American Classics project

The idea to choose songs for the acoustic performances that Tom and I are currently undertaking on the pub circuit, songs that over the past 60 years or so have influenced the broad strokes of contemporary American music, as well influencing my taste and style of performing — be it rock, pop, country, blues or folk — came about as a response to the work of three amazing artists in the music industry that we had encountered recently: Author Greil Marcus’ revolutionary book, The History of Rock n’ Roll in Ten Songs; Singer/Songwriter Marc Cohn’s album, “Listening Booth, 1970”; and Garth Brooks’ one-man Las Vegas Show, “Blame It All on My Roots.” In each case, these artists looked at a body of music from a particular period of time, focusing on either the influence the music had on the world, in general, or on themselves, personally. As a lover of music for its ability to connect people across any boundary, and as a performer, I thought it would be interesting to try to identify songs for a show on the basis of — beyond being wonderful songs — their influences as either cultural statements or reflections, or for their influence on the music that followed and emerged stylistically from them. This is, by no means, intended to be a tribute to the “greatest American bands,” or the “most influential musicians,” of any given time or place. It is essentially a cross-section of wonderful songwriting that is well-known to mass audiences in most cases. Performing tributes to accomplished artists is always fraught with risk. Some material lends itself easily to multiple interpretations and arrangements, as well as spare production. Other material is so exemplary or unique in its own right, it is a fool’s errand to try to do it justice. This project is necessarily limited in scope, because trying to perform some of the great songs of this period with the small footprint we are employing on stage, was beyond our ability to do it justice, particularly music from soul and R/B genres, big production groups such as Chicago or Earth Wind and Fire, as well as music depending on uniquely prodigious vocalization such as that of Crosby, Stills and Nash. As an aesthetic and practical matter, some of my favorite artists, who because they performed in front of a wall of Marshall amplifiers, are omitted, as well. See our list of songs, always evolving, from which our performances are designed. And send suggestions if so inclined.

Excerpts from Rick’s new book, On the Radio

Pop/Rock

Not only does the category span almost too many styles and sensibilities, sonic architectures and forces of emotion, it is nonetheless the most widely derivative of all contemporary music. The popular radio formats began to really blur the edges of their boundaries among the genres of rock ‘n roll, folk, country and the blues in the 1960s, and the alchemy gave rise to an incredible catalog of radio music through the next decade. The Byrds, a classic example, renovated a Pete Seeger classic, “Turn, Turn, Turn” with 12-strings and gorgeous vocals, their version sustaining the song on a magnitude Pete Seeger’s original never would have achieved. Don McLean emerged from folk coffee houses to record one of the cultural anthems of the modern music era, American Pie. Artists like Jackson Browne and the late Warren Zevon brought immensely sensitive lyric-writing talent into rock structures and produced music beginning in the 1970s that marked them as visionaries of the singer-songwriter genre, sustained them for long careers, and had a major influence on the compositions of singer-songwriter solo artists that are such a major force in the music market today. (Excerpt from On The Radio).

Folk/Blues

The intersection of what contemporary radio formats in the early days called folk with rock ‘n roll occurred in the late 1960s and into the 1970s with groups like the Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and others, leading the way. Taj Mahal, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, and other prominent unique solo artists incorporated many of those groups’ sonic ideas into their songs, creating a fusion of folk-blues-rock. The early folk-rock fusion of these pioneers is a major influence that underpins the broader genre of “Americana” music today. Another major influence on the Americana genre, obviously, (wherever there were lines to cross, this band crossed them) was the Grateful Dead, especially with their jam-style covers of established songs from the blues to Motown. The casual structure (to put it mildly) of the Dead’s music, and their rangy improvisations, has spawned more tribute-jam bands than any band, of any era. Paul Simon evolved from a 60s folk singer with Art Garfunkel to orchestrating grand collaborations in world music that merits him the description of genius. The trajectory of rockabilly runs from Buddy Holly to the unlikely Freddie Mercury, who wrote a masterpiece of the genre (Crazy Little Thing Called Love) that many listeners thought Elvis was responsible for. (Excerpt from On The Radio).

Country

Perhaps there has not been a more extreme makeover of a genre from the early radio days through the past 60 years than has occurred in country music. As Ken Burns’ recent documentary on country music demonstrates, country music is an idea (akin to Harlan Howard’s description: “three chords and the truth”) that covers a lot of ground — from Nashville to Austin, most importantly, from a commercial standpoint. Johnny Cash and Steve Earle have more in common than geography and years would suggest. Their music is about the forces of individual struggle, a theme far removed from the polished and sentimental formula of the mega-stars of new country. Let’s just agree that the concepts of country music and corporate America seemed mighty far-fetched until the 1990s, maybe. Certainly one of the salutary artists who pushed country music through a threshold from where it is was traditionally to where it is today — by blending, among other things, the sensibility what radio formats in the 1980s called “adult contemporary” ballads with country storytelling (and a couple more chords) — is Garth Brooks. With hits such as “The Dance”, “The River”, and “Friends in Low Places”, Brooks took over mainstream charts, and an entire “country” industry has followed his path to stardom in a huge corporate way. Then, there’s the union of Robert Plant, a legend of hard rock, with Allison Krause, whose named never appeared in the same sentence with the words hard or rock, before that collaboration — a demonstration showing the extraordinary potential of music to break boundaries and achieve a listenable commercial result. Among the practitioners from the Southwest branch of the genre, Jerry Jeff Walker is one iconic representative, of with his folksy ballad of “Mr. Bojangles” (Covered by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) followed by a crossover hit, “LA Freeway”, the chorus of which is pure rock n’ roll. The progression of which was not lost on a whole generation of young Texas musicians. (Excerpt from On the Radio).