Nashville, Memphis, Country and Blues

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Permalink Reply by CHC Network on January 31, 2010 at 1:23pm

Proximity to Nashville has no bearing on commercial success. Nor does having a musician such as Taylor Swift The reason why Nashville and country music is so successful today is because of the cross over attempts of musicians such as Dolly Parton in the 1970s. This cross-over redefined country music and gave us the sound we have today. It widened the market to which country music appeals. Traditionalists of country music still cling to the music of Hank Williams and such as can be seen on RFD TV citing this as being "real" country music. They refer to what is being largely played today as "Nashville Pop." Couple this with early attempts to buy small rural radio stations when available gave them the air-play they enjoy today. Today country music stations are the second largest number of radio stations on the air. By comparison, meaning no disrespect for those who are broadcasting Blues, ie internet, college and public radio stations, and not forgetting Blues podcasters, Blues is still seen as niche music. This hasn't been made any easier by the RIAA/SoundExchange's insistence that broadcasters pay the musician royalties to play the music they do, certainly an impediment in playing any more music than what is being played. Even online sites such as Pandora struggled to stay afloat, this with all the millions of dollars available to it to make it viable.

The reason why country music attracts the musicians it does is because it has proven commercially viable. Because it does, any of the musicians mentioned in this article would do well to get their music played on country music radio. So today we have Kid Rock performing with Sheryl Crow, etc.

How do we make Blues more commercially viable? Re-read Herrington's article for clues.

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Permalink Reply by CHC Network on January 31, 2010 at 2:44pm

Chad,
As a Memphis resident maybe you can answer this for me:

While down at the IBCs I walked from the hotel where I staid to Fed-Ex across the street. While there I asked the clerk behind the counter what he thought of the anticipated crowd. He shrugged and said, "Not much." Later, while on Beale Street I asked one of the patrolling officers what he thought of the crowd. His response, "Oh, this is nothing. Come May we have events almost every weekend with upwards of 20,000 people in the streets." So it seems that Memphis is more than a home for the Blues. It is one of the convention capitals of the world.

Being as you are someone who makes a living playing a venue on Beale Street, what do you see at these other events? How are things done differently? Do these events pack the venues on Beale Street and if so, what takes place in the venues during these events?

Bill Wax commented that we split our attendees between the IBCs and the Rhythm and Blues Cruise.Was this wise? Did we make a mistake scheduling the departure of this cruise the same week of the IBCs?

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Permalink Reply by Chad Nordhoff on January 31, 2010 at 3:09pm

Before there was ‘crossover’ (at least in Dolly’s case in the 70s) there was ‘outlaw’. Waylon Jennings was country’s first million seller. Waylon (and friends) made Nashville come to them by establishing a style of music that proved more commercially viable than anything the Nashville machine could manufacture. This made country cool in New York City and led to the ‘urban cowboy’ and Dolly does Disco.

When listening to and watching music on CMT during various broadcast hours, Herrington's big-tent theory is proven. Someone at Superior earlier this week was racking their brain for some blues songs. They asked, "do you know any Kid Rock? He does some blues doesn't he?" It seems we could change our hats and boots, add a pedal-steel guitar to the mix and jump right there in the country tent. The country brand sells, even on Beale Street, (though Coyote Ugly was relatively empty during the IBC). Why is "Folsom Prison Blues" a country song? Could we not just claim Taylor Swift as a blues artist? Kids who play blues have been promoted for decades but haven't dominated the Grammy Awards.

WDIA, a local, historically African American radio station in Memphis host "All Blues Saturday". The music presented on this program was largely unrepresented among the acts I saw at the IBC. We can see the same situation in reverse on WDIA's Juke Joint Tour. Our tent includes classic rock but not blues?

The blues (as part of the folk) revival of the 60s took place on college campuses. There are still links to that phenomenon around colleges today. Artists like Ray LaMontagne, Ben Harper, and Jack Johnson have proven commercially viable. John Mayer is carrying Clapton's torch in a way. What is blues pop?

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Permalink Reply by CHC Network on January 31, 2010 at 6:45pm

Actually for the very first million selling country song you have to go back much farther. The first million selling country record was Blue Yodel by Jimmie Rodgers. This was released on 9-20-29, a few years before the "outlaw country" movement.

