So last night we went to see WILLIE NELSON at Chastain in Atlanta (outdoors, perfect weather, amazingly good acoustics).
The opening performer–who was not listed anywhere and a surprise to me–was Jamey Johnson. He has to be the very best of the new country performers. He has that manly traditional kind of country voice, and he can really sing. He writes his own songs without the usual Nashville expert help, and they also are pretty traditional in form. He was backed by a fantastic country-rock band. My favorite title: “The High Cost of Livin’ Ain’t Nothing Like the Cost of Livin’ High.”
Johnson also did a very pure version of A LONG BLACK VEIL. But the reason I’m writing: His most memorable performance was the BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA version of AMAZING GRACE, which is to the tune of THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN. That change slows the song down, mutes its longing, and so makes the lyric more serious and almost matter-of-fact. The words fit the new tune perfectly. You can Google the BLIND BOYS’ version. But Johnson’s more country-traditional approach is, as they say, even more haunting.
It turns out there were a lot of Johnson fans in the sold-out crowd. The country guys just below us knew every word to every song. It’s not often that the opening act gets a sustained standing ovation and calls for more.
But, of course, Willie is no danger of being overshadowed by anyone.
His show–which was somewhere near two hours without a break–was touching because it was so minimalist. The only guitar sound came from him, and you wouldn’t have wanted more. He indulged the audience with hit after hit and sing-along after sing-along.
The highpoint of the evening was his standard Gospel trilogy–I’LL FLY AWAY, I SAW THE LIGHT, and AMAZING GRACE. The whole crowd was standing and everyone knew all the words.
Willie’s version of AMAZING GRACE is more standard and so more joyful and exhuberent. Joining him on stage–amazingly–were Jimmy and Rosalynne Carter. So don’t get all ideological about the ex-president. He is a sincere Christian of some sort, and it was just great to see those two very old guys giving it their all together. Jim is not particularly admired by any country crowd in Georgia, but he still got a huge ovation. Maybe he really was once lost but now is found.
One reason you should all move SOUTH is to see shows like this, with Amazing Grace showing up in two equally wonderful ways.
Willie Nelson, of course, is not listed in the studies about what white people like. The audience, of course, was 98% white in the city in America with the highest percentage of prosperous and visible blacks.
All kinds of white people were there, and so not mainly the sophisticated and trendy people to whom the studies refer. All kinds of white people also means all ages–from senior citizens who wish they were young to teenagers dressed all country for the occasion.
June 16th, 2012 | 1:09 pm
I know what you mean that Mr. Carter is some ‘sort of Christian.’ I know a lot of ‘those people’ and perhaps you might do an analysis of the pathology that brings about ‘that’ kind of Christianity?
But, as my wife is want to remind me, God is the judge.
Also, as a ‘folk’ music fan I suffer from the dearth of conservative singers/song writers and, indeed, the apparent demise of the genre.
I’m glad you had some country fun. Having a vision of you sitting among the common class, clapping to the music, and giving a ‘he-ha’ now and then warms the heart and gives hope.
June 17th, 2012 | 7:54 am
lovely review. i was there, too. i timed the show at around 90 minutes, not bad for a 79-year-old who routinely used to do shows up to, oh, 2-hours, 30-minutes not that many years ago. of course, willie spent about 20 minutes more signing autographs for fans in front of the stage. then, he took about another 15 minutes or so slowly making his way to his bus, stopping to chat individually with around 20 people who lined the way, signing what autographs when sought and having his picture taken with any fan who had a camera.
musically, the intersting thing these days is that he is now the band’s only guitarist, Jody Payne having retired about five years ago. sometimes 22-year-old son Lukas opens shows for him (he’s on Willie’s latest cd, Heroes) and then plays in his daddy’s part of the show. that means that when he’s the only guitarist, Willie plays alot more lead than even he used to. and on this show Willie had a steel guitarist, which he hasn’t had in decades. (i don’t count the steel as a regular guitarist, and he actually might have been with the opening act. not sure.)
i’m not sure i can actually think of a politcally “conservative” folkie, as such, from the past. alot of acts never talked politics publicly. Willie, of course, is something of a populist liberal, having supported democrat Dennis Kusinich (sp?) in the last two presidential races. he was a strong supporter of democrat Ann Richards when she ran for gov of texas, losing to bush II. and one time he strongly supported a candidate for governor in kentucky whose primary issue was marijuana legalization.
