Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now

“Get Together”
The Youngbloods

Break records at Louis, ate breakfast at Gucci
My girl a superstar from a home movie

“Clique”
Kanye West

Trump could win.

The left-leaning mainstream press, except for Fox News, of course, is selling a different story, that Hillary is safely ahead, the Democratic turnout is deafening, Latinos are coming out in droves, and the Donald has little chance.

But Nate Silver says otherwise. He says that Hillary is up by three points nationally and that three point polling errors happen all the time. And that Trump has a one in three chance of electoral college victory. And Nate is the most accurate prognosticator we’ve got, but he’s been wrong too. He said Trump had no chance in the primaries, but Trump succeeded. Is Silver overcorrecting? Afraid to have egg on his face? Then again, Silver is dealing with data, not emotion, and if you lean toward sanity, this is positively scary.

As for that left-leaning mainstream press… That’s a construct of the right wing propaganda machine. Hillary is a criminal and the press is not to be trusted, it’s biased, in favor of anything the right wing does not believe in, in this case reason. But that’s the country we live in, where everybody’s working the refs, and the Republicans did a great job of it, read Paul Krugman on the Comey letter…

And that proves we also live in a world of individuals. Not only can one person in Silicon Valley change the world, but one person in Washington, D.C., one person at home with a vote. And that’s always been true, despite groupthink, but that’s one of the few things that parallels what once was.

The mainstream media has never had less power. And it is run by elites. Have you seen what these TV personalities make? Furthermore, none of them do any reporting, they’re just talking heads, pundits, entertainers, no wonder the news divisions are profit centers, there’s little gravitas, and little audience.

So the country is run by the “New York Times,” with boots on the ground. But the “Times” is not gaining online, it’s individual websites, news sites, who are repurposing the “Times”‘s facts if there are any facts at all, speaking to a mistrustful audience that only hears what it wants to. What’s a poor boy to do? Certainly not play in a rock and roll band, there’s no money in that. Corporations control the cash, and for all the tech press, the odds of scoring big are just as long as having a hit record and if you’ve got a brain you hunker down and get an education, it’s the safe way out, and in this era you want to play it safe, otherwise why would record companies employ the same cadre of old men to write all the hit records, they don’t want to take a risk!

The youth may have succeeded in getting rid of Lyndon Johnson, but no one under thirty expected Richard Nixon to get elected and the seventies were all about licking one’s wounds, going back to the land. Hell, even Bernie Sanders moved to Vermont, albeit in ’68, it was just too rough in the decaying inner city run by the usual suspects.

But today the cities are safe, other than Chicago, and bastions of intellectualism, it’s the country where your life is in danger, from opioids, from guns, from lack of services. And this is where the disgruntlement has burgeoned.

Along with a south that was scary back then and is scary still now. If you had long hair you didn’t venture below the Mason-Dixon line. But instead of feeling inadequate, our brethren in the Sun Belt now feel powerful, they’re not licking the wounds of Reconstruction, North Carolina is bringing back the values of the Old South, and Texas is as red as it could be. They’re girded for battle, they won’t back down, the Allman Brothers might have gotten moderate Democrat Jimmy Carter elected President, but now there are no powerful moderate Democrats down south and all the players are in Nashville where if you evidence blue values, you’re evicted.

And then came the eighties. It was not the sixties anymore. First came MTV, which showed us you could make a lot of money by looking good and selling out. It also showed us we lived in a heterogeneous society of many colors. Which is why we’ve got a black President and gay marriage, credit MTV, it changed people’s values. But it also eliminated the rock star values of yore. Wherein speaking your truth and being independent counted. It was all money, all the time. Sure, Led Zeppelin made it about the money in the seventies, but that band played by its own rules, they were the Trumps of their day, albeit less heinous, although one can compare the mud shark episode to the groping scandals of Trump, then again, Jimmy and Robert, never mind Bonzo, were not running for President. They were selling something different, music, and it hasn’t been about the music for a very long time.

