Today I'm going to write about an album that changed my life:
Jimmie Rodgers' "This is Jimmie Rodgers."
Every song on side 1 is interesting here. It recalls to me the time that the big belt-buckle wearing cowboy was looking at country music records in House of Records in Eugene and saw me approach. "You like country?" he asked. "Johnny Cash, Jimmie Rodgers, Marty Robbins.. Mostly old stuff." He smiled. "You know Jimmie Rodgers?" "I do." He kept looking, talking.. I was wandering back and forth between sections, going between black and death metal, bizarre pop, and old country, trying to figure out where to get the best bang in used records for my $10. Not quite enough for Nick Drake's Pink Moon, not enough for any used Ornette Coleman or Miles Davis, nothing in the world of metal (albeit a small one that HoR kept). Back and forth, forever. No Animal Collective that I didn't have, no M83, no Rush, no Jethro Tull that I didn't have.. Looking back, I'm proud of my weird taste.
"You got this one?" He pulled out Never No Mo' Blues from the stacks and my jaw dropped. I'd been searching for some Jimmie Rodgers on vinyl for quite some time. He could tell I didn't. He laughed. I wish I could remember his name. "It's yours." I said "Thanks." He said, "come on" and I followed him to the register. He bought it for me! I shook his hand and he skidaddled. I don't believe in angels, but seriously, that was pretty amazing.
I left the store in a daze. I did buy something with my $10 but I seriously don't remember what it was. I will never recall either. That was the single coolest experience I've ever had in a music store, and I've spent many hours in them. I've seen bands play, I've gotten autographs, I've found the craziest deals you could ever imagine. I've dug through crates and found gems, I've met some of the neatest people that work in and shop in record stores, but how many of us can say that a complete and total stranger bought them a Jimmie Rodgers record.
I'm not sure if you could pinpoint the exactly moment that country music started sucking, but I often wonder just that. I don't really know what to say about this, except that is very stripped down music by a guy who slips into falsetto and back in a slightly ragged way. Simple guitar lines that meander in and out of time, with strange measures that don't add up. It's beautiful. That's all. More next time.
"Mule Skinner Blues" on Youtube.
References
-Never No Mo' Blues, 1955, Jimmie Rodgers
-Pink Moon, 1972, Nick Drake
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