Willie and Carter seem to have something of a special bond going back at least to Carter’s presidency. among other things, Carter asked him to sing at his nobel-prize ceremony. it was sort of humorous that when the gospel medley ended in atlanta, with amazing grace, and Carter was walking off the stage, Willie broke into one of his latest songs: “roll me up and smoke me when i die.” lol.
Willie considers himself a beer-drinking christian, as he once said: “people like that do exist.” he taught sunday school in his early career, but a church elder said he couldn’t teach sunday school and play honky tonks at night. we know what choice he made. and it’s a better world for it.
June 17th, 2012 | 7:56 am
Good for Jimmy, and Jamey’s good.
Robert, I’m not very partial to the lone folk singer/songwriter format–lends itself to too much formless whining, especially in the hands of young female singers, but I don’t thing the folk genre is dead or dying. In fact, in our less musically-skilled and less renumerative-opportunities-for-musician times, the lone or small-combo folk act is one of the few things musicians can reliably pull off, economics-wise especially. I did a Songbook post on Joe Pug, who is pretty good at the early Dylan style.
All of the better of these acts are steeped in country music. On that note, several of my Christian-yet-hip friends are particularly fond of Billy and Julie Miller. No idea of their politics. Lots of quiet meditative songs, which sometimes bore me, but they also know how to liven things up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxdMQZGfZfM&feature=related
June 17th, 2012 | 8:26 am
JTF, Thanks for the excellent comments. It may be a sign of my age that I thought the Willie part show was a little longer than it was. Overall, it was pretty much very close to three hours of pure enjoyment. Will introduced the “roll me up song” as something like his newest gospel song. He sang that new tune with Jamey on the TV country awards, which my wife saw and loved. I don’t see that much of a contradiction in being a drinkin’ and even dope smokin’ Christian, especially for a Baptist. Those who do a lot of sinnin’ need a lot of forgivin’, and so it’s especially amazing that they too get saved with lots of grace. Will don’t preach except through his singular example and his choice of songs–I appreciate the show’s highligting of Kris K and Hank W. President Jimmy unfortunately does preach a lot. He should do a bit more drinkin’ and medicinal smokin’. In both cases, though, it’s remarkable how healthy the old guys are and that there’s minds are still fairly sound. JTF–are you living in Atlanta?
June 17th, 2012 | 9:07 am
PL:
was born and raised in atlanta but live in alabama now. always make willie’s atlanta gigs (and others relatively nearby. you may know he played the taberncal last feb.)
you are right. only self-righteous hypocrites (my term) would believe a beer drinker/smoker cannot be a christian. willie clearly considers himself to be one. all of his shows going back at least 35 years (when i first saw him) have included a gospel medley, and he’s cut about 4 (albeit relatively obscure) gospel albums, going back to the 1970s. rolling stone did a cover story on him back around, oh, 1978, titled “holy man of the honky tonks.” he is that, in some ways, but he’s not judgemental. he knows that’s somebody else’s job.
by the way, Willie’s taken alot better care of himself than many of his fans realize. i think he was running several miles a day well into his 50s and maybe longer.
June 17th, 2012 | 9:50 am
So Willie has the gospel stuff in common with Elvis. But he is, you’re right, a health-conscious guy. The rebel outlaw image was pretty much a self-invention that he manages better than people imagine. Willie was in Rome, GA in February. Not quite a sell-out. He looked tired. Didn’t have the steel guitar. Got on the big bus and hustled out of town right after his last song. He looked very appreciative and happy in Atlanta. The reason the concert ended when it did, I’m told, is that Chastain is stifled by a noise ordinance that prohibits performances after 11.
June 17th, 2012 | 12:14 pm
” I don’t see that much of a contradiction in being a drinkin’ and even dope smokin’ Christian, especially for a Baptist. Those who do a lot of sinnin’ need a lot of forgivin’, and so it’s especially amazing that they too get saved with lots of grace.”
