I learned upon arriving at the office yesterday that Eddy Arnold had died, one week shy of his 90th birthday. By day's end we'd assembled this story for All Things Considered about the most successful charting artist in country music history. He had an amazing life capped off by a 66-year marriage to Sally. I never heard anything but glowing words about both of them. Eddy will be missed.
Tennessee mandolin starlet Sierra Hull held a nice album release party at ASCAP in Nashville yesterday afternoon. Her debut on Rounder Records, entitled Secrets is a validation of all the hopes her fans have had for her since she emerged as a prodigious, contest-winning musician in her very early teens. Many of those fans are among the elite in bluegrass, including Alison Krauss. We got to produce this video bio of Sierra that shows her trying to balance the life of a normal 16-year-old high school junior with her new career as an in-demand touring and recording artist. She's a super person too, and we wish her the best of luck.
I caught two of the music documentaries at the Nashville Film Festival over the weekend, one destined to be a classic and perhaps even a box office success, the other a missed opportunity for Nashville.
I can’t recommend “Young @ Heart” highly enough...
A rare and remarkable confluence of bluegrass and presidential politics occurred this week when, in the midst of the pre-Pennsylvania primary, Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton “bittergate” brouhaha, an advance recording by Del McCoury and his sons came my way. Without endorsing any candidate or party, the album called Moneyland speaks to the same issues Obama was explaining. It’s a more artful expression of those ideas than Obama’s, who was speaking off the cuff and not with his usual precision. But McCoury, one of my musical heroes, is stepping forward boldly with a message that sounds exactly like what Obama (whom I continue to support incidentally) was trying to say.
To recap...
"Four Days of Infamy," STM's road documentary about the Infamous Stringdusters is set to screen as part of a three film block at the Nashville Film Festival called "Diggin' Your Roots" at 4 p.m. on April 23 at the Regal Cinema Green Hills. Also on the bill are films about the Jayhawks' Mark Olson and famed Vanderbilt DJ Ken Berryhill. If you've never been to the festival, do yourselves a favor. It's an amazing good time, and we certainly hope to see you at our screening.
I haven't posted news in ages but not because there's not news. We've been crazed actually. We're finishing edits on a new video bio piece about the precocious and super-talented Sierra Hull, a favorite of Alison Krauss and many other bluegrass stars who've noticed her talents on mandolin and on the microphone. Her debut album comes out on Rounder Records on May 10.
We've also been privileged to be in the studio for recent shoots of album tracking sessions by songwriter and Americana star Darrell Scott and mad fiddle scientist Casey Driessen. Scott's album, recorded in his home, leans heavily country with Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano. We're figuring out what to do with remarkable footage of Darrell and his dad Wayne dueting on a song they wrote together years ago. Casey tracked his new album just off Music Row with bassist Viktor Krauss, drummer Matt Chamberlain and, coincidentally, Darrell Scott on all kinds of instruments. And then there was a trip to shoot the Infamous Stringdusters in Chicago. And the Waybacks at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville. We're also finishing a promotional piece about Orchestra Nashville and prepping an amazing project about which more to come. On top of this on the home front we sold our house after much repair and painting and bought a new one. Which means String Theory Media will soon move into slick new space in a finished garage near the 12 South neighborhood. Stay tuned for more.
William Weir nails it in a Slate article about the absurd and unnecessary death of the instrumental pop hit. The amazing statistic:
From 1960 to 1974, 128 instrumentals reached the Top 20, while only 30 did from 1975 to 1990. And since? Five.
I've thought about this a lot because I'm an instrumental guy living in a song town. The only thing more amazing than the power music has over the heart and mind is the dwindling number of opportunities to hear instrumental music.
Wier writes:
I understand the appeal of the human voice, and I certainly can't begrudge anyone's joy at singing along in the car (unless I'm in it). But why such shabby treatment for the instrumental? Marketability.
Exactly. Because for twenty years the music business hasn't been selling music as much as it's been selling celebrity. When people don't hear instrumental music they forget how to listen to it, or they never learn.
Best news of the week: My documentary about the Infamous Stringdusters, "Four Days of Infamy" has been accepted for a showing at the Nashville Film Festival, which runs at the Regal Cinema Green Hills April 17 to 24. It follows one of the most exciting bands in America on a short tour through Colorado, where the boys contemplate the differences between Southeast and Colorado bluegrass and discover what kind of band they really are. We'll post screening time information as soon as we get it. Here's part one of the film as seen on YouTube, but we hope you'll join us to watch Four Days on the BIG SCREEN!
Mark Edwards opines in the Sunday Times about the oft-noted gulf between what music critics regard good music and mass taste. His core argument:
"Music critics are assessing music using different criteria than the rest of the world. Or, perhaps more accurately, we’re using roughly the same criteria, but giving greater weight to some of them. Critics are particularly keen on authenticity, innovation, great lyrics and - most of all - a direct and identifiable connection between the emotions of the songwriter and the finished work. We’re looking for the musical equivalent of a Jackson Pollock - it doesn’t have to be pretty, but it must be genuine. If you take a look at the list of (the criteria used by regular music consumers), you’ll note the almost complete absence of these qualities, in favour of attributes that critics often downweight – melody, entertainment value, immediacy, escapism, image."
I gave up music criticism in favor of reportorial music writing and the other stuff I do in part because I always felt a bit phony setting myself up as more qualified to pass judgement on music than any other knowledgeable fan....
It just came to my attention that yesterday, March 3, was Doc Watson's 83 birthday. No musician in the world has had a greater impact on the way I hear music or play my instrument. He's the living embodiment of all that is true and worthy in roots music, an innovator and a traditionalist in equal measure. I raise my first cup of coffee of March 4 to my hero. May he pick for many more years to come. Merlefest is just 51 days away!