Along with MTV the eighties bought Reagan, who the Republicans have deified. For what accomplishments, I’m not sure. But this is important. Because the right wing skewed the game. It started the Federalist Society, to put right wing judges in place. It’s a giant disinformation campaign wherein government is not to be trusted, taxes are bad, and corporations are good. I’ll argue Reagan did much more damage than good, but my inbox will fill up.

But I can take it.

But no one else can.

Everybody today is recoiling, trying to avoid the tsunami of hate.

And then Bill Clinton gets elected and prosperity reigns. As the social safety net is eviscerated. But so much money is coming in, the deficit evaporates, that we’re all partying like it’s 1999, and then it is, we don’t care about the poor, the country is run by educated baby boomers who’ve been coddled and out of touch with the rank and file for years and then…

The twenty first century comes along and it all gets worse.

There’s a tech revolution, spearheaded by Steve Jobs. First we get iPods, then we get iPhones. And in the process, media is disrupted. Not only the music companies, but the news too. And the movies. Music is now in a good place on a business level, it’s made it to the other side, all the wares for one low legal price. Where is this in movies and television? Nonexistent, and that’s a problem. But the movie and TV executives believe they’re smarter than the idiots working in music, that they’re immune, and there’s the problem right there, elites who think they’re better than the rest, and immune. But they’re not, Brexit taught us that.

So now we can all communicate. And what we’ve ended up with is noise, a Tower of Babel society, where you only hear what you want to. Where Hillary fans know no Trump supporters. With all this information at our fingertips we actually know less, because we filter for our prejudices. We just reinforce what we already know, while those in power try to sell us what’s advantageous to them.

Like there’s no downside in selling out to the man. Music used to be predicated on independence, no longer. Therefore, the public doesn’t look for truth in it like it once did. Why would you believe what a musician has to say? Someone who wrote the song with nineteen other people and is trying to sell you jeans and perfume along with his or her opinion.

And if you don’t have money, your opinion is worthless. Reagan legitimized greed, the rich flaunt their lifestyles and in a world where Lloyd Blankfein makes all the money and rules, why listen to a singer? And Marc Andreessen is a seer… What did he ever do other than start Netscape, a company that’s been plowed under, no one’s using Netscape today, but they are still listening to Beatle records.

We’ve got false idols and life is hard and you’ll do and believe anything that makes you feel good.

Purdue says OxyContin is not addictive so it’s overprescribed and we end up with a heroin epidemic. And no one cared until the sons and daughters of rich Republicans started dying too.

And the younger generation, even college graduates, is still living with its parents, they can’t afford to move out. But we keep hearing about the greatness of Megyn Kelly. How does one become her and what exactly is she selling? So if you’re not beautiful you don’t count and if you’re on TV you matter, is it any wonder everybody’s at home burnishing their social media brand, trying to make it? YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat are the great hope, they’re the way out of the doldrums, out of the suburbs into a world of money and fame. And you might question what skills these people bring to the table, but what skills does Kim Kardashian bring to the table, and she’s their hero, she’s the biggest winner! She makes more than the musicians and the path is easier, why would you bother to learn how to play?

And if you do play, you can’t get noticed unless you play pop music and are pushed by the machine. So most players are disgruntled. Everybody in America is disgruntled other than the rich. So we want to be them and they ride herd over us. Hell, people believe Trump is their friend the same way we thought David Crosby was our friend way back when. But Crosby was a hotheaded stoner in service to the music, he and his cronies made lasting contributions. But now it’s all smoke and mirrors and self-aggrandizing and…

There’s progress to be made. We could all agree on the facts. But that would require news outlets to focus on them, to stop employing false equivalencies and focus on reporting. And put aside the emphasis on the get and the horse race. But it might be bad television. That’s right, “Network” predicted this, it’s all about ratings.

