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which_chickDoomscrolling is a thing. I generally am OK about limiting my insta time, but in the wee hours of the night I have been known to tick-tick-tick through an endless sea of things. Until I found this thing.
I was not expecting to run into a generational talent at... bluegrass on the Instagram, but apparently the algorithm knows better than I do the sorts of things I might like. Also, despite living in Greater Rednecklandia and having a local radio station that runs Saturday Morning Bluegrass *and* Sunday Morning Gospel, I was heretofore completely unaware that Billy Strings existed. I am culturally aware of bluegrass as a genre and I appreciate a decent strings effort as much as the next listener. But I don't... follow it.
If you do not... follow it either, perhaps you are also unaware.
Here's what I saw first, a song called Richard Petty. You do not need to know that Richard Petty was The King in the world of Nascar drivers to appreciate this song, but if you somehow do not know that, I really question your Appalachian redneck credentials. If you are from Forn Parts or do not claim to be a redneck, you're not required to know about Richard Petty but if you're from 'round here or claim you're from 'round here, you better know The King.
Okay, so I'm not a music nerd. I am totally not a music nerd. I do not music. It is not a thing I do. But this song hits so fucking hard, culturally speaking.
Point the first: It pulls heavily from gospel tradition. If you have heard any damn country gospel music you know the structure of the song in your bones. It's automatic, like breathing. I am an atheist. I do not church. I do not gospel more than someone who has seen Oh Brother Where Art Thou like three times. And yet, I know exactly how this song is going to go, with when the chord changes and stuff happen. And even knowing where it's going, it is SO FUCKING SATISFYING.
Point the second: It is culturally on point. Over the weekend, I spent time with Waylie (of the horse people) riding over to TJ's to get hay bales for my horses. Waylie has a pregnant girlfriend due in about three months or two or something. And so he is telling me, while we're getting hay, the narrative about how he is going to get his shit together and how things are going to be different now because he wants to be a good father and he has a kid coming to support and he believes in his bones that this is going to happen despite him driving around in a truck with a broken leaf spring, bad rotor, taillight out, missing passenger side mirror, spider-cracked windshield... hell, a picture is easier.
Front of his truck:
Back of his truck:
I mean, that truck is basically a meme for Tell me you make shitty decisions with poor impulse control without telling me you make shitty decisions with poor impulse control.
This is, btw, the very same truck that, three years ago, he told me was his dream truck and that he would take great care of and baby it because it was awesome and spectacular and way better than my beater 22 yr old 7.3L diesel. One of our trucks has been rode hard and put away wet and one of them has not. Guess whose is whose?
Waylie has no job and no health insurance, but plus side, he did quit drinking a month or so ago and does admit that many poor decisions in his life were fueled by booze. So, personal growth? Yay?
Anyway, I would like nothing better than for Waylie to get his shit together but the cold reality of my experience is that generally speaking, the people who actually make a fucking change just get on with it instead of spending all their time telling everybody about how great a person they are going to become. Change is fucking hard. It is really, really hard. When folks be all telling you about how it's gonna be on the Big Rock Candy Mountain, mostly they're laying about on the side of the tracks eating a suspect tin of beans. Also, the act of telling people about what you're a-gonna do kind of fills in (mentally) for the actual doing and so you kind of feel you ticked the boxes by telling folks and you get a pass on the actual doing part.
And so (let us circle back to the point here, which is not personal growth or Waylie redneck problems, but the damn song, you do remember the song, right?) this is a song full of promises that, again in the bones, you have that sinking feeling that they're not going to come to pass. You want them to, but you have seen one of these days and things are different now so many fucking times that it's getting really hard to believe. And you can tell that from the ending, which is not happy major. It's clear that it ain't happening anytime soon.
Let us compare with a different song about personal growth and such. Here's I Saw The Light which strikes a totally different tone for me. This one, okay, kinda Jesus-y but apart from that, the change happened in the past. it's not moonbeams and cobwebs in the future, it's a thing that has happened already. The singer has done did it, and NOW is telling you about it. This is a more... usefully hopeful song.
Anyway. That... moonbeams and cobwebs of hopes you know are mostly, generally, usually but not always fucking useless, that's a thing that hits so hard.
My god, I love this song. I love the intonations and the harmony and I just fucking love it. Certified banger.
And so then I googled "who the fuck is this guy" more or less, whereupon I got this which is... cellphone video from somebody at a party? It's the same guy, just earlier in his life. Different hair. Thirty million views on YouTube. He does the same song later at the Opry. Again, banger.
