I'm inspired! Again ...
(Caution - Read on only if you are into overly sappy ramblings about JT)
It took me awhile to go get "Before This World." An old friend called me last weekend to ask how I liked the new record. He well knew me to have worn my love of JT loud through the years. With some embarrassment, I reluctantly confessed the record to not yet to be in my possession.
Why did I wait?
I told myself that I had to have the fullest version - not a compressed download. I had to get it old school, with a jacket and credits. You know, a CD! (Not an LP - thus illustrating that I'm in the second generation of JT fans...)
And, honestly ... Maybe I waited worried this new record wouldn't hit me as deeply as the older records. That fear appears to have been more a reflection of the state of my heart after these years of wear. (Insert subtle nod at having seen "Fire and Rain")
I came to the realization that it was a fear less rooted in JT's ability to fashion his songs and sing them as magically as back in the day.
I'm gratefully bewildered to find at listening that my heart can still be stirred to the divine by these familiar melodic intervals and hammered guitar phrases.
When I was in my early 20s, it wasn't hipster to be so into his music. If I had been in my 20s in the 70s, it would have been much the different! It wasn't until my mid 20s, when I started hanging out with more accomplished and seasoned musicians, that I found my mutual JT admirers, who equally awed.
I came of age in the 80s. I missed his music then. I blame the 80s fascination with synthesizers, guitar processing and music videos. I played an acoustic guitar, but had it sounding quite synthesized with chorus, delay, EQ pedals, etc.
Now, I loved me some Tracy Chapman back then! Loved! She was, after all, the very first original folk musician! Right? I just didn't know what effect pedals she had to have been using to get her acoustic guitar to sound that acoustic!
I vaguely knew of JT's biggest hits the Fall of '91 when I discovered "New Moon Shine." It was that record that suddenly and surprisingly captivated and musically shaped me - immeasurably! I was just out of college and was very well ready and hungry for musical influence. I had already been part of multiple humble bands and had thus developed enough musicality to be more discerning of potential influences. My ears were eager, ready and waiting in '91.
I was influenced - insanely influenced - from the moment "Copperline" swelled and the words "even the old folks never knew" rang out in melody and cadence. I had the same experience years later when he sang "I remember Richard Nixon back in '74 ..." His opening lines!
Back in '91, I was the proud owner of a vehicle that housed a cassette player! The "New Moonshine" CD was thus protected from scratches and allowed out only in the living room, where the stacks of stereo gear were stacked. I wore out numerous cassette copies driving. My treasured mix cassette tapes gave way to "New Moon Shine," with songs in the exact order they appeared on the record. And I didn't defile the cassette with additional songs from other artists or albums! I left blank space on each side of the cassette! Unheard of at that time!
In that season I bootleg captured his Squibnocket film on VHS. I grabbed it from a PBS fundraiser. I had to pause the recording during the pleas for pledges. That VHS was my guitar lesson for a good long while! This was long before YouTube tutorials. Aspiring guitar players had to go to much greater lengths back then!
I went from "New Moonshine" to actually owning his Greatest Hits. I OWNED those songs! Got the songbooks and emulated without shame. A quarter century later, an evening playing through a stack of JT songbooks is still a evening well spent!
I then went through a season of meticulously studying his early records in order of their release.
That first Apple record was quirky!
Then ... I discovered what originally came with "Fire and Rain." There was the less steaming "Steam Roller."
He went on to his definitive covers. He became the best of friends with the best of writers. You could say "he had a friend."
I became even the more in love with the craft of writing songs. I went to studying his writing more than his singing and playing. His singing and playing were inadvertently absorbed and naturally flowed out through the years of listening. I however became a devoted student of his ease of phrasing, use of story, blending of genres and discipline of unpredictable rhyming that he consistently delivered in his writing.
His voice improved from record to record. I found out the Greatest Hits record had greater versions of some of the early hits. As a young developing musician, I was inspired.
Who could miss how his addictions detracted and lessened his brilliance. What was up with "Flag?" How could you ruin "Millworker?" I never really noticed the song until the live disks displayed it than grand droning dropped D.
Nearly tragic where times! I didn't know how tragic until I read two JT biographies in the early 2000s. Addiction can be a wretched pathetic destroyer of things beautiful in life. I know 'cause I read about it in a book. (Note: sarcasm)
Then! His comeback in the later 80s!
Never ever die young! He grew to understood "that's why I'm here." He found out people would still "pay good money to hear 'fire and rain' again and again and again!"
By the time I had made my way through all his catalog, the mid 90s saw the double live recordings released. Those legendary players and singers had perfected those arrangements for decades!
Don Grolnick and Carlos Vega were still there to be captured for those who would never hear them live. Sadly, I'm in that grouping.
I was then in my own professional season of striving to play guitar and sing even the better in the context of a live band. The live CD's further developed my pallet for grooves that relied on subtle confident tightness and not spastic nervous tempos.
Musicians know how difficult it is to find a musical pocket amid the excitement of playing for others live. As a young musician I found when playing live, the slow songs tended to drag while the faster songs tended to get away from you. But, not on those live records! I was inspired.
I went to see him play live numerous times after the live recordings. Bought the T-shirts and everything. I saw him play outside in the summer. Saw him in a few arenas. I caught the tour he did where he played in halls with local orchestras. Third row center! You haven't really heard JT until you hear him play live.
At one concert he, in an understated dry tone, mentioned quite slowly that they were going to play some new songs. He said "uh, well, the new songs sound pretty much like the old songs." At that moment, the arena began to burst with applause and cheers. Folks were getting what they loved and hoped for.
I found that a part of his genius was displayed in his resisting
the temptation to inauthentically reinvent himself.
Then, Autumn had always been my favorite season. But, oh how "September grass" and "October Road" intensified and added to every Autumn season thereafter.
And speaking of seasons ... The Christmas record had me pulling over to the side of the road in tears. For real! I know ... I'm a Geek! A Christmas record?
I was slain when he sang the lyric:
What then can I give him
Empty as I am
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would know my part
What then can I give him
I must give my heart
I picked up "One Man Band" at a Starbucks. It came with a DVD! A sign of the times.
How could I resist the Covers? Bought those on iTunes. Signs of the time.
I found him on Yo Yo's record. I made "How's the World Treating You?" my alarm clock song on my iPhone. The time! My wife eventually made me change the alarm. Alison's brilliant harmonies made the song more befitting for falling to sleep - not waking up!
And tonight ... I heard the opening line "today, today, today ..." I smiled and settled in.
I heard an interview recently where he said that his song writing these days demands he "court the muse." Grateful for his courting.
I am now 45 and I'm all inspired again. I put it out there "Before This World."
At this season, my still impressionable soul is inspired to believe music can be well made and crafted for longer run than I before believed. I think I'll keep singing, playing and writing longer than I used to hope to.
I'm into my forth listening of these new songs now. And yes, they sound a great deal like the old songs. I wouldn't want or expect it any other way. Inspired, again.
No comments:
Post a Comment