Shooter Jennings: Obsessed, But Not in A Creepy Way

Just a quick little note because I would like everyone to check out Shooter Jennings's super performance of "The Real Me" on The Late Show With David Letterman last night:

I think he knocked it out of the park. He and the band sounded great! THIS is why I love music. It makes me feel something, want to sing along...pump my fist. Awesome job, guys!

I also have to share this interview with Shooter from one of the blogs I follow, Farce the Music. It's pretty dang funny (language kids...there's some language.)

Banter is hilarious. I recommend reading it.

But if you're a lazy butt, this is why I happen to be obsessed with Shooter today:

FTM: Speaking of outlaws, just what the heck is XXX music? Are you that big into porn?

Shooter: Only the kind that you can get at ammo stores.  But seriously, the website we set up last year GiveMeMyXXX.com was originally a petition to try and get folks to pay attention to what I felt was a very big and very unfair gap in modern music.  This contingent of artists don't fit into Nashville or Red Dirt circles really, and they're too hard edged for Country radio, and they're too Country for Rock radio.  I always felt I fell in that gap, and artists like Hank 3 did as well.  But that gap has grown considerably, and I wanted to create a resource page for people to hear, read about and find more of these bands.  Then we started releasing compilations which I think really got people into a lot of artists they'd never heard before.  By the end of it all, I felt pretty proud of the work we did last year.  Now we're trying to create some more active resources to help people find music, as well as playing shows and working in the studio with them.  I just think there's a tidal change about to come with Country.  I think we're gonna start seeing more and more of these bands get closer and closer to the mainstream until it cracks.  Most people I know love Scott H. Biram and Hellbound Glory.  It's like the new rock and roll in a way too.  So to answer your question, the XXX moniker isn't something that we're trying to force on anyone, it was just a way of categorizing it…  but at the end of the day I think we got some people's attention.

If you don't know what XXX is, you can click on the link.

I think it's SO great that Jennings is fighting for what is--in my opinion--some of the best, best music out there.

And I dig the shirt he wore on Imus in the Morning.

My Music Education: Bob Wills

"So who is Bob Wills?" Mike asked me when we went to Cain's in Tulsa, Oklahoma a few weeks ago.

I was pretty dang embarrassed that the only thing I know is what Waylon Jennings had to say about him.

I'm a huge country fan. (You have probably figured that out by now!) But I'm realizing I need to educate myself about the legends...the artists who laid the foundation for country music. Not just Cash, Waylon, Willie, Hank, and Merle. I already know about those guys...and Brantley Gilbert name checks them, so I need to go deeper.

Speaking of Brantley Gilbert and his ilk, I am even more motivated to make sure I am knowledgeable in all things country. 

As mainstream "pop country" junk continues to descend into the depths of corny, over-marketed, shallow crapola that makes the listener's IQ drop a few points...I realize I need to get all up in the history of the music I love.

A steel guitar dies every time Luke Bryan asks some country girl to "shake it for the squirrels." Holy God.

Rant over.

This look at Roger Miller from the Moonrunners Country blog is a good example of how I'd like to learn more about some country legends. And you get to go on the journey with me!

Lucky you.

We start with Bob Wills. BobWills.com has a pretty extensive history/timeline of his life.  The dude sure got married quite a few times!

Basically, Wills is known as the King of western Swing. (1) He got an early start. As a third generation fiddler, he first hit the stage in 1915. At only 10 years old, Wills was called on to fill in for his dad, who was too drunk to jam. (2) He founded the Texas Playboys in 1934, rocking the fiddle in the band.  (1)

Gaining popularity in '40, some of his hits with the Playboys include:

"Steel Guitar Rag" You can hear the jazz influence...and the country playing.

"Rose of San Antone" Surely you recognize this. It has words too. (Please enjoy the Patsy Cline) That's a melody that grabs you and makes you feel something...lyrics or not.

"Faded Love"  Wills' father came up with the tune. It didn't have lyrics until 1950. Now "Faded Love" has been recorded by more than 300 artists. (2) Check out Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn's version of "Faded Love."

So what's the Cain's connection? Wills played there for the first time on New Year's Eve 1935. He and the Playboys made Cain's their home until 1942. (3) 

From the Cain's Ballroom History page:

"the ballroom was especially significant for popularizing a new sound of western music called western swing, a form of country and western that combined jazz, hillbilly, boogie, blues, big band swing, rhumba, mariachi and jitterbug music. Weekly dances, a midnight radio show and a daily noon-hour program were played by Bob Wills during what are remembered as his 'glory years.'"

Bob Wills influenced artists like Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Asleep at the Wheel. (3)

Wills is in both the County music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (1) He died in 1975...in the middle of recording an album with Merle Haggard, who was a fan. (1)

Sources:
(1) Wikipedia  
(2) Famous Texans
(3) Cain's Ballroom History

Hey! Country music hipsters, dipsters, and experts: did I miss anything? My shady internet sources gave me wrong info? Please let me know! (Nicely..I'm trying to do some good here!)