Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose: I fell asleep on Saturday nights with cornpone humor images of Hee Haw picking and grinning their way into my four year old subconscious. I was usually ay my Granny’s house which had no indoor plumbing, no central heat & air, and none of the usual appliances associated with modern living except for the television. Meals were cooked atop a wood stove and clothes were washed with a hand cranked machine. Water was gathered from an old fashioned well and if you needed to go the bathroom there was an outhouse that was frequently home to wasps during the summer. I’d spend carefree days there playing in the ash pile left from burning garbage. Morning seemed to stretch into infinity as I chucked rocks at the huge garden spider by the back door taking care to not actually hit such a beautiful creature. I’d ride my tricycle around and around on the front porch since it was the only smooth surface. It cost me a broken arm one afternoon when I got too close to the edge and fell off with the handlebar snapping a bone in my right arm. I watched as I perched atop my rabbit’s cage one day as my Granny slipped on the stepping stone path from the well and fell breaking her hip. Soon she’d move into a different house and she’d catch up to the Seventies. But my most vivid memories are of her first house I ever knew. Pictures from then show a light skinned child on a Farm-All tractor toy, a Ford truck from the Fifties, and a smiling country lady whom I was always told was a quarter Cherokee.
One of the most compelling objects in the old home was an old acoustic guitar covered with dust propped in a corner. No one ever played it so I would sometimes sneak over and pluck the strings. I was more into watching the strings vibrate, the sound was secondary. But there was a dim awareness that if I could ever learn to play it, I might be able to appear on that funny show that seemed to always be airing at my Granny’s house when I fell asleep. I might be able to accompany somebody as delightful as Loretta Lynn.
Well I’m nearing middle age and while I did learn to play guitar, I doubt I will ever get to play alongside Loretta. I’m just pleased that Jack White and the Greenhornes did on Van Lear Rose. The songwriter of such classics like “The Pill”, “Fist City”, “Your Squaw Is On The Warpath”, and many others takes a career invigorating turn with Jack White producing and it’s great to see her reach a new generation of fans, many of whom probably only knew her from Crisco commercials or that Sissy Spacek movie. It’s much like what happened when Johnny Cash decided to take a chance with Rick Rubin. So, let’s all pour ourselves a sloe-gin fizz and salute the “Queen of Country Music” as she ascends to the top again.
Wilco - A Ghost Is Born: The critical backlash was inevitable. Success often breeds contempt. Revisionists have even taken it upon themselves to deconstruct Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which brought the success in the first place. A Ghost Is Born is the follow-up that was destined to fail and that it didn’t is a tribute to the talent of Jeff Tweedy and cohorts. It was not merely the pale ghost of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It holds up well in the Wilco catalogue. I agree that the guitar solos can be tiresome, but that’s a minor complaint. It doesn’t detract from the ultimate triumph of the album. Even if one does feel the album falls short of the glory that came before, falling short for Wilco is still good enough to make the record of this year’s best.
Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans: One could be forgiven for thinking most of the Christian music being produced today is banal pop not doing justice to its subject matter. Sufjan Stevens should change your mind. Seven Swans crossed over into the indie underground this year and it’s going to appear on numerous secular best of 2004 lists. It is a sonically simple masterpiece of understated grace punctuated with Sufjan’s banjo playing. It rewards deep listening and if your mood is receptive you’ll find yourself easily getting lost with the music.
The next part my best of 2004 will feature three more great releases that should please people who want to rock and roll a little harder.
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