Americana

Pokey La Farge

1) TRUMP 

Trump is back. Once again America has turned its back on decency, respect, and empathy and elected a morally bankrupt oligarch. It feels like a huge backward step in terms of the evolution of civil society. Furthermore, as someone else wrote, I cannot respect anyone who voted for this man. But it hurts to see a culture, a country that in so many ways was such a beacon in our lives sell its soul to the devil. Ironically so, as it is the religious right that helped propel Trump to power a second time.

2)      RIP GARTH HUDSON

A few days ago the final surviving member of The Band, Garth Hudson, passed away. Not just any band, THE Band. The Band who made history with Music from Big Pink. The band that backed Bob Dylan.  A band that according to many pundits changed everything. Eric Clapton was playing in supergroup Blind Faith when he first heard The Band and says he immediately knew he had to leave the band and do something better, more significant.

As we so often hear these days, God is calling the musicians of our generation home. But the passing of Garth Hudson feels like a milestone. The Band are the first of the significant 70s bands that have all passed away. All five members have left this earth. They have all played their Last Waltz. It feels quite numbing. Just another indicator that my generation is moving on. And it feels like just a taste of what it might be like to live long enough to see most of your friends move on before you.

The Band crossed many musical frontiers and accordingly their potential appeal was vast. They were part country, part bluegrass, part folk, part rock, part blues, part soul with even a sprinkling of jazz - largely due to the musical wizardry of Garth Hudson. So wide was their catchment pool they are hailed as having invented a new genre: Americana.

Levon Helm was the first singing drummer I’d ever seen and I marvelled at his ability to keep time and sing complex melodies. He led the vocals on what became an anthem of a generation – The Weight. The Band certainly wrote plenty of their own material but also adapted traditional songs like Long Black Veil for a modern audience. In songs like The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down they used events from American history to tell musical stories. Everything they did was different and hard to categorise, and frequently featured quirky lyrics: “Up on Cripple Creek she sends me”,  “I pulled in to Nazareth, feelin’ bout half past dead”.

Establishing a new genre is no mean feat. This, and the fact that their musical output was wide and varied, with several songs that are already considered classics (eg add Chest Fever to the abovementioned), the fact that they hooked their wagon to the Dylan phenomenon, and the fact they had the temerity to call themselves THE Band, should ensure their place in modern musical history will be acknowledged well into the future.

3)     A COMPLETE UNKNOWN        

I really enjoyed this fine movie about the life of Bob Dylan. It was also an emotionally exhausting experience that laid bare my conflicting sentiments about America. A Complete Unknown focuses on so many things that are great about America; so many things that have been part of our cultural DNA. So many things that I love and are entwined in my own identity: Woody Guthrie, Peter Seeger, folk songs. Telling stories of the people, defending the rights of the dispossessed, singing songs of justice.  And I felt anger growing inside me when I thought about the 74 million Americans that just re-elected Trump and in one foul swoop swept aside that America. The America of romance, dreams, and music. Trump has killed off Americana – at least for the time being.

There are stunning moments in A Complete Unknown that are deeply moving. One thing it does really well is make clear that these Dylan songs that have become anthems were all once played for the very first time. Joan Baez hears Blowin’ in the Wind the very first time in the kitchen of her flat and the look on her face shows that something amazing has just been born. The first time Dylan plays The Times They Are A-Changing at Newport Folk Festival people backstage similarly knew they were witnessing a pivotal moment in history. One of the greatest songs ever written was being born in front of them. It was profoundly moving and it was one of several times throughout this movie that the tears flowed.

Dylan really was remarkable. He really was somehow able to be the spokesperson of a time, of a generation. He captured that spirit and the dawning aspirations of millions and put them into spine-chilling words. Almost other-worldly.

It was an amazing time to be alive. My generation has seen so much transformational change. And until 2016 those changes felt like they were part of a world moving inexorably forward to a better place. But Trump’s re-election has once again shattered that myth. And maybe that’s all it was – a myth and not at all based in any reality. Maybe four years will pass, and the good ship America will right itself, and the world can move forward again. But I’m not at all hopeful. It might be that we need another Complete Unknown