On a slow Saturday I was surfing the net looking at the Nashville scene where Taylor Hicks has been hanging out. I found immediately the Country Music Critics Awards to mainstream Nashville stars, Jamey Johnson, Dierks Bentley (from Arizona) and Taylor Swift, the top winners. I was listening to the deep, classic-Nashville voice of Jamey Johnson.
Then Taylor Hicks was on my Tweetdeck apparently from the scene. No, he was not seeing Jamey Johnson, but other Alabama artists, Drive By Truckers, described by AOL Music as “alternative country-rock”. Taylor was tweeting with photo: “Drive By Truckers!!! AL representing!” A look on the web at their schedule said they were at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville for a sold out show.
As I followed their fans’ tweets, I saw there was a Ustream of the show. In a minute I was listening to the same music that Taylor was. It was not your grandmother’s Nashville sound! I was listening to Nashville today.
Ain’t technology grand? Well, yes and no. I got an instant listen of the live music by Drive By Truckers. Artists have been told by supposedly experts in the business, don’t give away your music.
Let a fan tell you…give away your music! Technology will never be as great as being there. I stared at the slideshow of album covers as I listened to the streaming music. Aren’t we all so visual?
I had also spent yesterday watching videos of Taylor's "The Fall," looking at each critically for the pure sound of Taylor’s voice and the emotion on his face. First, I learned how important a good sound system is. Then, I saw the energy that the interaction of a real audience elicits in the musician. Although a video or a Ustream is a much-appreciated substitute when you can’t be there, my experiences yesterday reinforced that there is nothing like live music.
Listening to Drive By Truckers last night, I wanted to be there.
All great bands have toured. Bon Jovi was the largest grossing tour for 2010. After seeing the Randy Rogers Band, music blogger, Bob Lefsetz, said in his One Night in Nashville blog last year that it didn’t make him want to buy their music, but it made him want to see them live again.
I know touring is much more complicated than jumping on a big tour bus. Lefsetz recently said that some artists don’t want to tour…they just want to record a hit and make lots of money. Touring is hard work.
Thank goodness artists are not adverse to the hard work of touring! We all know one artist who isn’t. Taylor has said that touring is in his blood. And may it forever be!
Live music and touring musicians will always be alive and well. So, let’s just keep our bags packed.
Make good music, open the doors, and fans will be there! They were last night in Nashville!
~~
Drive By Truckers continues its tour in this country and the UK and Ireland with a new album out on February 15th. For more information visit their website:
http://drivebytruckers.com/news.html
Photo tweeted by Taylor Hicks, 1.29.11
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2 comments:
Thank you for clarifying what Taylor meant by talking about Live By Truckers. Every positive connection he makes in his world of music will benefit us down the road as it inspires Taylor's own creative juices. Hr's simply amazing and I can't get enough of his voice.
Performers use to hone their skills by playing with notable bands on occasion. They observed , they learned what worked and what didn't. This is not done as much today, but Taylor's career has been built on observing other performers and playing with them whenever he had the opportunity. He did it before Idol and he is still doing it.
Live, Live , Live is where the action is ; not financially perhaps, but artistically.
Live, Live, Live has that intimacy that a CD will never be able to duplicate.
Perhaps a performer must sacrifice financial success for professional satisfaction in order to remain true to himself .
We need new songs. When written by the performers playing them, we believe what is being sung . We believe it is the truth , what the performers really feel. How many performers can both write songs and sing them with equal intensity?
cath
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