As to this list of "Outlaw" country artists add such names as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe and his Eli Radish Band, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr., and Billy Joe Shaver. This was a movement that was popular from the 1960s to the 1980s. The reason for the movement has been attributed to a reaction to this "Nashville Pop" sound, developed by record producers like Chet Atkins who softened the raw honky tonk sound that was predominant in the music of performers like Jimmie Rodgers, and his successors such as Hank Williams, George Jones and Lefty Frizzell. According to Aaron Fox (2004, p. 51) "the fundamental opposition between law-and-order authoritarianism and the image of 'outlaw' authenticity... has structured country's discourse of masculinity since the days of Jimmie Rodgers."


As for coming up with Blues songs, as members of this community, we could not come with 50 songs that represented this last decade. Should it come as a surprise that someone who is not plugged into the Blues can't come up with one song.

Whether you stay in this genre or cross over to country is entirely up to you (or a personal matter every musician in this business must make.) But remember, it wasn't Taylor Swift that made this genre what it is today, no more than it is Carry Underwood, or any other single artist as much as it is the industry that makes the artist.

In this genre when an artist reaches a degree of notoriety, they normally cross over to rock, etc. Joe Bonamassa has done this (as have countless others.) Recently in a conversation with a broadcaster friend of mine question came up as to whether Bonomassa has sold out. To borrow from Shakespeare, "To thine own self be true." Why should he tether himself to a genre where he would dwell in quiet anonymity and little else. What do I mean by this? Before many of the musicians who participated in this year's IBCs descended on Memphis, how many did you actually know by name? Many of these musicians have been in music for years. Outside their individual sphere of influence, how many were names that were easily recognized to a point of being household names?

It's much easier to make a name in country or gospel music. As far as being nominated for a Grammy, are you aware that all it takes is for one voting member of the Recording Industry to vote for you? This is all it takes to be nominated for a BMA award. And both of these prestigious organizations is open to the public. Could this be why when a recipient of either one of these mutual admiration societies accepts an award they thank every one under the sun. It's likely that these lengthy lists of names are simply all the people that voted for them, and the difference between this person taking a Grammy and another receiving the same is a single name. Therefore you want to

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Permalink Reply by Chad Nordhoff on February 1, 2010 at 1:00am

Ah yeah, "T for Texas", also the first track on the 1973 album "Waylon Live". Maybe it would be more accurate to place Waylon as Nashville's million seller, after a quick wiki check I see that Rogers' "Blue Yodel" was recorded in New Jersey.

Willie Nelson had released 19 albums then moved back to Texas to become a pig farmer after his failure in the country music biz. In Austin, Willie found rednecks fraternizing with long-haired hippies and bikers. He fit right in, he was home.

No, Waylon was by no means monolithic in this musical shift. George Jones called it the "outlaw gimmick". Waylon was featured in the 1966 film "Nashville Rebel", which of course illustrates that the outlaw scene was part of the machinery. Willie, Waylon, Tompall Glaser, Jessi Colter and others began proving that Nashville had failed, not themselves. After all, they were doing very well independently. Much of it was luck or as some define it; when opportunity meets preparation.

Were the Grammys on tonight? I missed it as I was playing music in an out-of-the-way Mississippi catfish joint. To me it's better that way. My interest in such awards is not personal. It's more academic as a part of LBW.

Before I moved to Memphis the plan was to move to Nashville. After scoping it out I saw that Nashville was like a vault and Memphis was like a warehouse. A musician is more free to move about and experiment in Memphis. We're saturated with musicians but we don't fight for scraps like in Nashville. Plus Memphis is where my preferred natural style of playing meets a demand. Personally, I've never been interested in awards or notoriety above what I need to be sustainable. With a wife, a 2 yr old, and another on the way I'm fine playing the blues right here for a while. While I do have goals and aspirations, continued creative control has defined success for me since the beginning.

