Mom or Dad?

Who had the biggest impact on your life, mom or dad? Tough question, huh? I would hate to get backed into a corner and have to answer this one.

One of my best friends growing up recently lost his mother. I cannot begin to imagine what that could do to my world, not to mention my buddy’s world. I don’t know if it was a long struggle or something sudden, but never the less, I don’t know if I am ready for that scenario to happen to me.

Most moms are around more than our fathers are because most dads’ work. I can’t think of anyone of my friends who had a “Mr. Mom” or stay at home dad. My mom shuttled us to baseball practice and took us to the swimming pool and then went home and cooked dinner. I never realized how hard it is to work all day and then come home and cook dinner, until I moved out on my own and then had to face cooking a meal after a long day at work.  Pizzas became a staple in my diet at that junction of life.  Mom was around us more and saw us grow up more than my dad did. No shot against my dad, but he was the breadwinner and he had his work to do.

One of my dad’s chores at home was discipline. Mom took care of it until I had grown big enough to laugh at her when she popped me with the yardstick. Big mistake on my part. If I had just faked a few tears, life would have been much less painful. As I got older, mom just gave up on the spanking and found a new way to set me straight.  How many of us remember your mother saying, “Just wait till your father gets home!”  The words give me a chill to this day. I remember sitting in my room agonizing over the incredibly slow clock that seemed to tick my life away, while I waited my fate. Reminds me of Richard Pryor talking about how his grandmother would make him cut a switch for his own whipping. He said, “ If I brought back too small of a switch, my grandmother would get the whole tree.” I thought I had it tough….

Dad was probably more of an encourager than mom was. Not a bad thing, but its probably a guy thing. My sister would probably say the same thing about our mom. My dad liked me to play sports and encouraged me and my brother to a point. I’m pretty lucky, because some of my friends did not get that from their dads. The games of catch are etched in my mind forever. He even tried to ride motorcycles with me, but flipped my bike when he tried to ride it and never attempted again. Ha, funny remembering him say, “I got this!”, and then land on his back. Sorry pop, but it was pretty hilarious.

Mom was there when my dog died when I was in college. She listened to me bawl like a lost calf and helped me to move past it. Dad was there when I failed in California the first time I lived there.  He helped me get on my feet again and gave me someone to talk to. They both gave me a piece of their mind the first time I came home drunk on a Saturday night. Both of them had their place and time in my life.

You’ll never get me to pick one over the other. I don’t want them coming back with the tree.

Where Oh Where Is Charlie Pride

What in the world has happened to country music? I was perusing the newspaper the other day and stopped down to check out the current top 10 song rankings.  I’m a hip guy (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) and I need to be current with my tunes. It’s bad enough that I didn’t know a soul on the pop charts, but I don’t think I had ever heard any of the songs on the country top ten.

I made it a point to listen to country music stations one day as I traveled. Holy crap, but that was painful to do. Has Nashville deemed it necessary to mix country, rock and rap into songs these days? I was in the airport the other day and I thumbed through a country music magazine to put a name with a face. It looks like the current “stars” are nothing but a load of wanna be rock rejects. Wannabe rock & rollers put on a goofy ass hat and become country. How precious…

I imagine that people in the 70’s probably thought the same thing about Charlie Daniels and Willie Nelson, but back then music had substance. The 70’s were about rebellion and fighting back. “Uneasy Rider” by Charlie Daniels was a great story of long hairs vs. the crew cut, Pabst Blue Ribbon drinking, country establishment of the times. Today, country singers sing about mudding in 4 wheel drives, wearing John Deere caps and being slutty. Not a lot of believability. Kind of like some of the rap songs I occasionally hear…

Folks, we need another list! Maybe we can show people what music is and what music is about.  But first, a picture of old & young Willie.

Doing what you have to to get people to pay attention to you.

                                                              

                                                                   

Flippin the bird to Nashville

and doing your own thing...

  

Top Country Music Singers or Groups

(No particular order)

George Strait- Definitely a gimme. No singer has done more to the genre.

Jerry Jeff Walker- Father of Americana music. Sorry Woody Guthrie, but Jerry Jeff brought it to the mainstream. Robert Earl Keen has no clue….

