I am behind the times as usual. I heard this on Sirius' Bluegrass Junction channel yesterday: "Pistol and the Pen".
While perhaps somewhat unusual as a Bluegrass song, folk music has always had a lot of morbid elements to it, and somebody said that a lot of Bluegrass is "boy-meets-girl, boy-kills-girl, boy-goes-to-prison". I see that the video seems to be associated with the death of Country singer Mindy McCready with whom I was unfamiliar prior to her taking her own life earlier this year.
The juxtaposition of the pen and the pistol is one that I can understand. It reminds me of the manly Robert Service poem, "The Quitter". Webb offers a modern, civilized version for those of us caught in the desperation of what may sometimes seem to be a life of pointless suffering. I suppose not everyone can relate, but a lot of us have found the pen to be an effective flotation device when sinking in a sea of despair, pain, and chaos.
Showing posts with label bluegrass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bluegrass. Show all posts
Monday, April 15, 2013
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
By the Mark
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him just like He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3
The other day Rick quoted Matthew 20:20-28 about the mother of James and John coming to Jesus and requesting that her sons have places on the right and left hand of the Lord in the Kingdom. In response Jesus asks first if they are willing and able to drink of His cup, or, in other words, to suffer with and for Him. They answer, somewhat overconfidently I suspect, that they are able. Still, the Lord says, even though you will do that, those positions of authority are not necessarily for you.
I had a friend many years ago who was an engineer and quite a bright man. In addition to being a good engineer, he was a licensed minister in a large Protestant denomination. He told me once that he thought all his life he was destined for great things. He married a woman who had the same belief about herself and him. She studied music and was a decent pianist. I liked them both, though I was not always comfortable with them. They were, in a word, flakes. Eventually, the flaky, grandiose thinking led them to do some really stupid things and wreck their lives. A cold analyst would have asked them, since they had never accomplished anything of notable significance, where did they get their delusions of grandeur?
Others of us may have to guard against a tendency to go too far in the other direction, thinking that worth is solely a function of what we do rather than what we are. To crave fame and status is an alluring trap. To think we will never amount to anything, that we are unimportant, and that what we do makes no difference is just as dangerous. We really are children of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, reconciled to our Father through the Cross. While it is a glorious truth, it does not mean that we are destined to any glory or renown in this life.
It may be best not to think of it as “this life”. It is this journey, or this path. No matter how we perceive it, it is a path of purification, whether we plunge into the filth and are cleansed through suffering, or we reach some point of awareness where we purify ourselves. Ridding ourselves of the clinging delusion is why we are here. I have even started to wonder if this isn’t why I have had such a struggle as I have been going systematically through First John. Is there something in this little letter that strips away the dullness, that wipes the fog off the mirror and allows me to see more clearly who I am?
We are children of God. Children have lots of ideas of what it is like to be an adult. One of the endearing things about little ones is how they perceive what their parents and other adults are doing or saying. They are trying to understand, with mixed results, why certain things happen. It is sad to see a child, with that limited comprehension, forced to “grow up” too soon. I think our Father in heaven is careful about this. He knows what we can handle. He knows when to let us play. He also knows when to push us, to pull back the veil and show us more of the truth, because worse than growing up too fast is not growing up at all.
I am not sure how that works: “…when He appears, we shall be like Him because we will see Him just like He is.” Does that mean that seeing Him will transform us? Or does it mean that when He appears to us, we will realize that we have been transformed? Both? When I see Jesus, I will see who I really am, and I will be awestruck. When John talks about “this hope”, he’s talking about the hope of seeing the Lord, the hope of obtaining even a glimpse of the Real and the True. When I see the Lord, I won’t have questions. The face of God will be the glass in which I see. I will understand all that I have endured. By the light of His countenance, I will read the message in my scars.
Blessed are the pure in heart, Jesus said. Why? Because they shall see God.
I will know my Savior
When I come to Him
By the mark
Where the nails have been.
(David Rawlings/Gillian Welch)
If you can find it, Dailey and Vincent, on their eponymous CD, do a definitive version of “By the Mark”.
Friday, May 22, 2009
An Encouraging Word: Bluegrass
As burned out as I have been at work, I slipped away early yesterday and took in some Bluegrass performances. Bluegrass often involves the work of families or family members -- the Monroe Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, the Osborne Brothers, the Whites, the Cox Family -- just to name a few. What I saw yesterday were all family bands.