After an automobile accident in 1996 I coughed up and spit out a chunk of my vocal chord on the side of the road. Thus I will never sound like a country singer. That's fine, the delta blues comes flowing out of me naturally. One problem, I can only call myself a 'bluesman' for entertainment purposes. The only direct line between myself and the real delta bluesmen is drawn with sound.

The country experience simply hits home for more people. The 'real' blues as most often tethered to delta blues really only deals with a small number of people and experiences. The delta blues crowd these days would range from 90 to 120 years of age. After that the blues traveled out to so many locales that it resembles a web more than a line. Everybody's got the blues one way or another. Could it be that blues is destined to be a more personal thing?


Regarding Joe Bonamassa selling out: I guess I can understand why someone would ask that question. My question would be, did he sell out, or was the young man sold short to begin with? I always thought he was a rock player under the blues umbrella. I saw Joe in concert a few years ago in Henderson, KY. I believe he went on just before Tommy Castro (possibly Little Milton). He can certainly hold his own among the best bluesmen of our day.

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Permalink Reply by CHC Network on February 2, 2010 at 1:31am

The reason Nelson did so poorly as a performer was because the labels to which he signed did not think highly of his singing. He was described as having a nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing. Several demos were made and then rejected by various labels before he hit his stride and gained his acceptance as a performer, and this didn't happen until after the '70s when he became an outlaw. However, his songwriting ability didn't go unnoticed. His songs provided major hits for several artists. Faron Young took "Hello Walls" to number one for nine weeks, Billy Walker made "Funny How Time Slips Away" into a Top 40 country smash, and Patsy Cline made "Crazy" into a Top Ten pop crossover hit.

Nelson had some success with his own recordings. "Willingly," a duet with his then-wife Shirley Collie, became a Top Ten hit for Nelson early in 1962, and it was followed by another Top Ten single, "Touch Me," later that year. Liberty the label to which he was signed closed their county division in 1964 the same year Roy Orbison had a hit with Nelson's "Pretty Paper." He became a member of the Grand Ol Opry in 1965, no small feat.

So to imply that he recorded 19 albums before he returned to Austin to become a pig farmer because of his failure in country music is not entirely correct. He was an abject failure as a pig farmer which was one reason why he decided to return to music. He was establishing himself as a songwriter, with other artists charting his songs. He was also building a big cult following. What he didn't like was the way Nashville was shoe-horning him with their slick over-produced sound. In 1972 he realized that these "hippies" were listening to rock-infused country music. When he decided to resume performing and he came back with a string of hits on Atlantic. This included: Shotgun Willie (1973), which, although it initially didn't sell well, it earned good reviews and cultivated a dedicated cult following. In the fall of of the same year, his version of Bob Wills' "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" had cracked the country Top 40. The following year, he delivered the concept album Phases and Stages, which increased his following even more with the hit singles "Bloody Mary Morning" and "After the Fire Is Gone."

But he didn't really achieve real success until he left Atlantic and signed with Columbia Records, which gave him complete creative control of his records. His first commercial success with Columbia was Red Headed Stranger. On this album he accompanied himself on guitar with only his sister's piano playing.

At this same time Jennings was having enough of RCA's complete artistic control, which went so far as to frown on him because he wanted to tour with his own band something unheard of in country music at the time. Jennings was originally the bassist for Buddy Holly and the Crickets, so he came from a rock-n-roll background. In 1972 he hooked up with a business manager by the name of Neil Reshen who started to re-nogiate Jennings contract with RCA and brought him and Nelson together. It was because they were given more artistic control that they went "out-law" and started kicking it rock-n-roll. You see, by this time Nelson had returned to music, had made in-roads in the Rock press by attracting a diverse fan-base. So it wasn't part of Nashville's machinery at the time. The first release they did together was Wanted: The Outlaws!, country's first platinum record. This was in 1976 the same year that the RIAA instituted the platinum label definition of 1 million albums sold. It was because of the fact that Nelson and Jennings proved that they could make this thing work that contributed to the cross-over.

Enough about county music for now. To shift gears: that's an interesting story about how you came to sound as you do. I'm glad I took time to look you up while in Memphis. Although you had a really sparse crowd, and they seemed to be totally self-absorbed, you put on a pretty good show. I was entertained.

