Can't you see, the sun's setting down on our town...

[icepixie]

I created a Kate Rusby station on Pandora a few days ago. It occasionally comes up with her cover of Iris Dement's "Our Town" (lyrics), which never fails to make me tear up just a bit.¹ I actually like Rusby's version much more than Dement's, 'cause even though it's kind of amusing hearing her very, very obviously Yorkshire voice singing a song that is very, very obviously about a middle American town, it's not twangy, which is the kiss of death for all songs, as far as I'm concerned.

Writing about a place always hits a deeper place in my psyche than just about any other subject. Setting is extremely important to the part of my brain that appreciates literature. And it doesn't hurt that the first thing I think of when hearing this song is Gambier. It's not much like the town in this song, but...it still translates, somehow.

Anyway, consider this a plug for the song, and for Kate Rusby in particular. She's awesome (and on iTunes, if you want samples!); has a great voice and does great folk songs. Also check out the incredible Ninth Doctor (with guest appearances) vid to "Exile," a duet between her and Kathryn Roberts, here at the vidder's site.


¹ Kind of in the way that I still can't listen too closely to the lyrics of Dar Williams's "When I Was a Boy" without reaching for a tissue.

Comments

[asinpterodactyl.livejournal.com]

"When I was a girl,
My mom and me, we always talked,
And I picked flowers everywhere I walked"
And I could always cry,
Now even when I'm alone, I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness,
But I was a girl too."

I love that song. Dar is brilliant. I saw her live once, way back in 2000; it was amazing, and I wish I could see her again.

*

By the way, I'm strongly tempted, in my supercilious Yankee way, to made a faux-astonished comment about your home state and your opinions on twangy singing. But I won't. :)

[icepixie]

That part you quoted is the place that always makes me go, "...waaah!"

I saw her live once, way back in 2000

Very nifty.

By the way, I'm strongly tempted, in my supercilious Yankee way, to made a faux-astonished comment about your home state and your opinions on twangy singing. But I won't. :)

First of all, give yourself Word of the Day for "supercilious." Second of all, I dare you to find someone from Nashville (not the rest of the state, just Nashville) who actually likes country music--particularly the really twangy stuff. If you do, there's a 99% chance they're a transplant. Guaranteed. The only thing it's good for is the tourists it brings in--and we don't like them all that much, either. ;)

Anyway, twangy voices and twangy banjos set my teeth on edge in a way only surpassed by the majority of rap songs and the most insipid of charity singles ("Do They know It's Christmas," I'm looking at you). *shudder*

[asinpterodactyl.livejournal.com]

By the way, I totally agree with you about the twang. One of the few genres of music I utterly avoid is country music (not to be confused with actual cowboy music, or with roots music, both of which are actuall quite good).

In June, Stewart and I spent a morning at a tire repair shop in Fallon, NV, while our van got its back tires replaced. They had a TV turned to CMT, Country Music Television, and I watched it for about an hour. It was fascinatingly bad. It made me want to go out into the world and start a non-profit Speech Therapy For Country Singers foundation.

And banjos? If you ask me, they aren't half as bad as steel guitars!

[icepixie]

One of the few genres of music I utterly avoid is country music (not to be confused with actual cowboy music, or with roots music, both of which are actuall quite good).

I feel the same way. The stuff that led to country is great; country itself is generally execrable. But my favorite band (Hem) is often categorized as "countrypolitan," so...

They had a TV turned to CMT, Country Music Television, and I watched it for about an hour. It was fascinatingly bad. It made me want to go out into the world and start a non-profit Speech Therapy For Country Singers foundation.

I hate, hate, hate CMT. And GAC, the other country music channel. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I don't think most of those singers talk that way in real life; they twang it up for the songs. Usually they sound like me when I'm at home. (Or what I apparently sound like, according to everyone who's ever heard me on the phone with my parents.)

And banjos? If you ask me, they aren't half as bad as steel guitars!

Is a steel guitar the instrument that makes the ubiquitous "wow-wow-wow" sound (kind of like someone playing a saw) in the background which immediately screams, "I AM A COUNTRY SONG!!!"? I thought that was just a run-of-the-mill electric guitar that someone was doing unspeakable things to, but I could be wrong. I know I've heard steel guitars and pedal steels that I've liked before, though, but rarely, very, very rarely have I heard a banjo I could stand.

Mostly it's the twangy voice, though. Like you said, they all need speech therapy for when they sing.