There Are Worse Things Than Listening to Dolly Parton.

I was watching Euro 2008 on the TV. During the advert break there was an advert for DP’s latest release and Jane said ‘There are worse things than listening to Dolly Parton’. There was a silence, she looked at me and said ‘Did I say that out loud?’ Naturally, being a caring new man I offered euthanasia, or more alcohol.

However she is right.

Garth Brookes springs to mind.

Frank Zappa said that no music is bad music – he obviously never listened to C&W. I have a good friend who loves C&W but he listens to old C&W. He listens to what is effectively country blues and folk. I have no problem with that. I like quite a lot of it. The music talks about real issues, there are no dogs dying in the sunset, it is real music by real people. I have a similar feeling about R&B. R&B used to stand for Rhythm and Blues, now it stands for some music that is not rock, not folk. By the 1970s, the term rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk. In the 2000s, the term R&B refers to contemporary R&B, which is a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that originated as disco faded from popularity. R&B is not ‘pop’ it is, should be, real music for real people.

In other words, R&B is not was it was. R&B just like C&W has sunk to a level where the terms have no meaning. What would Etta James’ classification be? What of Woody? They would be too feisty for today’s classifications. Today, both C&W and R&B have lost their meaning, it is not just me being an old fart. Marketing has taken over reality. The same is happening to the Blues, and real rock. The objective today is to sell CDs. The marketing men want to sell ‘product’ I reject any idea that real music is product. Go and see any local band that plays in your local pub. They may well play sub standard blues rock, or worse, another recycled version of Freebird (a local problem).. At least these people are doing it live.

I play guitar, but so badly that it is painful. Even if I could play like Buddy Guy I would not have the guts to stand up on a Friday or Saturday night and put my limited talents in front of people. All praise to them. Live music (with the exceptions of new C&W or Irish folk played by people from Manchester) is one of the great things in my life. Please support it. They are better people than we are, well, they have more front. Perhaps, just perhaps, they may turn out to be the next Wreckless Eric. There is no higher praise.