The Downing Family from Catoosa, OK, is a Bluegrass Gospel group, and they are really a family -- Dad, two adult daughters, and a son-in-law, along with their banjo player, Dave Tindale. Luke Miller, the son-in-law, not only does great vocal work, but he does some decent guitar-picking in the breaks. The sisters' vocals are extraordinary. There was a CD playing before the show started, and, having never seen the band before, I did not realize there were two women in the line up -- on fiddle and mandolin as well as vocals. It was annoying me that I couldn't place the voices. I tried to get it to sound like Rhonda Vincent, Alison, or perhaps Claire Lynch but nothing quite matched. Then the band came out, the girls started singing, and I was blown away, and not for the last time.
The Downings were the middle group I saw. The first family band was the Stockdale Family out of Ohio -- a father and four sons. Calvin, the oldest of the boys (all home schooled like the Downing sisters), does most of the talking and singing along with playing the banjo. He's twenty-one and attending Hillsdale College. There's some switching off on the instruments, but the best instrumentalist in a group of very good pickers is the fiddle-playing brother -- who happens to be the Ohio State Champion in the under 18 class. Individually the boys do not have great voices but as a group they have a good, traditional sound. They also have a blast performing. Along with their wholesome sense of humor and stage presence, they put on a terrific show.
They have apparently been on the TV show "Wife Swap" in which they traded mothers with a Rap music family from Chicago. Having been informed of this, we watched as they changed headgear and launched into a bit of "Rap-grass". Afterward someone in the audience asked who wrote the rap number. Calvin explained that it was a collaboration, and, he added, "No offense to rappers, but it's pretty easy to write a rap song. For one thing we didn't have to write any music -- except our chorus."
The last group I was able to catch was the Walker Family from Palmer, Alaska. They are also known as the Redhead Express. The reason for this becomes obvious when the four teenage girls walk out on stage. The oldest daughter, Kendra, is a good guitar picker with flaming red hair and an impressive vocal range, and not just a range -- this girl is an artist. She can sing. I really was blown away, again. They also did one of the songs she has written. I'm glad they performed it before we were told the girl had written it. It's good. Dad and Mom are out there as well, and they are both excellent singers -- the father especially will do for a Bluegrass bass. With this group, the outstanding instrumentalist is again the main fiddle player. I apologize for not remembering the names better -- I think this one is Alisa. She's sixteen and doubles on the mandolin, which smokes when she takes hold of it. She seems to be an alto, but can sing much lower -- almost in a baritone range, as she did on a bluegrassed version of the Ernest Tubb classic "Thanks A Lot". This number included a touch of comedy with her younger sister, age thirteen, who pushed her way into the song with her big upright bass. Kendra may be the star, but if you see this group and don't fall in love with Alisa, have somebody live check your pulse.
The eighteen-year-old daughter plays the banjo, provides great harmony with her sisters, and is sort of a clown, reminding me a little of the part June Carter played in the Carter Family. She does something that not everyone can do, managing to bring the audience into the performance.
Even more laughs came with the youngest members of the family, three boys, came out on stage and did "Man of Constant Sorrows" in O, Brother Where Art Thou fake beards, hats, and bib overalls. Unlike Clooney, these boys, from probably age five to eight, did all their own singing.
I caught bits and pieces of a couple of other bands, the Gold Heart Sisters and the Next Best Thing. Both sounded very good, and I regretted that I was unable to enjoy their whole show.
What I saw were people who think like me -- not just because they love Bluegrass, but because they believe in family, in Christian principles, and in the wonder of life. Other than the Walkers, I don't know how many of these groups are singing Bluegrass for a living, but they are singing for life, to bring joy into the lives of others. Almost everyone except the parents in all the groups I saw were under thirty-five, most were under twenty-one.
It's easy to think all young people are like the ones who make the evening news, or who are portrayed in movies and on television as disaffected and disturbed. We notice the ones covered in metal and tattoos -- they want us to. We sometimes fail to see the kids who are "normal". The kids I saw yesterday were well-adjusted, informed, intelligent, and talented. They were not raised under a glass dome. They will faces challenges and suffer loss and disappointments. Some already have. They will be all right. They are the true descendants of the people who built this nation, and if America falls, they will be the ones who will build again, on the old foundations.