And the cultural institutions would have to have some self-respect. Record companies would have to take a chance on that which is not an easy sell. And the self-righteous nerds in the arts focused on trumping up that which few care about will have to self-correct too. How is it that there are elites in every enterprise? Who think they’re better than the rest. The public is locked out, to the point it doesn’t care, and then it foists something like Trump upon the holier-than-thou elites to show them that they really don’t rule.

That’s right, the people rule. And the media and the pollsters and the prognosticators are all out of touch with the people. They think their power is inviolate, that what they say goes, that they know better, and if you don’t hate these people, you’re one of them.

And there are very few of them.

So, the right wing labels Hillary a crook. As if she broke into a bank, shot twenty people and stole millions. Actually, that’s not far from the version of the truth they’re selling. You’d think she’s a deplorable.

But the true deplorables are the white supremacist, immigrant-hating men and women who don’t believe in change.

But change is inevitable.

And change is what has happened in our country. And no one seems to have a grasp on it. Not the media, not artists, no one seems to be able to say this is where we are and I’ve got a plan out of here. Trump is a bozo selling snake oil and Hillary is completely out of touch. But so is the government. Government is now a way to get rich, no different from Hollywood way back when. Hate the game, not the player.

And everybody does hate the game.

But we keep playing it. So far, revolution has not come. Shooting black people is bad, but somehow it’s now the African-Americans’ fault, explain that to me, please. And if Trump loses his supporters want to overthrow the government, not realizing that Congress has nearly done this, by not promulgating legislation and not anointing a Supreme Court justice. We’re constantly on the precipice but we don’t tip over. Will it take a terrorist attack, or a hacking scandal of gigantic proportions? And then will we elect a strongman who makes us safe who really does anything but that?

If you’ve got a brain, you’ve got more questions than answers.

And if you’ve got a brain you’re doing your best to understand the dissatisfaction in our nation. Quote me statistics all day long, but it doesn’t feel like we’re going in the right direction, it doesn’t feel like I have opportunity, and hope is everything, but there’s only hope for the rich elite.

Which is how Trump gained traction. Want to turn things around? Look at yourself, change your behavior, don’t only vote but ask yourself if you respect others, look for their gifts. The rich have all the money, but the poor will help you in a crisis, that’s what the statistics say.

And we trust statistics, but sometimes falsely. Because they’re cherry-picked, they don’t tell the truth. We won’t know which candidate will win until everybody votes and their choices have been tabulated.

There’s a serious chance Trump wins.

And even if he doesn’t, and let’s pray he doesn’t, our long national nightmare will not have ended, it will have only just begun. The government will be gridlocked and the problems of the people will still exist.

And the problem is we all live in a society, we’re all in it together, and no one wants to live by that credo, everybody’s pointing fingers at everyone else and looking for a way out. They want to separate themselves, but it can’t be done. It is a big tent, it is a Great Society. And you can’t win every time, you’ve got to do your best to understand contrary viewpoints, educate people on the facts and include them in progress.

But recently, that’s become impossible to do. We planted seeds decades ago that are now sprouting and surprising us.

Come on, do you expect the poor to do the right thing when public education has been underfunded and people can’t analyze the truth, never mind know where to find it?

No, we’re all complicit.

And we’ve got to turn this country around.

We need new leaders and we’ve got to watch the parking meters, but the parking meters were all sold to hedge funds that now charge us on Sundays and public service is seen as a joke, an engineer is revered but someone who has dedicated themselves to the process, to helping others, is not.

This is where we are.

And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Then again, those words were written by a Canadian.

But we’re constantly told the United States is the greatest country in the world!

But in many ways it’s not.

And if we can’t look for the truth in our country, how are we gonna look for the truth in ourselves?

We’ve got a long way to go, and whatever happens on Tuesday it is not the end, but only the beginning.

Nate Silver – “Election Update: Don’t Ignore The Polls – Clinton Leads, But It’s A Close Race”

Paul Krugman – “Working the Refs”

Neil Young – Spotify

They all come back to the garden.

