Blog 5B: It's a Good Night For Singing

Since I went to college in Music City, USA--Nashville, Tennessee--one might expect me to be a fan of the music coming out of Nashville and playing on top-forty country stations. What a mistake!

I certainly tired of top-forty pop while I was a student.  I think I heard one too many Carpenters song--or it might have been Olivia Newton John--and I started looking up and down the radio dial for something different.

At the time, even country music fans were rebelling against the mainstream, and about that time (and I do date myself) the "Outlaw Country" music started coming out of Austin, Texas--and Luchenbach.  Willie Nelson grew out his hair, tied on his bandana, and started recording the songs that he'd practically given away to the likes of Patsy Cline--"Crazy," "The Night Life (Ain't No Good Life)," and "If You've Got the Money, Honey, I've Got the Time."

A lot of those musicians were also making their way to Nashville.  At that time, it wasn't hard to hear such great singers as Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, or Guy Clark playing in small clubs and tiny venues.  One artist might be booked, and lots of others would show up and perform.  I made some great friends with whom my first common interest was music.  One of those friends introduced me to Jerry Jeff Walker.  I've been a fan ever since.

Jerry Jeff is probably best known among mainstream for writing "Mr. Bojangles," recorded and made famous by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. His cult favorite hit is "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," by Ray Wiley Hubbard.  Over the years, though, I have loved so many of his songs.  I've seen him in large venues, but I've enjoyed him most in the smaller ones, such as the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte's NoDa district.

A lot of the songs he records are also covered by some of his compadres. It's hard to remember who recorded the songs first--Jerry Jeff, Guy Clark, Rita Coolidge, Emmylou, up-and-comers like Todd Snider.  Everyone's done "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" and "L.A. Freeway," for example.

Some of his songs are the soundtrack for my life.  My children recall singing along--and very loud--to "Navajo Rug" as we made many road trips back and forth between Alabama and North Carolina, since my husband moved here in September before we followed in June. Jamming with some more recent friends, I was tickled recently when someone started up "Jaded Lover," another old favorite.

While early Anglo-Saxons and their forefathers hoped to gained glory and travel in the afterlife to Valhalla, I guess I'm just hoping to make a side trek through that part of Texas, easing onto a barstool at Gruene Hall. I hear any night there is "a good night for singing."