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Remembering the music of George Jones

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:08:00 +0000

George Jones, the country superstar who consistently had No. 1 songs from the 1950s to 1990s, has died at 81. The musician's appeal crossed genres, as he was an inspiration to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Costello and James Taylor. Below are some of his best tunes from across the decades:

"He Stopped Loving Her Today"

George Jones - LIVE He Stopped Loving Her Today.3gp from Dana on Vimeo.

"The Grand Tour"

"I Don't Need Your Rocking Chair"

"She's My Rock"

"Race Is On"

George Jones dies at 81

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:26:00 +0000

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- George Jones, the peerless, hard-living country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaking classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today," has died. He was 81.

Publicist Kirt Webster says Jones died Friday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after being hospitalized with fever and irregular blood pressure.

Known for his clenched, precise baritone, Jones had No. 1 songs in five separate decades, 1950s to 1990s, and was idolized not just by fellow country singers, but by Frank Sinatra, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, James Taylor and countless others.

In a career that lasted more than 50 years, "Possum" recorded more than 150 albums and became the champion and symbol of traditional country music, a well-lined link to his hero, Hank Williams.

Margaret Thatcher, grotesque puppet

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:33:00 +0000

Of the many things for which Margaret Thatcher, who died Monday, will be remembered, surely one of her most enduring and oddest legacies will be role as a pop culture muse. She was a woman who could coax songs out of Elvis Costello and films from Stephen Frears and Derek Jarman. She was a television series plot point and a music video star. And she inspired, in part, because that lock-jawed, big-haired former British prime minister possessed that irresistible combination of being both easily imitable and widely loathed. The result was an astonishingly rich 35 years worth of rich inspiration.

Sure, if it weren't for Thatcher, we might not have had the miner's Strike and the poll tax riots, but give a woman credit for launching a whole lot of artists and their works. Almost four years ago to the day, when the U.K. Guardian reflected on her artistic legacy, Billy Bragg observed, "Whenever I'm asked to name my greatest inspiration, I always answer 'Margaret Thatcher.'"

BBC gets heat for censoring Elvis Costello’s 1979 hit “Oliver’s Army”

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:11:00 +0000

The BBC is fielding complaints for editing the 1979 Elvis Costello hit "Oliver's Army" on a 6 Music radio broadcast last week. The Mail reports that BBC censored the "one more widow, one less white nigger" lyric, despite the fact that the song has generally played uncensored on the radio for more than thirty years.

According to the Telegraph, one listener said, "‘Although it is not a nice phrase and I wouldn’t condone the use of the word these days, it is an anti-war song as far as I believe, arguing against British colonialism and the word would be appropriate for that song."

BBC DJs Mike Read and Trevor Nelson also criticized the censorship on a program called Feedback. Nelson called the conspicuous edit "a little patronizing," while Read said, "I think cutting a piece out and changing the whole tempo of the music simply draws attention to it. If you don’t like the sentiment or you don’t agree with the sentiment then don’t play it but to take the scissors and cut a bit out of it, I am sure Elvis Costello might have something to say about that."

“Nashville’s” Callie Khouri: “Watching two women go at it is boring”

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:30:00 +0000

Callie Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Thelma and Louise" and the director of "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," is responsible for one of the best, and certainly the most musical, new shows of the fall season: ABC's delightful, grounded soap opera "Nashville."

The show stars Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, an aging country music star embroiled in a love quadrangle, career trouble and a rivalry with a conniving, jealous younger musician played by Hayden Panettiere. It features original songs by the likes of Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams. (T Bone Burnett, who is Khouri's husband, is the show's executive music producer.)

With the series heading into its third week, Khouri spoke with me about how the show came to be, her disinterest in catfights and how much easier it is these days to make TV for women than it is to make films for women.

How did “Nashville” come about?

“Nashville”: “All About Eve” goes honky-tonk

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:12:00 +0000

“Nashville,” ABC’s new honky-tonk drama premiering Wednesday night, stars “Friday Night Light’s” Tami Taylor in a soap opera created by the writer of “Thelma & Louise” that is equal parts “All About Eve” and “Country Strong” and features songs from the likes of Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams. It’s possible there exists a Mad-Libs of a show I would be predisposed to like more, but I have no idea what it could be. Happily, “Nashville,” with its unexpected intelligence and surprisingly low-key attitude, not only met all my cockamamie expectations, it exceeded them. By a resounding clamor of y'alls, “Nashville” is the most enjoyable show of the new fall season.

Connie Britton stars as Rayna Jaymes, a good-hearted country music superstar in long standing. (Think Faith Hill, but with a distaste for doing crossover singles like “This Kiss.”) A married mother of two, Jaymes' new record is a flop, and her label wants her to either go on tour with its newly minted star Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) or junk the record. Barnes is a Taylor Swift with a bad attitude and a voracious sexual appetite (the songs that have been selected for the character actually sound like Swift’s, a nice detail), and she approaches Jaymes with all the pleasantness of a hissing cat.