Let this be a lesson to those holding out, the streaming deniers, this is now, this is happening, get on the gravy train or be left behind.

It always happens. Do you remember when acts wouldn’t let their albums be released on CD? Hell, you still can’t get that Buckingham/Nicks LP, the one on Polydor, with “Crying In The Night,” it’s arguably better than anything the duo has done since, although Stevie Nicks’s 2011 LP “In Your Dreams” was a complete return to form, eclipsing all of her work except for “Bella Donna,” funny how some oldsters can still reach the brass ring, listen to “Secret Love,” “New Orleans” and “Wide Sargasso Sea,” and now you can, just fire up Spotify, you can get a free account, you can’t pick and choose tracks on mobile for free, although you can do this on the desktop, but the point is you now have access, to almost everything.

That’s right, no Bob Seger. Explain this to me once again? His old Detroit homey Bob Ritchie, aka “Kid Rock,” saw the light. You’ve got to go where the fans are. It’s all about getting people to hear your music, there’s a ton of dough in music if fans care, and Bob is doing boffo at the b.o. by lowering concert ticket prices, funny how no one will follow his lead. Everybody’s so busy bitching about bread but when someone comes up with a fan-friendly way to make more they avoid it.

Pono was not fan-friendly. Its Toblerone box fit in no pocket and most people could not hear the difference. Hell, I A/B’ed it with Deezer Elite and my friends said the latter sounded better, there you have it. As for me… My house is loaded with stereo equipment but my listening device of choice right now is my cylindrical Amazon Echo speaker. Funny what we’ll put up with in the name of convenience. I can’t wait until Sonos goes voice-activated and my zones come alive.

I’ve been demonstrating the power of streaming services and Sonos for years, people didn’t believe it existed, that the history of recorded music was at your fingertips. People still don’t know how streaming works, seemingly every day someone e-mails me that they don’t want to pay for data, what happens if they’re out of cell range, when the truth is you can download thousands of tracks to your device and do it via wi-fi, but people don’t want solutions, the early adopters start to rave and eventually it trickles down to the stuck in the mud Luddites.

Like those who lined up to embrace Pono.

First and foremost… Neil Young does not have 10,000 hours in device development, he doesn’t know how to market electronic equipment. Why does everybody believe they can do everything? The truth is most people heard “Heart Of Gold” on systems so lame the Echo is probably superior in sound quality. Why penalize your fans? And, if you want to embrace higher quality audio, why not laud Deezer Elite? And Tidal? And implore Spotify and Apple and Amazon to offer a higher res option? You make much more progress inside the system, just ask the recently departed Tom Hayden. Then again, he never truly realized compromise was the key to forward movement.

Like Clayton Christensen says… The disruptive service starts off with low quality and then gets good enough to topple the standard. That’s how MP3s beat CDs. It’s how streaming is beating files. Get on board, it only gets better.

As for Neil… He gets tons of press but no sales, little listenership. What he needs to do is come out with one transformative track and then he could be king once again. Never mind “Ohio,” which was written, recorded, pressed and shipped mere days after the Kent State tragedy, but there’s the whole “Rust Never Sleeps” LP, which made him a hero amongst the grunge set, gave his career new legs. Neil, forget the albums, forget the concepts, just give us one good track, it’s the streaming way, you were the breakout star of Oldchella, let the wind carry your new music into our consciousness.

No one is bigger than the system, you either join in or are left behind.

And speaking of Oldchella, I was stunned how many people didn’t know that Neil was still this good, and that he even hit one over the fence in this century, with “Greendale,” I loved that, both the album and tour, although the movie is irrelevant.

So, in honor of Neil making the move I’m gonna give you a playlist.

