo up til then) was seeing Bascom Lunsford and Samantha Bumgarner play five string in Ashville N.C in 1939 (or 40). What Pete brought back is simply incalculable. Certainly when Ewan MacColl(then primarily a playwrite) first met A.L. Lloyd and his hundreds of trad songs, the winner was a whole British folk song revival. Hmmmm, must be others.... Rick |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Mark Clark Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:08 PM Certainly the day John Lomax heard Lead Belly must be a defining moment. And how about the day Ralph Peer made recordings of Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family? - Mark |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: dick greenhaus Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:29 PM And I always thought Al Gore invented folk music... |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:37 PM Day Adam met Eve maybe? |
|
Subject: Finally some REAL -BORING- MUSIC on the tube! From: Clinton Hammond2 Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:45 PM "just the true folk music from that first generation" Just goes to show you there's no accounting for taste is there... I'd call this stuff deffinatly not folk... I'd call it country crap... but that's just me... My point is this... as long as we are exclusionary, no one is gonna be happy... ;-) |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: catspaw49 Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:51 PM My two PBS stations are never showing the same ACL programs and I get fed up with trying to figure out what's what......but I keep trying! So many of the ACL programs are all over the board too. My "little" PBS station that shows a lot of older stuff, ran a really fantastic but OLD ACL with songwriters that included Harlan Howard and John Prine about 6 months ago and the next program was some wackass group that specialized in bad lyrics and drums. Interesting conversation on defining moments........Mark Clark mentioned the Carter recording. I think the defining moment there wasn't the recording, but when AP managed to convince the girls to not turn around and go home after having a couple of flats!!! Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Peter T. Date: 21 Nov 00 - 01:03 PM The day a Seeger child was lost in a department store and was found by Elizabeth Cotton. The day Charlie Patton invited Son House to come into the studio and record a few. The day Muddy Waters heard himself played back on the tape machine and decided that he was good. The day they let Bukka White out of Parchman. The day Robert E. Lee surrendered. The day Rick Fielding quit playing the bars. yours, Peter T.
|
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Little Neophyte Date: 21 Nov 00 - 01:04 PM I really wish I had seen that show. I guess you have to watch enough TV to know what is on that is good. I think that is my problem. I am going to order the Rainbow Series from the library and watch that. From what I did see, it is a great series. It would be nice to see 'good tube music' posted in advance on The Mudcat. I would for sure use it as a TV guide. Bonnie |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Peter T. Date: 21 Nov 00 - 02:51 PM Little Neo, I think he means TONIGHT. yours, Peter T. |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Rick Fielding Date: 21 Nov 00 - 03:39 PM Clinton, ya made my day! Keep on pickin' guy! Rick |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Little Neophyte Date: 21 Nov 00 - 04:18 PM Oh thanks Peter, what an oversite. I am for sure going to watch it. Bonnie |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Little Neophyte Date: 21 Nov 00 - 08:34 PM I've been looking, but I can't seem to find what channel or what time the show is on. Bon |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Rick Fielding Date: 21 Nov 00 - 09:52 PM Bonnie Lass, t'was LAST night. Sorry to get yer hopes up. Thought I'd made it clear that I was reviewing a program I'd just seen. Have no idea if it'll be shown again. Bugger eh? Some good defining moments folks. I might add. The moment Alan Lomax heard Woodie Guthrie at a New York Hootenannie, and decided to imortalize him as "the real deal". The moment that King Henry VIII and the guys sat down to write some tunes and make 'em sound old enough to be "folksongs"! The moment that Peter T. first played in "open G". Rick
|
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Peter T. Date: 22 Nov 00 - 09:24 AM Sorry to mislead you by my misreading as well, Little Neo, the past tense is buried pretty deep in the text -- also my "tonights" stop earlier than 2:09 a.m., but then I am only another neophyte. yours, Peter T. |
|
Subject: RE: Finally some REAL MUSIC on the tube! From: Rick Fielding Date: 22 Nov 00 - 12:11 PM So I was enthusiastic and stayed up past my bedtime. My favourite line regarding night owls. When informed that he had a recording session at 9am the next morning, Hank Williams jr. apparently said "I'm not even done throwin' up by then"! Rick |
| Share Thread: |