Nobody does the song like the writer.

Well, there are exceptions. Nilsson’s version of Badfinger’s "Without You"
comes to mind. But most times the writer…well, it’s kind of like hearing the
story from the person who it happened to as opposed to second-hand. Hell,
maybe that’s why music blew up in the sixties and seventies, because people
started writing for THEMSELVES! It just rang true. There ain’t a Diane Warren
song that ever rang true. I don’t begrudge her her money, but that’s not the
music, nor the music business, I love. The music I love is based purely on
INSPIRATION! Oh, you can hear it. Directly from their heart to yours (yup, kind
of like that old Frank Zappa song!)

God, how many years has it been since I read the credits of Valerie Carter’s
debut. I forgot the writing credit for "Face Of Appalachia". Hell, even at
the time I wasn’t sure who the "Sebastian" was who co-wrote the song with
Lowell George. But, writing about her version e-mail poured in, it was JOHN
Sebastian. Yup, THAT John Sebastian, the one who wrote all those Lovin’ Spoonful
songs.

Bein’ born in blocks of buildings with a subway lullaby

Now the only people who could write ANYTHING remotely close to this are Lou
Reed and John Sebastian. THEY’RE the poets of New York City. Oh, a bunch of
other people have sung about the metropolis, but they were PERFORMING, they
were IN YOUR FACE! Whereas Lou was a confidante. A suburbanite turned street
denizen confidante, yet his words and delivery were intimate. But John
Sebastian was something else. Sebastian grew up in the city. It was as comfortable
to him as an old pair of Keds. He wasn’t on guard like the immigrants from the
Midwest, no this was his place. When John Sebastian sang about New York
City, it rang true. You’d think that "Face Of Appalachia" was written by someone
who grew up in Kentucky, what with the fiddle and backwoods/mountain imagery.
But that’s just what it was, IMAGERY! The images from an old man’s memory,
imparted to his grandson in the city.

Music was different in the seventies because we had albums. Oh, we’ve got
albums today, but nobody listens to them that way. You don’t have to, life went
random with the first CD player, never mind the iPod Shuffle. You could pick
and choose, you weren’t FORCED to listen to the complete record. But, back
in the day, that was the ritual. Just like watching a movie from beginning to
end, you dropped the needle in the initial groove, and let the side play out.
And OH, the gems you discovered. Deep inside the record were subtle numbers,
that might get trampled as 45s, that don’t register at the iTunes Music
Store, stuff like "Face Of Appalachia".

I wish that Mariah Carey listened to "Face Of Appalachia". We know that John
Sebastian had much more throat power, hell we were exposed to it in "Summer
In The City". But, you don’t shout all the time in life, you don’t measure
your words every time you speak, you employ different tonalities, which convey
different meanings. For all the emotion, there’s only one meaning in Mariah
Carey’s material. I’m delicious, don’t you want to fuck me even though I won’t
fuck you? Don’t we run away from people like that in real life? Do you
wonder why the music business is in trouble? We want something more human, more intimate, we revere performers for their TALENT, not for their attitude, never mind their looks. It’s the fact that we can IDENTIFY with their productions
that we’re hooked. "Face Of Appalachia" sounds like it’s being sung in your
living room, you feel incredibly privileged, you tingle, you feel special, all
you want is more.

I would fashion, I’d imagine, somewhere steeped in waterfalls
Wild birds sing to a five string, bouncing music off mountain walls

Can’t you just SEE IT?

Oh, it reminds me of this place in Hawaii. Then again, I’ve seen this
setting in Vermont, New York State. Out in the country, with no Wi-Fi, no cell
access, just the birds a’ chirping and a smile upon your face.

Grandpa made me quite a promise, for the day I came of age
He said we’d walk through Appalachia, Northern Georgia, on through to Maine

In case you don’t know it, they call this the Appalachian Trail. Revered by
hikers in the Northeast, a goal. But you don’t have to be aware of this to
understand the song. What we’re talking about here is the passing down of
history, from generation to generation. Letting kids know about Led Zeppelin, and
Joni Mitchell.

But unlike John Sebastian’s grandfather, today’s elders don’t revere the
past. Rather, as a result of having lived through the 80’s and 90’s, they believe
life is a race to the bank. But, if this were really so, wouldn’t most of
the world’s population kill itself? For most of humanity is quite poor. But,
are these people UNHAPPY? No, life is more than money, life is observation of
the world around you, PRESERVING this world for generations to come. Thank
god, despite the lack of stewardship of the planet and culture the baby boomers
employ, the younger generation is striving to save the planet, the kids are
unearthing the past on file-trading services.

You can’t find John Sebastian’s "Face Of Appalachia" at the iTunes Music
Store. The labels don’t care, they’re not curators, merely salesmen, they only
want to purvey that which will garner millions of customers, INSTANTLY! That’s
the difference between the Warner of today and the Warner of old. The new
Warner SLICED thirty percent of the artists from its roster, the old Warner
recorded music without a Top Forty prayer, believing it would resonate with the
public and find its own way. It took me thirty years, but I’ve finally been
exposed to the original "Face Of Appalachia". Do I credit today’s Warner Music?
The RIAA? No, I credit file-trading, where the history of our business lives.

Lowell George’s flame burned only briefly. But "Face Of Appalachia" has his
stamp all over it. The concept that it’s not about running down the mountain
to grab what you desire, rather it’s about strolling along, confident, and
being so magnetic your heart’s desire comes to you. His guitar-playing isn’t
flashy like Clapton’s or Alvin Lee’s. He plays no more notes than absolutely
necessary. And, you can barely hear him in the background vocals. Unless you’re
familiar with his work, you wouldn’t know it was him. But, if you’ve heard
Lowell in the background of James Taylor’s "Angry Blues", he’s unmistakable,
he’s there, sprinkling his magic dust over the track.

"Face Of Appalachia" comes out of the folk tradition. All the great English
music of the late sixties and early seventies came out of the blues tradition.
What tradition does today’s hit music come out of? The TOP FORTY MONEY
MACHINE TRADITION? Yes, "Face Of Appalachia" is instructional. We’re part of a
continuum, custodians of the planet and culture. And by acknowledging our
environment and history, we gain context, we learn what we’re about, we enrich our
lives.