We’re gonna start off with “Emperor Of Wyoming,” from his solo debut. You won’t even know it’s him, this is a gem. And from the same record, arguably his best, I’m gonna include “I’ve Been Waiting For You,” FOR SUCH A LONG TIME, it’s my favorite of Neil’s work, and “The Loner” and “The Last Trip To Tulsa”… The last…if you’re under fifty you’ve probably never heard it, and you should, to see how artists used to test limits.

And from the second album I’m gonna include “Down By The River,” its highlight. This was the solo record I bought first, I used to play this song on the guitar. Oh, what the hell, I’ll include “Cinnamon Girl” and “Cowgirl In The Sand” too.

And from the third LP, the commercial breakthrough, “After The Gold Rush,” I’ll start with “Southern Man,” so you know what Ronnie Van Zant was reacting to. And then my personal favorite, “Don’t Let It Bring You Down,” the rocking “When You Dance, I Can Really Love,” and the two snippets, “”Till The Morning Comes,” which I used to play with my freshman roommate, he on trombone, me on guitar, and “Cripple Creek Ferry.”

“After The Gold Rush” is better than “Harvest,” but the latter was the high point of Neil’s career, it made him a dorm room staple. My favorite was “Are You Ready For The Country?,” but I’ll include “Heart Of Gold,” “Old Man,” “Alabama” and “A Man Needs A Maid,” the last to show you how sensibilities have changed, and to demonstrate the earnestness once evidenced in music.

Unfortunately I don’t see “Time Fades Away” on Spotify, the live album wherein Neil went on tour and all those expecting to hear country ditties, soft music, were barraged with rock and roll, previously unreleased material. Neil intentionally destroyed his career, to give himself artistic freedom, can you imagine anyone doing that today?

“Walk On” from “On The Beach,” the 1974 album released right after I graduated from college, when Neil was finally free and could do whatever he wanted and only the hard core cared.

And then we come to “Tonight’s The Night”…

Bruce Berry was a working man
He used to load that Econoline van

He was a roadie, he was Jan Berry’s brother, of Jan and Dean fame. Neil had experienced too much death and wrote about it.

“Zuma” is not on Spotify, so you can’t hear its highlight “Cortez The Killer,” but as a special treat I’m gonna include Gov’t Mule’s version, which is special in its own way, if you know the original it will put a smile on your face.

But 1977’s “American Stars ‘N Bars” is up, so I’ll include its legendary highlight, “Like A Hurricane.”

And that brings us to 1978’s “Comes A Time,” wherein Neil tried to recapture the magic and go back to that country/”Harvest” sound, even though the looky-loos did not come back to him. I’m including the title cut, “Lotta Love,” a hit for the dearly departed Nicolette Larson, and my personal favorite, “Look Out For My Love.” Also, I’m going to include the even better cover of “Look Out For My Love” by Linda Ronstadt from her 1980 “New Wave” album “Mad Love.”

And then comes “Rust Never Sleeps,” with “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)” and “Powderfinger.” And if you care, and you should, be sure to check out the double live album “Live Rust,” the soundtrack to one of the great rock movies of all time, which was distributed with surround sound before that was de rigueur.

I’m gonna skip “Hawks & Doves” and “Re-ac-tor,” but I am including “Sample And Hold” from “Trans,” am I the only one who liked this album? Then again, I loved Kraftwerk’s “Computer World.”

Now we’re gonna jump to “This Note’s For You.” Neil had this one right, with his anti-commercialism, the clip won MTV’s Video of the Year award, despite getting scant airplay from the music video channel, and to show how little that award means, no one remembers he won it, but people do remember Neil stood up against selling out.

And then Neil tried to recapture the “Harvest” magic with “Harvest Moon,” but Don Henley had it right, you can never go back, the tracks were not as magical, but I’m gonna include “You And Me” nonetheless, it’s haunting.

And that brings us to “Greendale.” Of course I skipped a bunch, not that they’re worthless, although they do tend to run together, even though I own them all and played them. Anyway, “Greendale”‘s got a story, but I’m gonna put the songs in order of accessibility, “Sun Green,” “Double E” and “Devil’s Sidewalk.”

