Johnny Cash+Luther Perkins=Originality
Dan
fan of his music. Have you guys & gals seen the movie Walk The Line? Great
film. My favorite part of the whole movie is when Johnny and his two
mechanic buddies (Luther Perkins & Marshall Grant) audition for Sam Phillips
in 1955 by playing Folsom Prison Blues, a song Johnny wrote while in the Air
Force. I've read about that Sun Records audition in Johnny's autobiography
and heard about it on some Cash dvd's I own. Johnny was worried that his
band wasn't good enough. Luther Perkins, the lead guitar player, had
developed his own unique style of playing from learning on his own. He
sounded like no other guitar player. Even though Sam Phillips believed he
was hearing a hit, Johnny, after the audition, apologized for his own bad
guitar playing and said that next time he'd come back with a better band
too. Lol. That was not in the movie. Sam Phillips told him that he liked
what he heard just fine and told Johnny not to get another band. What he
heard was something new and original. Some of you think you're not good
enough. Well, Johnny Cash felt that way too about his own guitar playing
and Luther's. But they were good enough and made many hits together.
Luther and Johnny played together from about 1955 until Luther died in 1968.
Now they are American legends. The point of this post is to encourage those
of you who think you're not good enough to keep on pursuing your dream, no
matter how big or small it is. Ignore the nay-sayers in your life. Johnny
had quite a few who were very close to him try to deter him from his path.
His dad hated music and considered it a waste of time. His first wife hated
it when he wasted his time playing and singing with Luther and Marshall in
the early days. She wanted him to give music up and work for her father.
Thank God, he didn't! The recording company execs told him playing in
prisons was a bad move. Yeah, right. Shoot. Now all that stuff is
legendary.
Sacramento Dave
"Dan" <iro...@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:KrKdneMJDvA_MrTY...@adelphia.com...
Great point you need your own style.
Keith Adams
his simple guitar playing made his music what it was and what I liked
so much. Besides hearing him all my life on the AM Country Music
stations ( my parents were hillbillies and thats all that got played
around our crib ) I used to listen to his music when I got older as
well. The guy was something else and I'm glad you brought his name
up. It might get some of the young dudes around here to start
listening to him and influence them into playing something that
actually sounds like music.
"Dan" <iro...@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:KrKdneMJDvA_MrTY...@adelphia.com...
Sasquatch
people use Neil Young to make the same case. The song has to come first and
everything else has to serve the song. Too often I hear the song serving the
player. That's what killed hair metal, along with a few other things.
S
Twang
Virtuosity alone satisfys only the shallow, for very long.
John Lee Hooker never blew me away on guitar, but he always blew me
away.
I saw Johnny on Steve Allen.. he was banging a couple of steel rods
together and glaring into the camera like he'd been doing the steel
driving all day long himself..
He scared me, he fascinated me, and he blew me away.
He connected.
I have heard people make the same case for the Beatles, by the way..
and just about anyone else who isn't the technical guru of the moment.
It is about the music, and music is about communicating something.
If it's just fast, fine. I like fast.
I appreciate skill.
But I wind up humming walk the line on the way home, like as not.
I don't understand people who hate dylans voice so much they actually
can't or wont listen to him sing.
I feel sorry for them.
If you're ever in a band and you notice someone is missing a subtlety
of some sort.. some little bit of the song that's offtime.. or
whatever.. and you use that to raise yourself above them, you should
either be able to explain it... even if you fire them,
or shut the hell up.
Fat chance, though. Most people can't resist being that 1/4" taller.
I think some of us do, though. And that's enough to offset anything
else.
Ever notice how writing has gotten more sophisticated, but often not
any damn better?
Ever hear anyone try to explain that the reason you like a simple
melody is because you are simple minded?
I'm sure Madonnas songs are 'more well written' from some technical
standpoint, than say, The animals.
Funny thing. It's not just nostalgia or my age group, or my skill level
that stands as the reason why I can't remember a single damn one of
hers.. or why so many people grin if you just play the introductory
notes of so many of theirs.
I wont say a committee of marketing analysts and studio technicians
can't come up with a great tune, well played.
I won't say that technical skill is useless, or even in the way.
Soul aint just a place in Korea.
and it's not just a religious concept.
TWANG!
