sincerity

By now everyone knows the story of how rock 'n' roll grabbed the spotlight away from the pabulum-like "product" that passed for popular music during the fifties, eventually putting a merciful end to it altogether. What's less talked about is the fact that at the same time rock 'n' roll was capturing the hearts of teenagers and scandalizing adults all over the country, the modern form of country-western music was also taking shape, and providing another from-the-heart, sincerely felt and honestly-delivered alternative to the plastic nonsense cluttering the airwaves and television variety shows of the period.

The most celebrated of these early C&W pioneers, of course, is Hank Williams, who retains the aura of stardom in the public imagination even today, as much because of his romantic and tragic self-destruction at age 29 as for his musical contribution. In his short life Williams fathered an extensive repertoire of memorable songs, but for my money the best country-western tune of the era was performed by Ray Price and his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. This was a high-powered group of the mid-to-late fifties and very early sixties that at one time or another included Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Paycheck.

The Cowboys released Crazy Arms in 1956 and it went straight to the top of the country charts. To my ear, it seems the perfect country-western song: it's short, simple, direct, straight from the heart, and very cleanly executed. The instrumental accompaniment (pedal steel guitar, fiddle, and piano) is spare but inspired, and the tune is given its driving force by the incredibly tight two-part harmony on the chorus. I don't know who the second voice belongs to, but it sounds like Roger Miller to me.

Price later moved on from his roots, and by 1970 with the release of his biggest hit, For the Good Times, had transformed himself into a lounge act with country origins. And like rock 'n' roll, country-western has pretty much passed from the current scene, leaving a residue of Las-Vegasfied Nashville acts that might best be described as rock 'n' roll for old people. The golden age of the genre was early on, and featured such outstanding performers as Williams, Price, and Patsy Cline, with Willie Nelson presiding over the later manifestation of the form.

It's time for country to take its rightful place alongside rock 'n' roll as an expression of artistic democracy. And lest we forget, there were performers in that long-ago time who incorporated elements of both forms, "rockabillies" such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly. Together, rock and country were embraced by a public which, however willing to swallow junk politics it may be, was unwilling to accept the dreadful and odious cacaphony of ugly sounds Madison Avenue tried to palm off on them as music. The American public may not know much, but it knows what it likes.