And there you have it, we’re bringing Neil Young’s music back alive, most people did not own it, most people didn’t own much, but now it’s accessible, now his legend can shine on, as it deserves to do.

No one’s going to be closing any bridges too soon. If only they put a few bankers behind bars…

The dirty little secret is the educated class believes it’s inviolate. That prison is for inner city denizens, the so-called dregs, and that if you’re wealthy enough and savvy enough you can hire an attorney and get off.

But not in this case.

It’s impossible to go back and reopen the bridge, give the time back to those who were frustrated by lane closures. But this is not about restitution but prevention. How do we reduce bad behavior in the future?

Some deterrents don’t work. Like the death penalty. That’s just an eye for an eye. But put a middle class person in jail and they’re changed for life. Look at the Watergate conspirators, one of the worst offenders, Chuck Colson, became a  preacher. He had a lot of time behind bars to think about his bad behavior. And Dick Nixon may have been pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, but his reputation was irreparably tarnished and…

We’ve got a government spying on its citizens, and a financial system that continues to wreak havoc on our economy, but we’re complicit in this behavior. We think the best and the brightest are keeping us safe. Funny how the right wingers are all about keeping government out of our business but when it comes to going behind closed doors, into our communications devices, to keep us supposedly secure, they’re all for it.

I remember when jail was anathema, not a badge of honor. Seemingly every rapper has been behind bars, and of course that’s an overstatement, but how have we gotten to the point where we glorify this? Why do these performers find it so hard to do the right thing?

Then again, we revere the outlaws because we ourselves are afraid.

It seems the bad acting musicians, and it’s not only rappers, a bunch of country acts have done time and a few rockers too, are running on instinct, they’re not thinking about it. But these white collar criminals…they know exactly what they’re doing and they act with impunity. And the same right wingers who believe in law and order have crippled the judiciary system to the point where if you’re guilty of bad behavior there’s a good chance you won’t be caught, never mind prosecuted. No taxes, no prosecutors. Funny how it’s all part of the same circle, you can’t take out one element and expect the system to work. Explain to me again how reducing IRS agent head count helps us? Aren’t these the people paid to collect the money?

So now while there’s a camera on every corner, to the point the average citizen can’t commit a crime and get away with it, those at the top of the pyramid are running willy-nilly over the system.

I’ve got no idea if they’ll prosecute Chris Christie, one thing I know for sure is his political career is finished. And the bridge lane closures did it. It was akin to a rap feud. The mayor of Fort Lee wouldn’t endorse him so he had to pay. The only thing missing was the bullets.

But there was evidence, electronic evidence. These nitwits didn’t realize their mobile phones were incriminating devices. Once again, it’s getting very hard to break the law and get away with it, but if you’re committing conceptual crimes the odds of skating are much higher. Next time it’ll all be done via conversation. That’s what they do in Silicon Valley when a deal gets close, they get off e-mail, they go to the landline, because there is no record.

And there’s a huge record of financial bad behavior but no one in charge, no one making decisions, was prosecuted. They said they didn’t know, hid behind layers of management, and counted on their cronies in the government, like Timothy Geithner, to let them be.

Then again, we’ve got a corrupt system. Both political and financial. You can’t make it unless you bend the rules. To the point where Donald Trump is boasting about bending the rules. Which way do we want it, zero tolerance or…

Put a few bankers behind bars and you’d be stunned how financial shenanigans evaporate. Nobody who went to an Ivy League institution wants to take it up the rear end. That’s right, put ’em in with the general population, don’t send ’em to a country club prison.

As for politicians… They do get prosecuted, they do go to jail, the attorney general of Pennsylvania, Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, was just convicted. But, is it the person or the system or both? And can we investigate the system as well as the person? How the hell do you raise the money to run and get elected? Inherently you owe favors.

We’re all guilty. Of being two-faced. We want a pass here and strict tolerance there.