Ray Price- What a voice.

Linda Ronstadt- Easily the most versatile singer ever. Her first stuff (“Silver Threads & Golden Needles”) is amazing. Her Mexican Ranchero or Mariachi music is some of my favorite.

Johnny Cash- Little bit of early rock n roll and mixed with country. Elvis went mainstream and Johnny Cash made music.

Conway Twitty- Just listen to “Hello Darlin” and you’ll see why.

Tammy Wynette/George Jones- Best duo ever and pretty good by themselves. See “DIVORCE” and “The Race is On”

Alabama-Who the hell is Rascal Flatts? I’ve already forgot…

Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson-Outlaw country is a little tired these days, but these two did more for the progressive movement than anyone. Luckenbach, Texas still hates them for using their town in a song.

Bob Wills- “It don’t matter who’s in Austin, Bob Wills is still the king.”          

Alan Jackson- A man truly making music because he wants to. 

Obligatory Honorable Mention

It is hard damn work to come up with this group of honorables. There are so many singers and songwriters that can actually carry a tune and leave us wanting more. I’ll try to be impartial….

Gene Watson- Baytown, Texas native that made it to the big time. Great voice and good cry in your beer music.

See “Got No Reason Now For Going Home”.

Pam Tillis- Good genes (her dad is Mel Tillis, my hero J) and a set of pipes. Should have gone farther, but I think some people would say her voice was too twangy for her era.

Jimmy Buffet-Probably the most underrated in this whole group. Band wagoner’s fill up stadiums to see him, but thanks to Dink Stephens brother Paul, we found out about him way before the Parrot Head was conceived.

Clint Black- He’s a little of a youngster compared to others. He made his bones with Garth, but had more scruples to be himself. Listen to “Closing Time” from his first album.

Patty Loveless- Similar to Clint, because she too, played what she wanted to. Saw her open for George Strait after she was already a star in her own right. Say’s a lot about who she is…

The Byrds-The Byrds? At first I thought they were making fun of twangy country music, but as I listened, I heard country with an edge. Kind of like if Buck Owens and Chrissie Hynde had an illegitimate child….

Michael Murphy-Similar to a chameleon. He goes from cosmic cowboy stage to mainstream country to buckaroo country. All of it top notch.

Ricky Skaggs- His band was one of the great ones. He’s on the bluegrass now, but his music is timeless.

Martina McBride- Was tough to choose between her and Linda Ronstadt. Her voice is to Ray Price’s.

Moe Bandy/Joe Stampley- Saw them both in the early 80’s. Moe was a rodeo crooner and Joe was a beer joint songster.

Who can forget “Where’s the Dress” by them as a duo, “All These Things” by Joe and “Someday Soon” by Moe.

There are a ton of others to mention in this list; Gary Stewart, Steve Wariner, Asleep At The Wheel, The Gatlin Brothers, Mickey Gilley, Earl Thomas Conley, Reba McIntire, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Radney Foster, Deborah Allen, Janie Fricke, Charly McClain. I could keep on typing till midnight if I had the time.

It really is sad to see where country music has fallen to. I don’t think it was purposeful or any evil intent was the factor. Money rules everything it seems and this may be the common denominator to country music being tits up. All the so called divas in popular music can take lessons from Linda Ronstadt, Emmy Lou Harris and Martina McBride to name a few. The redneck phase of male singers who try a little to hard to be “country” is hard to watch and even harder to listen to. You don’t need to slut it up or see how trashy you can be.  Just sing.

This is a negative dissertation, but I bet I’m not the only one who see’s this gutter dive called country music. I wish I could sing. I wish my hands and fingers could play the guitar. I’ll never know what it’s like to stand on a stage and hear applause. These people on my list have all the before mentioned talent and use it the right way. Well most of them did. George Jones drank like a fish and drove lawn mowers to town, but I digress.

Jimmy Buffet had a song called “Making Music for Money”, that told of making music to please yourself and not for the money. A little bit out there (we all need to make money to live) but I think it was a common thread in the day.  What would I do if I had the “talent”? I’d probably blow it all on a bottle of 30 year old scotch and a big ass T-bone steak dinner.

Ohhhh, but it would be good…