{"id":2323,"date":"2009-10-13T09:26:18","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T17:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2323"},"modified":"2009-10-13T09:26:18","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T17:26:18","slug":"one-night-in-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/13\/one-night-in-nashville\/","title":{"rendered":"One Night In Nashville"},"content":{"rendered":"

"In Color"<\/span><\/p>\n

If it looks like we were scared to death<\/span>
Like a couple of kids just trying to save each other<\/span>
You should have seen it in color<\/span><\/p>\n

You can watch a movie where they’ve got an overpaid teenager trying to play scared, you can dial up a book on your Kindle and read a memory of someone who probably wasn’t even there, or you can listen to a record and know exactly what was felt, in an instant you can be right there yourself.<\/p>\n

Sitting on the hard benches of the Ryman Auditorium the curtain went up on Jamey Johnson, standing there in his jeans and boots, like he just came in from doing chores, like when he was done he was gonna be in a bar fight, or sit on the couch, pop a beer and watch the Titans, and when he started picking that guitar I felt like I’d grown up in Alabama or Tennessee.\u00c2\u00a0 This was a story not from the keyboard of Diane Warren, not a concoction made for the hit parade, but straight from the heart.<\/p>\n

It was a revelation.<\/p>\n

Jamey Johnson is no longer a secret.\u00c2\u00a0 But the power of seeing the man live gave me goosebumps.\u00c2\u00a0 Even after visiting the history of country music in the display cases behind the Ryman’s seats.<\/p>\n

You can see Patsy Cline’s outfit, even the murdered Stringbean’s, but what truly blows one’s mind is Johnny Cash’s boots.\u00c2\u00a0 Seemingly tall enough to go right up to his underpants.\u00c2\u00a0 There are pictures talking about his TV show, his challenges to the network, standing up for what he thought was right.\u00c2\u00a0 No one stands up for what’s right on television anymore, you don’t want to fuck up the marketing opportunity.<\/p>\n

In other words, music meant something once, can it mean something again?<\/p>\n

Chubby Checker got a lifetime achievement award.\u00c2\u00a0 Seeing him do his act, he deserved it.\u00c2\u00a0 Those were genuine hits, and he got the audience twisting like they did last summer.<\/p>\n

And performances by Randy Houser and Jessie James were very good, and the dancing YouTube sensation was a hoot.<\/p>\n

But Jamey Johnson…\u00c2\u00a0 As agents are prone to saying, he was the real deal.

I said, Grandpa what’s this picture here <\/span>
It’s all black and white and ain’t real clear<\/span>
Is that you there, he said, yeah I was eleven<\/span>
Times were tough back in thirty-five<\/span>
That’s me and Uncle Joe just tryin’ to survive<\/span>
A cotton farm in the Great Depression<\/span><\/p>\n

Times are tough here in ’09, that mansion you bought has been repossessed by the bank and you’re out of work.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve put on a happy face, but how long is that gonna last?\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve been lying to yourself, your children, you’ve got more questions than answers, what are you supposed to do?<\/p>\n

Watch rich people debate how you shouldn’t have health care?<\/p>\n

Watch nimrods and nitwits act inanely, like no one you know, on television?<\/p>\n

Or dance like a fool to the ungodly beats of people telling you their lives are better than yours?<\/p>\n

You’re looking for some truth, and a salve.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll ultimately have to lift yourself up, but isn’t there someone on your side?<\/p>\n

The music used to be on your side, that was its power.\u00c2\u00a0 But that was long before MTV allowed not only the acts, but their handlers to make so much money that they were no longer middle class, they were supporting their private jet lifestyles, they didn’t give a shit about you.\u00c2\u00a0 Making their evanescent crap.\u00c2\u00a0 Which we must buy.<\/p>\n

Hogwash.<\/p>\n

And then you see someone completely real and you get it, this is the way it used to be!<\/p>\n

In a legendary hall, with just his guitar and his voice, his intelligence radiating through, Jamey Johnson was more powerful than a team of dancing idiots, had more sound than turntablists synching to canned beats.\u00c2\u00a0 He wasn’t telling a story from streets that don’t exist, he was singing a story about life.\u00c2\u00a0 Which folds out behind you, which you hang on to with regrets as it slips from your hands.\u00c2\u00a0 You desire to make sense of it, but it’s nonsensical.\u00c2\u00a0 How some get cut down by disease and others live to one hundred.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel emotions, which are displayed nowhere but in music.<\/p>\n

When done right.<\/p>\n

Last night Jamey Johnson hit the ball so hard, so long, that it still can’t be found.<\/p>\n

I hope and pray you can see him one day.<\/p>\n

Randy Rogers Band<\/span><\/p>\n

"We ain’t had no Top Ten hits, but we’ve played 1500 shows."<\/p>\n

We went from the Ryman to the Stage, on NashVegas’ main drag, Broadway, where I ran into Vinny from the Trailer Choir after midnight.<\/p>\n

My goal was to see Miranda Lambert.\u00c2\u00a0 Which I got to do, up close and personal in this club.<\/p>\n

But the highlight of the evening was the Randy Rogers Band.<\/p>\n

Randy’s visage is not TV-friendly.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t look ready to make it in L.A. or New York.\u00c2\u00a0 But in Texas he’s a star.<\/p>\n

Playing two hundred nights seven years in a row, the Randy Rogers Band is honed to perfection.\u00c2\u00a0 When the fiddler and the lead guitarist trade licks, they make it look easy.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the Allman Brothers learned how to do this before kindergarten.<\/p>\n

But you only get this good after years on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 When you know your band members better than brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 When you can play stoned, drunk, half-awake, because you’ve got the material down in your head, it’s almost reflexive.<\/p>\n

Not that the Randy Rogers Band played without power.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that they were so well-oiled, you’d figure this American machine could compete with Europe’s finest, Ferrari and Lamborghini.<\/p>\n

It was like the New Riders Of The Purple Sage.\u00c2\u00a0 But better.\u00c2\u00a0 Even better than the Dead usually were.\u00c2\u00a0 The Dead were sloppy, the Randy Rogers Band was clean.<\/p>\n

But dirty.<\/p>\n

Yup, the accumulated crust of a million miles.<\/p>\n

Malcolm Gladwell says it’s about practice.\u00c2\u00a0 About the hours you’ve got in.\u00c2\u00a0 Desire counts, but it doesn’t make you good.\u00c2\u00a0 The Beatles played twelve hundred shows before they broke.\u00c2\u00a0 Today’s acts usually don’t play twelve hundred shows in their careers.<\/p>\n

It’s all about the road.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a new era, akin to the old.<\/p>\n

Acts like Randy Rogers are the future.<\/p>\n

I was whoopin’ and hollerin’.\u00c2\u00a0 Not because it was shitkicker music, but because it was so right on, in the pocket.<\/p>\n

Didn’t make me want to go out and get a record, but did make me want to go see them wherever they appeared, made me want to hear live music not only every week, but every night.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

"In Color" If it looks like we were scared to deathLike a couple of kids just trying to save each otherYou should have seen it in color You can watch a movie where they’ve got an overpaid teenager trying to play scared, you can dial up a book on your Kindle and read a memory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Bt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2324,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}