But when you send a message to those in charge, making decisions, that bad behavior won’t be tolerated, it ripples through the whole system. Talk about trickle down…

So, today was a victory for our country. It showed no one is above the law.

But the truth is most movers and shakers believe to the contrary. They fly private, live behind layers of security and have access to the gatekeepers, they can make things go away. We live in a two-tiered society and most of us are on the lower rung when the truth is we’re all in this together.

I don’t want to ruin anybody’s life, I don’t want anybody taken away from their children.

But if they’re gonna put African-Americans behind bars for smoking a little dope, all in an effort to feed the prison industrial complex, then those in charge of creating the system must be incarcerated too.

There’s no crying in court. You can let the tears flow but the scales of justice won’t be tipped.

Chalk one up for the good guys today.

Us.

And the winner was…

STURGILL SIMPSON! Who excoriated Nashville and the ACM and CMA for embracing Merle Haggard posthumously when they pushed him aside during his lifetime.

Sturgill Simpson is an outsider.

And people love him for it. Whenever I write about country music I hear his name most, my inbox overflows, he’s got rabid fans, and they’re the ones spreading the word. There’s a fiction that old media still works, radio and print. But print is dying on the vine, the “Wall Street Journal” just laid off staffers and is merging sections and the “New York Times” saw a double-digit decrease in print advertising. Madison Avenue has fled print, because it no longer reaches and converts the public. Advertising may look like a public service, with all the image ads, but it’s really all about the SELL!

And for years Nashville has been about selling out.

I truly wonder if all these entertainers are friends in real life. Watching on television you felt this was a giant high school party thrown by the cool kids professing togetherness before they went to the bathroom and bullied those not in the club.

Not that there weren’t highlights.

Despite the tacky, over-the-top outfits, the CMAs were more genuine than the Grammys, there was less sheen, the music breathed, it evidenced some humanity. But it was all in service to a TV network paying the bills. Whether it be hype for upcoming shows displayed via on-screen bugs or scrolling news info it was clear the musicians were not in control, money was. What does Jennifer Garner have to do with country music? Peyton Manning? As for hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley…it’s time to give someone else a chance. One thing was clear during this 50th anniversary telecast, the new plow over the old. You had hits once and now your power has been usurped. Give someone else a chance.

And playing to the television audience a grit was absent that is key at live shows. When you’re playing to everybody, you’re playing to nobody. Whereas when you’re in the arena for a live show supported by fans the excitement is palpable, when the attendees roar, the performers take it up a notch.

The highlight for me was Eric Church thanking his fans. He sent his new LP to them first and it won Album of the Year. Some things are right in this universe, as opposed to all the acts shilling for Chevy. Does anybody really want a Chevy, other than a Corvette? Isn’t that what you settle for when you can’t afford a Honda, Toyota or Nissan, never mind a Mazda or an Audi? But if Chevy is paying the bills, these court jesters will perform for them. Pretty creepy.

Then again, that’s the era we live in. It’s not that the younger generation is fine with selling out, it’s just that it never lived through an era where people didn’t. Which is why Sturgill Simpson taking a stand is so important.

And I’ve got to laud Kenny Chesney for wearing his t-shirt, albeit a highfalutin’ one. Once upon a time, when music burgeoned, it was about what was inside as opposed to the trappings. Kenny was the only one who came in his regular clothing. He bucked tradition. Kudos.

But there was the Apple Music ad for his new album. That’s what an exclusive will buy you, promotion. But does it even work? Sure, there’s a level of awareness, but we’ve already established word of mouth is king. As for Apple offering three months free… Is there anybody interested who hasn’t already used up their free trial? Who is this appealing to? Certainly not hard core music fans.

And speaking of taking a stand, isn’t it funny how Spotify is more Steve Jobs than Apple Music. It was Jobs who set the iTunes price and wouldn’t budge, wouldn’t accede to the major labels. It’s Spotify that’s fighting the labels to keep a free tier, it wants no part of exclusives. Once again, you stand for something or you stand for nothing.

