Well, this was a surprise I don’t mind admitting. I recall arriving
at the session and consulting the logbook to see what was due to occur that
day. I saw the words “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” and thought:
“well, on the whole, it’s not my favourite genre, but hopefully the modern sounds
will give it a more original tone.” I imagined it was the sound of Country and
Western music but possibly played on the new pedestrian crossings they had just
installed near my apartment which struck me as particularly start of the art.
They made a beeping sound which I considered especially contemporary. I
couldn’t conceive of a way in which songs about cattle rustling and life on the
prairie would work when rendered on traffic signals but then I hadn’t even
heard of the Bossa Nova until I encountered it the week before so I accepted
that had to be open to new things all the time.
I imagine you were
surprised when Ray Charles walked in.
Very much so. I didn’t have a huge amount of experience with
Country and Western Music but I knew enough to appreciate that it wasn’t
traditionally played by blind, black men on grand pianos. I was used to hearing
the genre in question played by white people whose only disability was saddle
soreness and an unfortunate tendency to yodel. And they played their songs on
guitars and not Steinways, presumably because even the sturdiest of
thoroughbreds would be hard-pressed to haul a piano through the American
midwest. And even if it were possible, how many cattle rustlers can adequately
tune a baby grand? Not a great many I would have thought.
Did you enjoy the
album?
Of course, I was delighted with the result. If it was a
choice between listening to a country and music artiste or Ray Charles then I
would choose Mr Charles any day of the week. And the end result was really
delightful. I can say without fear of contradiction that the gentlemen who
wrote those songs: Billy Bob Whoever and Johnny Ray Whatsit, I don’t know their
names, didn’t have black pianists in mind when they penned their tunes. But I’m
sure even they would have to admit that they sounded wonderful in his hands.
Well most of them at any rate. Some of them would probably be the tiniest bit miffed
that an African American was allowed to walk free in places that they could
talk to white women but one or two must have at least appreciated what a
wonderful voice he had.
Is it fair to say
that Country and Western music is your least favourite genre of music?
I think it was at the time. Which is due to the fact that I
had no idea what was to come. If I had known the genres that would become
popular in the future I probably would have appreciated songs of the prairie
considerably more. But at the time I had no idea what was in store for me in
future years so Country and Western was definitely as removed as I thought I
could become from popular musical form at the time. How wrong I was.
Comments
Post a Comment