Although you aren't particularly concerned with notoriety, you must admit that if you were more widely known and had a crowd that was more receptive to what you are doing, it would help your bottom line. This, of course, would help provide for your growing family. Am I wrong?

As to Bonamassa, I think you are correct. As a genre I think we are too quick to embrace everything and everyone, regardless of how weighted their music may be in the Blues. Is it Blues, Blues-infused Rock, Rock Blues or Rock--if we were to create a sonic spectrum based on influences. I don't know if correct, but I put him in the same category as Stevie Ray Vaughan (of course), Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, (maybe) Robin Trower, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Chad Nordhoff on February 2, 2010 at 11:33am

There are stories within stories within stories... Like the the 'million dollar piss' during Reshen and Jennings' renegotiation of the RCA contract. Though Willie had hits as a songwriter the sale of "Crazy" for $35 to pay some bills was not a raging success for him. Willie himself believed he had failed in Nashville, got drunk, and laid in the middle of the street in front of Tootsie's waiting for a car to hit him. Point being, when viewed through a prism there is a spectrum of truth. It lies somewhere between the rural American outlaw musician who was so freakin' awesome that he changed the way Nashville does business and, the talented hard working gentleman who played by the rules and finally had a breakthrough after years of toil and heartache.


As for myself, the notoriety certainly would increase the bottom line and don't think it hasn't been on my mind. 2009 was about getting out from under the automtive industry. 2010 will be about my girls first and foremost. I plan on getting more plugged in to the local scene more than just Beale Street. I may possibly form a band to get out some of these songs I've been sitting on for years. The reason I'm not inclined to shotgun-blast my image out there just yet is because of the working reality of playing cover songs and 4 hour sets. I express myself through song selection and timing in the context of the audience before me. I work and plan to crystallize this experience in the form of original music as events unfold. Many parts of my rock band years were polluted with impatience and arrogance. Relationships were damaged. For many blues fans Mississippi, Memphis and, Beale St come to equal street cred and I'm not going to let them down. In that aspect, time is on my side, for now.

Since the delta, cottonfield lifestyle of the 20s and 30s is gone, the blues manages to live on. There is still something there. Common attitudes imply that the blues is somehow measurable in bpm (blues-per-minute). When someone describes music in terms of the spectrum you put forth, we kinda know what they mean. It seems any of us can hear music with a high bpm and still not find the blues we're looking for.

Though the roots of country are historically spread nation and world-wide, the trunk of the tree is in Nashville. If the blues worldwide were a plant, it would be structurally different than a tree. (a vine perhaps?) Though Sue is absolutely right about country and blues being virtually the same at key points in history there must be a reason that blues doesn't enjoy country-like success. The blues (Africa, Mississippi, Chicago...) has actually been uprooted and transplanted. Despite the sales figures, one may argue that the blues has "infected" more individuals worldwide in a more personal way.

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Permalink Reply by CHC Network on January 31, 2010 at 2:40pm

Chad,
As a Memphis resident maybe you can answer this for me:

While down at the IBCs I ran across the street from the hotel where I staid to Fed-Ex. While there I asked the clerk behind the counter what he thought of the anticipated crowd. He shrugged and said, "Not much." Later, while on Beale Street I asked one of the patrolling officers what he thought of the crowd. His response, "Oh, this is nothing. Come May we have events almost every weekend with upwards of 20,000 people in the streets." So it seems that Memphis is more than a home for the Blues. It is one of the convention capitals of the world.

Being as you are someone who makes a living playing a venue on Beale Street, what do you see at these other events? How are things done differently? Do these events pack the venues on Beale Street and if so, what takes place in the venues during these events?

Bill Wax commented that we split our attendees between the IBCs and the Rhythm and Blues Cruise. Did we make a mistake scheduling the departure of this cruise the same week of the IBCs?

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Permalink Reply by Chad Nordhoff on January 31, 2010 at 3:23pm

As far as the number of warm bodies on the street the crowd was not large at all. Compared to, oohhh, let's say Country on Beale, a free concert series that runs every Thursday during the summer, it was very average. The main difference at the IBC is the sense of kinship and the way the clubs are used to present the acts. On a typical weekend it would cost a patron much more money to move around and bar-hop like that.