And nobody in this telecast would stand for anything other than the Dixie Chicks.

I’m stunned they let them back in the building.

My viewpoint is they should have fought back, just like the Republican bulldozers who commit faux pas, like Bill O’Reilly. They should have stayed in country music, continued to make Nashville uncomfortable instead of exiting the format. By bringing Beyonce on stage, by performing with the pop queen, they showed country music to be what it now is, a big tent. Hell, half of the stars rap. Well, maybe not that many, but plenty.

And that’s today’s brouhaha, how the CMAs killed Bey’s publicity. Or not. You can decide.

But the truth is watching this show I felt very uncomfortable. Like we live in a nation divided. Like the south is a completely different country. Enough with the religion, Jesus didn’t help you win that award, the unheralded songwriter on Music Row did. As for Carrie and Brad being tired of politics… They could take a stand, but they won’t, it might hurt their pocket book.

But you know who did take a stand?

KATY PERRY! She’s been in the trenches for Hillary Clinton since day one. And even though I wavered and went over to Bernie I came back. Because I’m sick of the right wing vilifying Hillary. It’s a social media scrum. And the way you win is to stay in the game, unlike Taylor Swift who was K.O.’ed by Kanye and Kim and turned tail never to return, Clinton has stayed in the game. Is she imperfect, sure…BUT SO ARE YOU!

You see we have to take a stand, we cannot hang back. Read Frank Rich in the new issue of “New York.” He posits there will be consequences for those who did not stand up to Trump.

There are consequences for those who play the game, refusing to do what’s right.

There’s a lot right in Nashville right now. The records are made with real instruments, the songs are singable and they’re about subjects people can relate to. That’s the essence of country music, but not only country, BUT ALL MUSIC!

But we’ve gotten so far from the garden.

The CMA performances slid right off of me. They didn’t have gravitas. There was too much stunting, too many duets. But a lot of these numbers, when it’s just me and I hear them streaming through the headphones…

Unfortunately, Dierks Bentley sang to hard drive, but if “Different For Girls” doesn’t ring true to you, you’re probably a groper.

There’s truth in that song. It resonates.

There was very little truth in last night’s show.

But some of the songs keep me alive.

You’re building a resume, a body of work. You only answer to yourself. And when you look inward and reveal your truth people are drawn to you. Which is why it’s so important to avoid doing what’s expedient, going along to get along. Especially in art. The hacks come and go, the legends live on.

And Merle Haggard, although six feet under, will live longer in the culture than almost any winner tonight.

The first thing I remember knowing
Was a lonesome whistle blowing

Lonesome. Sometimes I feel that way so much I could cry, and do. Remember when songs penetrated your soul? That’s why people clamor for Jason Isbell, he’s trying to get it right. You need to try and get it right.

And a young ‘un’s dream of growing up to ride
On a freight train leaving town

Now everybody just stays where they was born and goes nowhere. Used to be you wanted to get out of Dodge, have new experiences. Today the acts base themselves in Nashville and fly home after many gigs. And the audience never ventures above the Mason-Dixon Line.

But music can take you far away.

And Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” was carried by the wind all the way to San Francisco, where the Grateful Dead covered it on their legendary live album commonly known as “Skull and Roses.”

That’s music history for you right there.

Play a little less to the crowd and a little more to yourself.

That’s when people embrace you, that’s when you become a big star.

Too many of tonight’s stars were small.

But Sturgill Simpson, who was not even nominated, is quite big.

You can be big too.

Sturgill Simpson on Merle Haggard

“New York Times Co. Reports an Advertising Drop, Though Digital Results Grew”

Frank Rich: “Trump’s Appeasers – Charles Lindbergh was a national hero, then a fascist sympathizer. History will be just as brutal to more than a few current Republican leaders”

“Mama Tried”