Every single year, as the leaves fall down, we got that bitter taste in mouth. "Here we are, summer is over." Thus, when the coldness is growing around us, we all need a piece of warm blanket to hide under it and dream.
So, as you will chill out on your favorite chair or sofa, I want to give you a sweet summer reminder. A way to go back in your holidays, a reason to wear you sunglasses one last time while you will listen to this special shiny blend.
Every autumn we enjoy the Country Music Association awards which honored the best country bands, singers, songwriters, albums and songs of the year. But the 2016 CMA awards will be a special event since it will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
So, to celebrate it properly, they gathered all our favorite country artists from yesterday to today including Dolly Parton, Brooks & Dunn, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, and so many more, for a collaborative album called Forever Country.
This project has now its own collaborative music video which is a nice medley including country's most beautiful songs such as Denver's "Country Roads" and Parton's "I Will Always Love You".
These years are unfortunately full of heart-breaking music
losses. Since our work here is to keep music alive across time and space, I do
not systematically talk or write about great songwriters who passed away. I’m
sure you can catch the news from another source anyway.
But sometimes it’s just impossible to stay still. Specifically
when the artist is Guy Clark. At the age of 74, he died from a long illness on May 17th
2016 in his Nashville home. To speak frankly, I do write
about him because he was also one of my personal music heroes.
A lot of critics and music experts can tell you, despite the
few airplays of his music, he was a milestone of Nashville songwriting scene. As
a member of the Texan Troubadours, as
we called them, Guy Clark and his friends (Townes Van Zandt in the very first
place) had this way of telling moving stories with a disconcerting simplicity.
But his writing was far from simple. He was obsessed with finding the
right words and his songs are earthbound pieces of pure magic.
There’s a lot of archives you can hear and watch to know
about his life, his work and his philosophy. If you're interested, take my advice and watch the James Szalapski’s documentary called Heartworn Highways. It’s a wonderful work showing the 70’s outlaw
country music scene and it will give you an inside look at the Troubadours’ community life. 2016 is the
40th anniversary of the film and you can find a special reissue at Light In The
Attic Records. This new edition isn’t cheap but on another hand it’s kind
of hard to find a good quality vintage copy. And you’d better have kept your
old VHS player. But whatever the way you’ll choose, you definitely should watch
this documentary to understand the spirit of Guy Clark’s work.
It may took until 2004 to see him elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, but Guy Clark’s songs engraved by
themselves in our heart for quite a long time already. All his records deserve
a close hearing, including his last work, My
Favorite Picture Of You, a masterpiece which lead to a well-deserved
Grammy for best folk album in 2014.
It’s because of artists like Guy Clark I decided I should
spread the word and try to highlight good songwriters and musicians. American
songwriting is a special form of poetry, full of truth, honesty and hard times.
He knew how to depict those things in a most powerful and beautiful possible
way.
The man is gone but his work will remain for sure. How could
it be different?
In this second issue of Discovery Time we're going to talk about songwriting. You know it, a good song is about good melodies and fine writing. Americana, folk, country are good examples of how important a great storyteller is.
So, I'm glad to introduce you to Rachel Garlin, Buford Pope and the latest (and awesome) work of the Americana awards winner Lucinda Williams.