I feel better today.
The Downing Family from Catoosa, OK, is a Bluegrass Gospel group, and they are really a family -- Dad, two adult daughters, and a son-in-law, along with their banjo player, Dave Tindale. Luke Miller, the son-in-law, not only does great vocal work, but he does some decent guitar-picking in the breaks. The sisters' vocals are extraordinary. There was a CD playing before the show started, and, having never seen the band before, I did not realize there were two women in the line up -- on fiddle and mandolin as well as vocals. It was annoying me that I couldn't place the voices. I tried to get it to sound like Rhonda Vincent, Alison, or perhaps Claire Lynch but nothing quite matched. Then the band came out, the girls started singing, and I was blown away, and not for the last time.
The Downings were the middle group I saw. The first family band was the Stockdale Family out of Ohio -- a father and four sons. Calvin, the oldest of the boys (all home schooled like the Downing sisters), does most of the talking and singing along with playing the banjo. He's twenty-one and attending Hillsdale College. There's some switching off on the instruments, but the best instrumentalist in a group of very good pickers is the fiddle-playing brother -- who happens to be the Ohio State Champion in the under 18 class. Individually the boys do not have great voices but as a group they have a good, traditional sound. They also have a blast performing. Along with their wholesome sense of humor and stage presence, they put on a terrific show.
They have apparently been on the TV show "Wife Swap" in which they traded mothers with a Rap music family from Chicago. Having been informed of this, we watched as they changed headgear and launched into a bit of "Rap-grass". Afterward someone in the audience asked who wrote the rap number. Calvin explained that it was a collaboration, and, he added, "No offense to rappers, but it's pretty easy to write a rap song. For one thing we didn't have to write any music -- except our chorus."
The last group I was able to catch was the Walker Family from Palmer, Alaska. They are also known as the Redhead Express. The reason for this becomes obvious when the four teenage girls walk out on stage. The oldest daughter, Kendra, is a good guitar picker with flaming red hair and an impressive vocal range, and not just a range -- this girl is an artist. She can sing. I really was blown away, again. They also did one of the songs she has written. I'm glad they performed it before we were told the girl had written it. It's good. Dad and Mom are out there as well, and they are both excellent singers -- the father especially will do for a Bluegrass bass. With this group, the outstanding instrumentalist is again the main fiddle player. I apologize for not remembering the names better -- I think this one is Alisa. She's sixteen and doubles on the mandolin, which smokes when she takes hold of it. She seems to be an alto, but can sing much lower -- almost in a baritone range, as she did on a bluegrassed version of the Ernest Tubb classic "Thanks A Lot". This number included a touch of comedy with her younger sister, age thirteen, who pushed her way into the song with her big upright bass. Kendra may be the star, but if you see this group and don't fall in love with Alisa, have somebody live check your pulse.
The eighteen-year-old daughter plays the banjo, provides great harmony with her sisters, and is sort of a clown, reminding me a little of the part June Carter played in the Carter Family. She does something that not everyone can do, managing to bring the audience into the performance.
Even more laughs came with the youngest members of the family, three boys, came out on stage and did "Man of Constant Sorrows" in O, Brother Where Art Thou fake beards, hats, and bib overalls. Unlike Clooney, these boys, from probably age five to eight, did all their own singing.
I caught bits and pieces of a couple of other bands, the Gold Heart Sisters and the Next Best Thing. Both sounded very good, and I regretted that I was unable to enjoy their whole show.
What I saw were people who think like me -- not just because they love Bluegrass, but because they believe in family, in Christian principles, and in the wonder of life. Other than the Walkers, I don't know how many of these groups are singing Bluegrass for a living, but they are singing for life, to bring joy into the lives of others. Almost everyone except the parents in all the groups I saw were under thirty-five, most were under twenty-one.
It's easy to think all young people are like the ones who make the evening news, or who are portrayed in movies and on television as disaffected and disturbed. We notice the ones covered in metal and tattoos -- they want us to. We sometimes fail to see the kids who are "normal". The kids I saw yesterday were well-adjusted, informed, intelligent, and talented. They were not raised under a glass dome. They will faces challenges and suffer loss and disappointments. Some already have. They will be all right. They are the true descendants of the people who built this nation, and if America falls, they will be the ones who will build again, on the old foundations.
I feel better today.
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