Willie Nelson might have recorded Kris Kristofferson’s “Moment of Forever” years ago, if he could have taken it seriously. The song, which is the title track of Nelson’s new album and one that Kristofferson sang at Johnny Cash’s funeral, begins like this:
Was it wonderful for you? Was it holy as it was for me? Did you feel the hand of destiny That was guiding us together?
“It’s not the sort of song you want to look at your buddy and sing,” Nelson says. So when Kristofferson sang it for Nelson at his Maui home years ago, the two of them couldn’t stop laughing. It took Buddy Cannon, who co-produced Moment of Forever with Kenny Chesney, to make Nelson listen with fresh ears.
“Once I heard it again, I thought, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’” Nelson says. “I should have cut it last year.”
Two months ago, without much fanfare, the Blind Boys of Alabama made their first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. I’d hoped to take the opportunity of that appearance to meet the group’s longtime lead singer, Clarence Fountain, who I’d once interviewed by phone. Unfortunately, I learned that he’d recently retired from the group because of health problems related to his diabetes.
Instead, I got to sit down for a few minutes backstage at the Ryman Auditorium with Jimmy Carter, the group’s shouter and now – with the retirement of Fountain and the passing of founding member George Scott in 2005 – its de facto leader.
As it turns out, Carter is a major country fan, from his childhood days. He was positively giddy backstage that night, getting to meet Little Jimmy Dickens, Jimmy C. Newman and John Conlee.
“I go way back,” recalls the native of Birmingham, Alabama. “I remember the Opry when George D. Hay was there, the Solemn Old Judge. That was the early ’40s—George D. Hay, Uncle Dave Macon, Stringbean. Man, I could go on and on.”
Carter says he made a habit of listening to the Opry’s half-hour network broadcast during the late ’30s and ’40s. “The Opry would come on NBC every Saturday night at 9:30 Central time,” he says. “Nine-thirty would find me in front of our little battery-powered RCA Victor radio. And I would listen to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night.”
The Blind Boys initially booked their Opry appearance with the notion that Porter Wagoner would introduce them. Unfortunately, Wagoner passed away from lung cancer about a month before their appearance. Carter says he did get to speak with Wagoner by phone once.
“He said he would love to have us up here and he would be glad to introduce us,” Carter says. “I told him, ‘Well, I just want to be able to shake your hand. I love your music.’ He said, ‘We’re going to make that happen.’ Unfortunately, it did not happen. But I feel Porter here tonight.”
The group dedicated their final song – the version of “Amazing Grace” they sing to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” – to Wagoner’s family. (They also sang “Free at Last,” the lead track from the new CD Down in New Orleans, out today, and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”)
Carter also expressed admiration for the late Roy Acuff, particularly his performances of “Don’t Make Me Go to Bed and I’ll Be Good,” a real tearjerker of a childhood-tragedy song. “I would love to get a copy of that somehow,” he told me.
Being practically across the street from the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, the Ryman Auditorium is probably one of the few places in America where one can say, “Just a minute – I’ll go get a copy for you.” Sure enough, they had two copies of one of Acuff’s CDs with that song on it. I bought two – one for him, one for me. It’s not every day you get to buy one of your musical heroes a CD by one of their musical heroes.
If you want to get a sense of the Blind Boys of Alabama in their prime, check out these two videos. The first one features Carter prominently.
So Plain White T’s' Tom Higgenson finally got his date with Delilah. They’re going to the Grammys, where the persistent singer and his band are up for two awards, including Song of the Year for “Hey There Delilah.”
Contrary to the story the song tells, there’s no romance between Higgenson and Delilah DiCrescenzo, even now that the song Higgenson wrote for the Olympic track hopeful has become a massive hit.
“If we couldn’t make time to do it for the Grammys, we were never going to hang out,” DiCrescenzo says.
She wondered what took Higgenson so long to ask her to accompany him to the show. After all, on the day the Grammy nominations were announced, she’d read at MTV.com that he was planning to ask her. “I talked to him later that night, and he didn’t ask me, so I just played dumb,” she said. Higgenson didn’t get around to asking her until last week. “I was pretty shocked, because I didn’t actually think he was going to go through with it.”
Asked whether he was more nervous about his Grammy nominations or going out with Delilah for the first time, Higgenson considered choosing Delilah but finally ’fessed up: “I’m definitely more nervous about the Grammys. Ever since I was a little kid, I’d watch the Grammys every year and get so inspired by the performances. It’s a big deal for me. And to be nominated in such a big category – if we win that, it’ll definitely be the craziest moment of my life. Having Delilah there would make it even more crazy. It’s just going to be a weekend to remember.”