For the musicians it's usually same-show-different-audience. A regular concert at Fed-Ex Forum will bring a crowd just as large but it's boom then bust then boom again.

I hadn't considered the Blues Cruise. I don't know the numbers but it doesn't seem we should split the blues tourism crowd. Still, it would be nice to simply draw more people.

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Permalink Reply by Sue Rarick on February 1, 2010 at 1:45am

Nashville is more than pop country or a monolith. Actually it's made up of lots of small groups of people with similar music tastes and styles. One of the reasons for country's popularity is the fact that country fans accept different styles of country.

Most people are not aware that Frank Stokes (some call the real father of Blues) and Jimmie Rodgers (the father of Country) were a duo on the old Vaudeville circuit. So the beginnings of Blues and Country are very close together.

Country seems to be more flexible too. I came to Nashville as basically a blues player and recently had someone refere to my music as Country/Jazz. There would be calls of selling out if a musician played Blues/Jazz. But Country/Jazz is just considered something new, not selling out. That flexibility allows country music to evolve more easily.

One other reason for countries popularity is that not only are there more country radio stations but there are a lot more festivals around the country that have country music than there are festivals with blues music. So people get used to hearing country music more often. A young child may eventually dig hard rock or rap but way back when they also became familiar with country music when they went to the festivals with their parents. It becomes an ingrained and usually a pleasant experience.

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Permalink Reply by Chad Nordhoff on February 1, 2010 at 3:13am

Sue,
Since I've been in Memphis and have met many musicians from Nashville I've begun to see that city differently. I have only spent enough time there to know it ain't for me, for now at least. People that have been there for a while tell me about the actual scene more as you describe it. Nashville is not all machine and Memphis is not all Elvis.

Perhaps the flexibility in country comes from the fact that it's a more direct reflection of the people's experience. Post-revival blues has seemingly become a fabricated virtual reality where the stakes are much higher. If I draw my pistol and shoot a car, it makes a hole. If I do that in a video game or movie, the car EXPLODES!!!!!! As someone I know once said, "World of Warcraft is not a game, World of Warcraft is LIFE!!!". ...enter Jake and Elwood...

If, for argument's sake, we can consider Hank Williams a monolith in Nashville's country music, know that he learned to play guitar by hanging around Rufus "tee tot" Payne on the streets of Montgomery. The differences between country and blues are somewhat superficially imposed. Historically, much of it has been a racial issue. These days I believe the distinctions are still racial as in cultural, but not so much racist as they may have been in the past. Still, from the 60s to today there are definitely two paths of developement in the blues. Understandably, black folks don't want to hear about no cotton field from a white kid. However, covering ZZ Hill, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Clay, Bobby "Blue" Bland etc. can be more potent than "Sweet Home Alabama".

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Permalink Reply by CHC Network on February 2, 2010 at 12:07pm

Sue,
Regarding your statement that " there are a lot more festivals around the country that have country music than there are festivals with blues music." I checked the internet last night for country music festivals and even found myself on the CMA website. As far as I could find only 15-17 country music festivals listed, depending on the site. That is unless you want to count all of the Fairs, Tractor Pulls, Monster Truck Rallies, Cow Tipping Contests, Rodeos, Bull Chip Throwing Contests, BBQs (here it might be best remembered that if promoting a Bull Chip Throwing Contest, you have to be careful what you BBQ.) etc. ad nauseam. At these events country music just seems a natural fit. It is certainly less controversial than say Gangster Rap or Death Metal.

Historically, country music was a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It had roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, gospel music and blues, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s. In the Southwest a different mix of ethnic groups created the music that became the Western music of the term Country and Western.

Immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. The Irish fiddle, the German derived dulcimer, the Italian mandolin, the Spanish guitar, and the West African banjo[6] were the most common musical instruments So, it should come as no surprise that you may hear this diversity of music styles in Nashville.

As far as country music radio being one of the biggest number of stations on radio: While album sales of most musical genres have declined, country music experienced one of its best years in 2006, when, during the first six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. Moreover, country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week, according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron, Inc

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