categories are harmful if you're any damn good
I hate categories. The only workable system of musical order is the
alphabet. Is this guy a blues singer? Country? Singer/songwriter?
I've asked the same about Mose Allison, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles,
Lalo Guerrero, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Terry Adams,
Richard Thompson, and just about anyone else who does intelligent
music.
As this film attests, the question isn't new. The problem is that
nowadays, you get these weird, awful words like "eclectic",
"musician's musician" etc, and they marginalize great music.
This is Jimmie Rogers. He sold millions of records during the
Depression (the first one, not this one), and he recorded with country
guys, Hawaiin musicians, Louis Armstrong, the Carter Family, and more.
I'm convinced that he'd be unsignable today, just because he covered
so much ground by virtue of his own musical nature. And he was one of
the greatest things to ever have happened, right up with Louis
Armstrong and Leonard Bernstein. And I'm convinced that -- had he
lived a few years longer -- he would have been to country music
approximately what Stokowski was to orchestral music.
posted by skip heller @ 9:07 PM
1 Comments:
That is so true. "They" make it difficult for a musician to just be himself and enjoy the music!
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