The trip to the Grammys will also make a nice late birthday present for DiCrescenzo. She’ll turn 25 the day before the show.
McGraw met the members of Def Leppard during a 2006 show at the Hollywood Bowl, when he sang “Pour Some Sugar on Me” with them.
“You know what these situations are like," Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott told me in an interview for USA Today. “They normally lead to a lot of what we like to call ‘rock and roll promises.’ I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the phrase ‘we should work together one day’ and it leads to nothing. Fair play to Tim, he came through, and when the opportunity arose, he was there.”
Elliott says “Nine Lives” is “kind of like a cross between ‘Armageddon It’ and ‘Honky Tonk Woman. It’s got a tinge of Stones-y country, as opposed to country country. I wouldn’t say it’s typical Leppard, by any means.”
“There are two or three songs that are what I would call ‘classic Leppard stuff,’” Elliott says. “They would’ve sat nicely on Hysteria or Pyromania.”
Other songs on Songs From the Sparkle Lounge include:
“Bad Actress” – “a humorous, mini-romp at the whole X Factor lifestyle,” Elliott says.
“Come Undone” – “a mid-tempo thing that’s sort of Zeppelin-esque.”
“Cruise Control” – “Very kind of anti-war, very much about the Iraq situation. We never like too push too hard on the political front, because it doesn’t really suit bands like us, but we have managed to express that we do have a bit of a brain with songs like ‘Gods of War.’” … where we can touch on stuff other than ‘Do you want to get rocked.’”
“Come On Come On” – “It’s just straight out of the glam-rock British hit singles in 1973. [Bassist Rick Savage] just went out there and wrote a Chinn & Chapman song. It’s Bowie, Sweet, T. Rex. It’s all that rolled into one.”
For the two or three of you who continue to check this blog despite my not posting anything for weeks at a time, I promise I'll start doing better. I've been helping someone with a book - more on that another time, as publication dates gets closer - and that took all my available time until Christmas. With a little luck, I'll balance my time better now.
Here's a list of recent favorite tracks that ran Tuesday, Jan. 8 in USA Today. One of the acts on the list, Nashvillle singer/songwriter/music critic Jewly Hight has been kind enough to post a free download of her song on her MySpace page. I don't know how long she plans to keep it there, but, if you're intrigued by the sample, please visit her page and get yourself a copy.I've also linked to some other artists' MySpace pages where you can hear the full versions of songs I mention, although in at least one case you may have to search a bit. Enjoy - and let me know what you think.
> Pick of the week:
Just Got Started Lovin’ You, James Otto: Long overlooked member of Nashville’s MusikMafia finally gets his break with a number that finds a Ronnie Milsap country-soul groove shacking up with a Conway Twitty bedroom growl. Otto’s forthcoming album is called Sunset Man, but Lovin’ You makes him sound as if he could keep going all night long.
> The Playlist:
A Savior on Capitol Hill, Derek Webb: Dissident Christian singer’s take on religion and politics expects little and trusts less. Key line: “You can always trust the Devil or a politician to be the Devil or a politician.”
Like a Rolling Stone, Anberlin: Eighties-influenced alternative band’s Dylan reinterpretation is astonishing not only for its audacity but for how well it works.
Draw the Curtains, Will Hoge: Nashville rocker in the Springsteen/Petty tradition convincingly lists the reasons his lover doesn’t need to go home.
Shanty Town, Matt King: King’s patchwork Southern-gothic rock is one of the most original new sounds out of Nashville. On this download-only track, he comes off as part revivalist preacher, part carnival barker.
White Knuckles, Jewly Hight: The only thing more chilling than this song’s shadowy blues groove is Hight’s fearful moan.
Experiment in Terror, RevOrganDrum: Side project from the Reverend Horton Heat gives Henry Mancini the Booker T & the MG’s treatment.
You Got to Move, Marie Knight: Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s onetime duet partner returns with a tribute to the Rev. Gary Davis.
Last Days, Paschall Brothers: Virginia a cappella group keeps the jubilee quartet tradition alive.
Wilson Pickett, Tim Krekel Orchestra: Pickett died two years ago this month and, according to this song written in the soul great’s style, was buried behind Louisville singer Krekel’s home.
Mystery Train, Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette. Two great Nashville talents put a bluegrass spin on Elvis Presley/Junior Parker classic.
