1
The funny thing about the people who tell me to be nice is they’re motherf*ckers behind your back. They’re all friendly, kissing your butt in person, but when you’re not looking, they stick the knife in your back.
If I’m going to stick a knife in you, I’m going to do it in broad daylight, to your face.
I guess I learned that from my father, who was never a member of the group, but made a living telling the truth, which everybody knows but nobody wants to say.
I’m constantly analyzing people’s success, and one key element is their ability to get along. Hang with others. Make friends. Network. It’s a constant game, and if you lose your job you’re out of the loop, because ultimately you’re just a pawn.
Hell, people don’t even like me writing that. Because they don’t want to look at themselves. But if you really want to be a big swinging dick (a term denoting success introduced by Michael Lewis in “Liar’s Poker), you not only have to know how to play the game, but be aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
Anybody can be successful. Assuming they do enough work on themselves and study the game. But too many are convinced they weren’t born with the right stuff, this is utterly wrong.
But that does not make them artists.
An artist exists outside the game, and reflects upon it. Which is why if you’ve met your favorite stars…in most cases you can’t relate to them. They’re oftentimes loners who trust few and might be able to exchange a few pleasantries, but they’re not living in your world.
But they’re able to tell the truth about it.
But somewhere along the line it became conventional wisdom that everybody could be an artist, if they just tried hard enough.
This is patently untrue.
Artistry is a calling. A walk into the wilderness. And it’s the intangibles that put you over the top. Knowing the basics, being able to play your instrument, draw, that’s just a starting point. You might be able to become a journeyman, a backup musician, an artist at Disney, but you’re not going to become a household name. Because to do that you’ve got to be alienated and different, outside. Sure, there are exceptions, but very few.
And then there’s the concept that if you work hard enough you’re entitled to the reward.
Did you read that piece in the “New York Times”?
“No, You Don’t Get an A for Effort”
Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/opinion/school-grades-a-quantity-quality.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uk4.iiG3.jUYdAjCT-4sa&smid=url-share
I hear it all the time. Someone put a lot of work into their music, you can’t criticize it. That’s patently wrong.
And then there’s everybody boasting about their 10,000 hours. It’s 10,00 hours of HARD PRACTICE! The example I always use is if you spend 10,000 hours on the bunny slope, you will not be a world class skier.
And that’s what 10,000 hours delivers, world class performance.
But that still does not make you number one. Look at the skiing World Cup… To get to that circuit… There are so many subsidiary leagues, like the Europa Cup and the NorAm series… 60-70 people start every World Cup ski race, most you’ve never heard of and never will. They’ve dedicated their lives to the sport, they’re world class, but they’re not winners, not at the elite level.
And sure, the families of the also-rans are supportive, but the public is only interested in the winners, or those who have the ability to truly become victorious.
And that’s very few.
And it’s the same in music.
2
So what I’m trying to say here is my inbox is full of people who call me a miserable hater, unsubscribing because I just won’t like the generic, what they do.
But I’m searching for magic.
And you know it when you hear it.
And I heard it earlier today in a video of Lee Thomas Miller on TikTok.
Yes, TikTok has been deleted from the app store. But you can still view clips in your browser. And this one is at:
(Be sure to click the speaker in the lower right hand corner to turn on the sound.)
So what we’ve got here is a guy you’ve probably never heard of making a joke about losing the country Grammy to Beyoncé.
I guess that’s why I was served this. I wasn’t looking for it.
But Lee Thomas Miller is not pissed, he’s kind of making a joke.
But one thing is for sure, the audience is on his side.
And as the video unspools, some of Miller’s songs are listed. He’s got seven country number ones. And he co-wrote Chris Stapleton’s “Whiskey and You” from Chris’s 2015 album “Traveller.”
Miller also co-wrote the song “The Bottom” from Stapleton’s last album, “Higher,” which was competing against Beyoncé in that Grammy category.
And that’s all fine and dandy, but about twenty seconds into this slightly longer than one minute TikTok clip, Miller starts to sing…
“In Color.”
Which he cowrote with Jamey Johnson and James Otto, which Jamey took up the country chart back in 2008.
“I said, ‘Grandpa, what’s this picture here?
It’s all black and white, and it ain’t real clear
Is that you there?,’ he said, ‘Yeah, I was 11’
‘And times were tough back in ’35
That’s me and uncle Joe just tryna survive
A cotton farm, in a Great Depression'”
“In Color” is a story song. In a long history of country story songs. It talks about the war, the years passing, you get the world-weariness, there’s no pandering at all.
And after Lee Thomas Miller sings the introductory verse…
He starts singing the chorus, you can hear the harmonies, the supporting instruments, the camera pulls back and you’re positively wowed, this is the magic, you know it when you hear it.
This is not something someone had to tell me to like. It was all right here. I didn’t care how good a guitar player Lee Thomas Miller was, I didn’t care what he was wearing, what he was promoting, his brand extensions, because in this very moment the essence of greatness was revealed.
And it was clear it was not casual. It was studied, there was effort put into it, rehearsal.
And it wasn’t on hard drive.
And it made me think of all those country rock records back in the day influenced by Nashville. Those harmonies. Even the Dead got in on the act with “Uncle John’s Band.”
I have no idea how much time it took to write this song, it doesn’t matter how many people are in the audience. The chart number doesn’t matter, nor whether it won an award.
That’s all window-dressing, quantification in a world that doesn’t truly square with it. Because each artistic endeavor is unique. Sure, there’s a business in me-too, but that’s not art. Art is about being the progenitor, or mixing up the elements into something new.
“If it looks like we were scared to death
Like a couple of kids just tryna save each other
YOU SHOULD’VE SEEN IT IN COLOR!!”
