Petty Love

Songwriters often pay homage to classic artists by name-dropping in their songs. In country music, lyrics about Willie (Nelson) and the Man in Black (Johnny Cash) pop up here and there. Waylon Jennings is another. Brad Paisley wrote a song about playing "some old Alabama," and even collaborated with them to record the song.

Gretchen Wilson unapologetically proclaims in Redneck Woman, that she knows all the words to Tania Tucker, Bocephus (Hank Williams Jr.), and Charlie Daniels songs. She also shares that she has a poster collection of (Lynard) Skynard, Kid (Rock) and (George) Strait on her wall. And of course, who hasn't heard Taylor Swifts' Tim McGraw? No subtlety there, it's right in the title.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me. Singers and songwriters are likely to be huge fans of other singers and songwriters, probably even bigger fans than those of us in the general public. After all, it's their business, their passion. As a writer I have favorite authors, and as a teacher I have mentor teachers, both local and in the expert field. Why wouldn't we expect the same from artists?

I noticed however, in the past several months there's been a recurring name in country music. It's no surprise to me country artists, many from the south, have roots in southern rock. Many southern rock artists probably have some roots in country music. But without a doubt, many of the younger country artists are rockin' it out to Tom Petty. It seems he's a driving favorite, a hanging' with my baby favorite, a quotable favorite. Since I started realizing I was hearing his name a lot in other people's songs, I began collecting lyric lines (first one in my journal is dated January 10th) knowing there was a piece to be written. I have visited them in my journal several times thinking the inspiration was there, but I just wasn't ready. Until tonight. My friend Helen and I have been playing with song lyrics and found poetry recently, so I decided to read through the two pages tonight. I wrote a poem alternating the country song lyrics with TP's name in them, with lines I pulled from his songs. I am a huge fan of Petty myself and have several of his albums. I've seen him in concert twice by the way, and a Tom Petty concert ticket is money well spent! Welcome to Petty Country.

I've started out for God knows where

I guess I'll know when I get there

A great big world with lots of places to run to.

Slow driving south with the top drop down,

her hair in the wind, Tom Petty up loud.

The sun beat down.

Throw your feet on the dash girl

You know I'm cool with that

And it's Tom Petty free fall by midnight

Don't it feel like something from a dream

She couldn't help thinkin'

That there was a little more to life somewhere else

Waiting's the hardest part, like Tom Petty said.

It's alright if you love me

It's alright if you don't

I still love Tom Petty songs.

I'm learning to fly but I an't got wings

Coming down is the hardest thing

Hummin' that old Tom Petty song

She wanted me to break her fall

I wanna love you 

God it's so painful when something that's so close

Is still so far out of reach

The town lit up, the world got still

Steady as a Tom Petty track

I wanna write her name in the sky

I wanna free fall out into nothin'

Just good times on the way

Tom Petty on the radio

Celebrity Politics... or What Ever Became of the Dixie Chicks?

I have long been a fan of the Dixie Chicks, even saw them in concert back in the late 1990's- what a show! I have two of their albums and a couple of single song downloads on my iPod, and I just love it when I hear any of their tunes on the radio. But it doesn't happen often, so recently I was delighted to hear Wide Open Spaces on the radio during my morning shower, and I got to thinking. Where in the world are the Dixie Chicks now? I didn't realize, until I started date checking for this post, but this week  marked ten years since the beginning of the end of the Chicks.

I recalled the incident of 2003, when Natalie Maines, lead singer, expressed shame over the fact President Bush hailed from Texas. This was post 9-11, and the nation was still quite raw from the terrorist attacks. Her comments were allegedly meant to show disdain for Bush's choice to go to war. She said it off the cuff at a show in London, and another band member reminded the crowd they support the troops 100%. The fans cheered in response, but Maines would return home to be lambasted by the American media and the American public. She was accused of being unAmerican and the group would soon lose favor with listeners, after becoming the top selling female band of all time. They reportedly received death threats and feared for the safety of their families and themselves. They largely ducked out of the spotlight for awhile, though still entrenched in controversy.

In 2006, they released another album Taking the Long Way Around, which soared to the number one spot on the Billboard Country Album chart, and broke top 10 on the best Album chart. They also won three Grammys, including best Album. They appeared on the cover of Entertainment Magazine, naked and covered in the words (good and bad) slung at them since the 2003 incident.

                  

However, since then the Chicks have called it quits. Maines has been reported to say they will never make music together as a group. It's possible the other two Chicks, who are sisters, blame Natalie for their demise. Most of the articles written certainly blame the incident.

My support for the Chicks is for their music, ok and for their Freedom of Speech. No matter what you believe about the incident, about our former or current President, in our country we have the First Ammendment. And what followed this episode, was an all out boycott of Dixie Chicks music. Radio stations, all of which are owned by only a few broadcast companies, forbade their DJs from playing any Dixie Chicks songs, and a couple of DJs were reportedly fired for noncompliance. It just seems so ridiculous that any celebrity's politics could have that much of a stronghold on what we do. There was no industry boycott over Chris Brown being a wife beater, or Mel Gibson being an anti-Semite. There was no NFL or TV broadcast boycott over Ray Lewis being a murderer. 

Why bring up old news? Plain and simple, I miss the Dixie Chicks. I miss their brand of country, which by the way is not likely to be interpreted as pop. I fought back for some time against recent country music naysayers, who have said country has gone too pop. I've defended my enjoyment of some of the catchy tunes that have been put out by some of the more recent artists. But I'm losing ground, because quite frankly, a lot of it sucks. Rascal Flats? Just the Backstreet Boys with accents. Taylor Swift? Cute and sweet, and a good alternative to some of the trash on the pop chart, but not really country. Even some of the artists who started out country have since crossed over. And I hate to say it, but there are so many new artists with so little flair that I can't even tell them a part. Don't get me wrong, there are some I still like, Little Big Town, the Band Perry, Zach Brown Band, and some of the others. But overall, country music needs the Dixie Chicks to come back. We need the "stripped down" country jamboree country that got me knee slappin' and boot stompin'. We don't need to agree with the politics of our entertainers. We just need to be entertained. That's what they do, and that's what they get paid for. We need the Dixie Chicks back.

Here's an article that explains why:

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/destroying-the-dixie-chicks-ten-years-after