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Post by erik on Jan 8, 2020 10:00:07 GMT -5
It is January 8th, so two birthday shout-outs are in order.
The first is to a man who would have turned 85 today had things gone better. But he still remains The King, as can be gleaned from this excerpt from his 1968 NBC-TV special:
And the second is to this gal, one of the leading lights of the Americana music world this century. She is Tift Merritt, someone that Robert and I have been talking up since she came onto the scene way back in 2002 with her album Bramble Rose. Here she is with a live version of a song, "Icarus", from her 2017 album Stitch Of The World. She turns 45 today, having been born on January 8, 1975 in Houston:
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2020 15:19:25 GMT -5
I was thinking of this today.. There will be countless tributes to Elvis, and here's another to Tift, showing what modern country SHOULD be...
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Post by erik on Jan 8, 2020 19:45:34 GMT -5
Tift, of course, is a marvel, with both her own original way of doing things while incorporating the "old-school" influences of forebears like Linda and Emmylou (and also Maria McKee). And it indeed is a bit embarrassing to see how much country music has fallen off the edge into the abyss of modern-day misogyny, given how much Tift could have contributed. Miranda Lambert definitely isn't enough, insofar as womenfolk go in country (IMHO).
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 8, 2020 23:49:44 GMT -5
Happy birthday to both. This country is lucky to have had such talented people.
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Post by erik on Jan 9, 2020 10:20:56 GMT -5
As Robert knows, I have often said that I lament that Tift isn't a bigger star beyond the Americana/alt-country genre she is a part of, because she has a very straight-from-the-heart way of communicating that, by her own admission, she got in no small part from Linda. But I also feel that she would have to make a lot of compromises to get to The Big Time, and I don't think she'd ever want to do that.
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Post by sliderocker on Jan 12, 2020 13:14:24 GMT -5
As Robert knows, I have often said that I lament that Tift isn't a bigger star beyond the Americana/alt-country genre she is a part of, because she has a very straight-from-the-heart way of communicating that, by her own admission, she got in no small part from Linda. But I also feel that she would have to make a lot of compromises to get to The Big Time, and I don't think she'd ever want to do that. I blame the way the music industry has lost its way trying to keep up with ever changing technologies. It seems as though the artists who should be making a big impression have gotten lost in the transition of technologies. Tift should be bigger than she is. The MonaLisa Twins are in the same boat. They should be bigger than what they are and they are just not getting the push they deserve to make it. But, a belated happy birthday to Tift and a birthday remembrance of Elvis on what would've been his 85th birthday. It's sad to think Elvis has now been dead longer than he was living, and that just isn't right. |
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