This is ominous country music. Music for serious farm work with heavy, rusty equipment, and grinding gears. For feeding slops to dirty pigs with flies at their tails. I'm reminded of the ever-setting sun in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. The lead guitar, sliding and bending, is either caught up in, or is itself a storm. The synthesizer sounds like something that might land in a field of wheat, and leave a crop circle in its wake. The vocals are the work of a traumatized farmer whose stories have become less and less lucid, more and more surreal, since whatever happened to him happened to him. [Info]
***
Son House - "Low Down Dirty Blues"
Listen to the way House plays guitar after each of his vocal lines. He plays a slow and spartan run, bending each note, drawing it out. It's so simple, just five quarter notes, the part that least displays virtuosity. But in its simplicity and restraint can be heard House's sadness, his frustration, and his anger.
After you're done listening to that, why not move on to appreciating House's beautiful vocal jumps up into falsetto? After that, make your bed. Then buy a Son House CD. Then put on Remain in Light and dance around your house/apartment. Then go to bed. Eat breakfast in the morning. [Buy]
Posted by Jordan at December 5, 2005 5:01 PMSon House's "Death Letter" remains one of my favorite blues song ever. Man's a genius.
Posted by Hannah at December 5, 2005 7:43 PMSon House is pretty awesome.
There's a longer version of this one on Delta Blues which is less crackly at the top and sounds like it was recorded on his front porch or something--maybe it was--but it's an all-around great CD.
Posted by Tuwa at December 6, 2005 1:01 AMI once saw the Silt play live and it was easily the most out of key, out of tune shambles I have ever seen. The worst part was that they had no idea how bad it sounded.
Posted by ian at December 8, 2005 9:29 AMIan - That's weird. I've never seen them play live, but I've heard good things.
Posted by Jordan at December 8, 2005 2:31 PM