Absolutely right, Peter, and thanks for the comment. However, I was referring to those Democrats who see themselves as ‘Christians’ while being card carrying members of a political organization that, like the Nazi’s of Germany, have codified the slaughter of the innocents and may be on the verge of doing the same for the American elderly.
We’re all flawed, however, being forgiven requires the abandonment of our evil ways. It strikes me that conflating Christianity with the contemporary Democrat Party is at least a non sequitor, or blasphemous, or really, really wrong in the big sense of that word.
I’m pretty sure Jimmy Carter was president when the Democrats hammered in the abortion plank to the national party platform?
June 17th, 2012 | 12:37 pm
in recent years he has been leaving pretty much after the show. but if some people are standing there waiting for him, he’ll stop. i have seen him sign autographs for 2 hrs after a show, people politely lined up.
i think there is a noise rodinance, but i’m pretty sure his contract prescribes when he starts and how long he plays.
i saw him play rome, maybe, i don’t know, 4 yrs ago maybe, and he signed autographs for quite a while.
June 17th, 2012 | 12:45 pm
4 years ago (I think it was the same show) it was well short of a sell-out and I got up on stage and shook hands with Willie. Don’t have the picture to prove it. But I can present witnesses.
June 17th, 2012 | 5:28 pm
Carl, I think you’re mostly right about the whinny, commie-fems and I have no knowledge of the contemporary folk music scene, other than there are no new Joan Baez recordings available, and I’m happy to admit she’s the doyenne of commie-fem singers, but my, my what a voice.
Sadly, I don’t think she can get a contract.
For some reason the Bob Dylan clones never did it for me. There’s only one dude who could write, “Spanish Boots, of Spanish leather…”
But, in other aspects John Prine is great and praise God he’s survived cancer, and I’ma figurin’ we really wasn’t a clone, plus he actually came from Muhlenburg County.
June 17th, 2012 | 10:13 pm
PL:
think we must have gone to different shows. the two i’ve seen in rome in the last, oh, six years, were pretty full but maybe not sellouts. if he hadn’t drawn a crowd the first time, they wouldn’t have brought him back another time or two.
June 18th, 2012 | 7:04 am
So my wife says it was closer to sold out than I said. Still we were able to walk right up to the stage near the end.
June 18th, 2012 | 10:06 am
Another correction: its Buddy and Julie Miller that I linked to above, not Billy.
Billy Miller was the editor of Kicks.
June 18th, 2012 | 7:35 pm
I now have a couple of confirmation of my perception that Willie never quite sells out Rome, which is a tough town. Once saw Johnny Cash in the HS football stadium that was less than half full. Saw the Indigo Girls (don’t judge) in the city auditorium that only holds maybe 700–empty seats nonetheless. Saw Bob Dylan in the convention center in nearby Dalton, GA that was nowhere near packed and was able to stand about 20 feet from Bob and his band. It was one of his relatively good singing nights and he stayed with crowd pleasing hits. Last fact: First saw Willie in 1979 in Lakeland, FL at I guess was the height of his popularity.
June 20th, 2012 | 7:22 am
My son and I have been on an extended study of traditional, folk, and blues music lately, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Son House, The Carter Family, Bob Wills, Robert Johnson, etc. Realizing that Willie is both old and the genuine article, we need to see him SOON.
I remember finding out about the Johnny Cash show in Rome as we were driving by when it was almost over. Sad. But we saw him at the Billy Graham crusade in Atlanta not much afterward.
I agree that Buddy and Julie Miller are good, but my favorite of the “troubled Christian” / “folk-rock” genre is Bill Mallonee/Vigilantes of Love, originally from Athens, GA. My favorite lyricist, and a great roots rock musician. They even got their stamp of approval by having Peter Buck of REM produce a record. Still very active, Bill released “The Power and the Glory” last year, and “Amber Waves” will be out soon. They are on Spotify if you want a free listen that supports the musicians.
June 23rd, 2012 | 7:39 pm
Many thanks for the tip on Jamey Johnson – I downloaded the albums from iTunes on the weekend and am really loving it
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