Even if this is not your genre, the dude has mad skillz and understands what he's doing in a way that is literally transcendent. And that is a wonderful and fine thing in and of itself.
I was not expecting to run into a generational talent at... bluegrass on the Instagram, but apparently the algorithm knows better than I do the sorts of things I might like. Also, despite living in Greater Rednecklandia and having a local radio station that runs Saturday Morning Bluegrass *and* Sunday Morning Gospel, I was heretofore completely unaware that Billy Strings existed. I am culturally aware of bluegrass as a genre and I appreciate a decent strings effort as much as the next listener. But I don't... follow it.
If you do not... follow it either, perhaps you are also unaware.
Here's what I saw first, a song called Richard Petty. You do not need to know that Richard Petty was The King in the world of Nascar drivers to appreciate this song, but if you somehow do not know that, I really question your Appalachian redneck credentials. If you are from Forn Parts or do not claim to be a redneck, you're not required to know about Richard Petty but if you're from 'round here or claim you're from 'round here, you better know The King.
Okay, so I'm not a music nerd. I am totally not a music nerd. I do not music. It is not a thing I do. But this song hits so fucking hard, culturally speaking.
Point the first: It pulls heavily from gospel tradition. If you have heard any damn country gospel music you know the structure of the song in your bones. It's automatic, like breathing. I am an atheist. I do not church. I do not gospel more than someone who has seen Oh Brother Where Art Thou like three times. And yet, I know exactly how this song is going to go, with when the chord changes and stuff happen. And even knowing where it's going, it is SO FUCKING SATISFYING.
Point the second: It is culturally on point. Over the weekend, I spent time with Waylie (of the horse people) riding over to TJ's to get hay bales for my horses. Waylie has a pregnant girlfriend due in about three months or two or something. And so he is telling me, while we're getting hay, the narrative about how he is going to get his shit together and how things are going to be different now because he wants to be a good father and he has a kid coming to support and he believes in his bones that this is going to happen despite him driving around in a truck with a broken leaf spring, bad rotor, taillight out, missing passenger side mirror, spider-cracked windshield... hell, a picture is easier.
Front of his truck:
Back of his truck:
I mean, that truck is basically a meme for Tell me you make shitty decisions with poor impulse control without telling me you make shitty decisions with poor impulse control.
This is, btw, the very same truck that, three years ago, he told me was his dream truck and that he would take great care of and baby it because it was awesome and spectacular and way better than my beater 22 yr old 7.3L diesel. One of our trucks has been rode hard and put away wet and one of them has not. Guess whose is whose?
Waylie has no job and no health insurance, but plus side, he did quit drinking a month or so ago and does admit that many poor decisions in his life were fueled by booze. So, personal growth? Yay?
Anyway, I would like nothing better than for Waylie to get his shit together but the cold reality of my experience is that generally speaking, the people who actually make a fucking change just get on with it instead of spending all their time telling everybody about how great a person they are going to become. Change is fucking hard. It is really, really hard. When folks be all telling you about how it's gonna be on the Big Rock Candy Mountain, mostly they're laying about on the side of the tracks eating a suspect tin of beans. Also, the act of telling people about what you're a-gonna do kind of fills in (mentally) for the actual doing and so you kind of feel you ticked the boxes by telling folks and you get a pass on the actual doing part.
And so (let us circle back to the point here, which is not personal growth or Waylie redneck problems, but the damn song, you do remember the song, right?) this is a song full of promises that, again in the bones, you have that sinking feeling that they're not going to come to pass. You want them to, but you have seen one of these days and things are different now so many fucking times that it's getting really hard to believe. And you can tell that from the ending, which is not happy major. It's clear that it ain't happening anytime soon.
Let us compare with a different song about personal growth and such. Here's I Saw The Light which strikes a totally different tone for me. This one, okay, kinda Jesus-y but apart from that, the change happened in the past. it's not moonbeams and cobwebs in the future, it's a thing that has happened already. The singer has done did it, and NOW is telling you about it. This is a more... usefully hopeful song.
Anyway. That... moonbeams and cobwebs of hopes you know are mostly, generally, usually but not always fucking useless, that's a thing that hits so hard.
My god, I love this song. I love the intonations and the harmony and I just fucking love it. Certified banger.
And so then I googled "who the fuck is this guy" more or less, whereupon I got this which is... cellphone video from somebody at a party? It's the same guy, just earlier in his life. Different hair. Thirty million views on YouTube. He does the same song later at the Opry. Again, banger.
Even if this is not your genre, the dude has mad skillz and understands what he's doing in a way that is literally transcendent. And that is a wonderful and fine thing in and of itself.
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Date: 2024-04-22 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
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