HOW DARE BEYONCE, to invade their "safe white musical space"!!!

[underpants]

12. Radio and Joe.

A musician I worked with gave me a different perspective on country. He was in a rock band for 25 years. They started as a punk band but he loved country too. Basically the great majority of the most talented musicians were in country music because it was really the only game in town. Yes the urban areas had big band, R&B, etc but for pretty much everywhere else it was country BEFORE the English invasion.

So you are musically inclined and live anywhere outside the I95 corridor north of DC or Chicago or Memphis, The Grand Ole Opry was “appointment” radio. Everyone listened every Saturday night. Mind you these were people born with the talent. The only lessons were from other people so talented in your area.

For instance Conway Twitty. I knew him as this polyester clad giant hairdo guy on Hee Haw. He was a lights out guitar player. He was happy to just play honkie tonks but his wife said HELL NO - you ARE the act. Put your name in it and make all the money. He became a front man usually as singer.


In a Woodstock documentary I saw they told the story of signing Joe Cocker sight unseen. If he came fine if not oh well. When he got on stage in that life altering performance (the movie made him) half the crew backstage had thought he was black and the other half were asking if they put him on stage as a joke. They thought something was “wrong with him”. Several were trying to pull the plug because they thought it was a sick joke.