My Unkind Letter to Mother Maybelle Carter

Grave of Mother Maybelle Carter. 
Photo courtesy Gary Firstenberg.

To my shame I once wrote an unkind letter to the much respected and now legendary Mother Maybelle Carter. I was young, a hippie artist and idealist at the time. I had just purchased her newly released double album of 1973 and was more than a little disappointed. I'll explain why in a minute.

I was attending Ohio University in Athens, Ohio at the time. My eclectic mix of musical interests ran the gamut from Bowie to Velvet Underground to Jefferson Airplane, Beatles, Stones and all the various forms of rock and roll, to jazz, classical, folk and bluegrass. 

My own family roots were Kentucky and West Virginia so that my "native tongue" could be considered to be bluegrass. The college hosted a long weekend Folk Festival in 1971 in which many familiar names were present. Mary Travers, The Youngbloods, Doc Watson and many others were there. There were three days of workshops during the day, with a lot of spontaneous bluegrass immersion.

The following year the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's major hit triple album was released, Will the Circle Be Unbroken Mother Maybelle was featured on this album but I also listened some older records with A.P Carter. Maybe the soundtrack for Deliverance popularized the genre and made it mainstream. Whatever reason I was drawn to it, just as I had been to earlier folk music. 

Mother Maybelle's 1973 double album

So when Mother Maybelle's Mother Maybelle Carter album was released, I purchased it as soon as I saw it. I really don't know what I expected but my first and immediate reaction was something akin to Greil Marcus's response to Bob Dylan's Self Portrait. 

Why? Three reasons. First: It was all instrumental. What happened to the songs? I was a lyrics guy. I liked Nine Pound Hammer and Tennessee Stud for the stories. Second: the album included a bunch of studio chatter that was fun and seemingly original on Will the Circle Be Unbroken and now came across as cliche. Third: It seemed to me something that was assembled to capitalize on her name. Record companies like Columbia are in it for the money but I held it against her personally. 

Oh well. It wasn't the first time I said something unkind that I'd later regret. It may have been the first time I wrote something unkind to someone of stature, and thankfully the last (if my memory serves me well.)

I just finished listening to it again on YouTube, the first time in near 50 years. (You can listen to it here. It's friendly and warm, and it's unpretentious.) I'm hoping that whoever opened that letter discarded it before she ever laid eyes on it. And when I meet her on the other side, I'll ask her forgiveness just in case she opened it herself.

Not All Dylan Tributes Are Created Equal: A Review of Doug West's Tangled Up In Bluegrass

Enthusiasm for the songs of Bob Dylan cross all genres of music. It wouldn't surprise me at all find that some of his tunes have even been performed on bagpipes. So there's little surprise in finding a Dylan-themed album featuring that rich bluegrass sound.

For the record, I've been into bluegrass more than four decades, purchasing the original Will the Circle Be Unbroken triple album and some Mother Maybelle Carter back when I was in college. I've played harmonicas since I went to Ohio U in 1970 and enjoy the sound that emanates from those Appalachian hills where my roots are. I'm a regular listener to the Bluegrass Review on public radio, performed with a jugband (a bluegrass sibling) and to this day own a modest share of bluegrass albums.

So when I discovered that there was a bluegrass CD comprised of Dylan tunes, I said, “What the heck” and I sprang for it. The original release date is cited as 2008, though the two reviews on amazon.com are dated 2001 and 2002.

Tangled Up In Bluegrass is all instrumental, featuring the usual bluegrass instrumentation — banjo, guitars, fiddle, mandolin, and bass primarily, but hammered dulcimer, tambourine and keyboards in various combinations. In short, it’s a bluegrass outfit who likes to play Dylan music. The producer is David West, who also did the mixing and contributed in one fashion of another to every song. Without question, the performers are exceptional.

My only problem here is that when you hear a song like Love Sick, it just isn’t quite the same without the anguished vocals that Dylan brings to the mix. Like a Rolling Stone is one of rock’s greatest songs, but in the bluegrass genre it’s…. well, missing something.

When I first listened to the CD I can’t recall if I even finished it. The absence of Dylan’s tone was fully apparent and initially off-putting. A long while later I tried another run at it. Same result. It just wasn’t doing it for me.

Because of some recent housecleaning (i.e. trying to get rid of some of my possessions) I considered offering Tangled to whoever wanted it amongst my Facebook friends. But first, I decided to give it one more listen while working on a painting in my studio. And guess what….? I found myself humming along in places, and at one point it seemed necessary to break into a Zumba-esque cardiovascular dance workout.

That Dylan himself enjoys bluegrass-style instrumentation is a given. You can hear is quite often in many of his later albums, most notably High Water (For Charley Patton), a song he's now played more than 500 times on his Never Ending Tour.

For what it's worth, this might be a good addition to your collection if you're someone compelled to collect all things Dylan. My advice would be to go into it with your eyes open. Here's one of the reviews from Amazon.com where you can purchase it.

Warning: this is an all-instrumental album! I was looking for bluegrass covers of Dylan with *vocals*. The reason Dylan is great and brilliant is his vocals. Because I know the original songs, I can still hear the words in my head when I listen to this, but that's not enough. If that's what you're looking for, I rate it as good.

David West, who was born in 1952 -- approximately four weeks before I -- was a co-founder in 1974 of the Cache Valley Drifters and like Dylan continues to write and perform music to this day, all over the world.

Here's a second review from Amazon...

The musicianship on this album is astounding. It, truly is a marvelous musical journey --- worthy to be placed in the Dylan section of your local record shop. It's commendable seeing the musical side of Dylan explored in as much depth as his lyrics command.

The CD is sub-titled A Tribute to the Music of Bob Dylan, which it is.

* * * *

Steve Martin Does It Again

Over the Christmas holidays I read Steve Martin's novel, An Object of Beauty, which gives an inside look to the machinations of the art scene. It is itself a work of art.

This past week, Martin released his second bluegrass CD, displaying his virtuosity once more with the five-string banjo... as well as creative presentation. I mean, every facet of this release is nuanced to an aesthetically high degree. It's not just a fancy package to sell a CD. Clearly, Martin wants every aspect of this project to complement the others like a high class five-course meal, including the very finest wine. There's also a wonderful booklet with that little extra background for the songs, equally delightful.

The CD is called Rare Bird Alert and clearly Martin is having fun. The band he has recorded with is the talented Steep Canyon Rangers, but there are also some special guests including Sir Paul, who hardly sounds like a Brit in the song Best Love which Martin wrote for his wife. How apropos that McCartney would be invited to croon a love song.

I've given Rare Bird Alert two spins this week and will continue to give it personal air time. The thirteen songs in this package include Atheists Don't Have No Songs, which I first saw on YouTube last fall. As many bluegrass lovers know, gospel music is an recurring theme in the genre. Martin felt that since Christians of all stripes have their music in its various forms, atheists ought to have one, too, and so he wrote this one... performed in that men's quartet gospel style. Guaranteed to make you grin.

Rare Bird Alert is saturated with Martinesque wit. One song, for example, is called Women Like to Slow Dance, but it's played superfast. Another is titled Go Away, Stop, Turn Around, Come Back.

All in all, it's an essential recording that will be at home in any bluegrass collection or Steve Martin collection... or both.

It seems there are numerous YouTube vids featuring Atheists Don't Have No Songs, but I liked this one from the 2010 New Orleans Jazzfest.