http://blog.al.com/scenesource/2009/11/george_jones_carrie_underwood.html

OK, so you’ve probably already heard the comments George Jones made about country music.  For the record:

“When asked about what he thought about music by today's top country stars, the 78-year-old said while they are good, ‘they've stolen our identity.’

Jones made the comment during a recent interview when asked about music by artists like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.

‘They had to use something that was established already, and that's traditional country music. So what they need to do really, I think, is find their own title, because they're definitely not traditional country music,’ he said.

‘It's good to know that we still do traditional country music. Alan Jackson still does it, so does George Strait. We still have it, and there's quite a few of us that are going to hope that it comes back one of these days.’

My friend (and yours), Ben, has been saying this for years. He gets annoyed when people try to come up with a name for “traditional” or “classic” country.  He thinks our mainstream friends should change theirs – they’re the ones playing non-country music.

But I’d like to highlight what George said at the end of the article:

"Only thing I would like to keep accomplishing is music for my fans and achieving some goals to keep them happy with what I record in the future," Jones said. "I've done just about everything else. The good Lord's been good to me ... I'm going to enjoy the rest of my life."

Farbeit from me to argue with the Possum. He’s Da Man for sure.  But I would remind him that that last paragraph is TRULY what it’s all about.  Every artist is really only accountable to themselves.  I can rant and rave about the current state of country music. I can lament the fact that radio will NOT play music that is too “country”. But I make MY decisions for my music based on what I am happy with.  I’d remind George of a quote that he read to Juli Thanki in her interview with him for www.the9513.com. Waylon Jennings had given George a plaque with these words that Waylon said:

“You’ve got to care. You’ve got to care about the music. You work with other musicians who care, and your audience cares. You better care too, hoss, and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be doing it. You better not be doing it for the publicity, the fame, or the money. And you sure better not be doing it because it’s a way to make a living, ’cause that ain’t always gonna be easy. You got to believe it, believe in the music, you got to mean it, that’s all.”

I do wish mainstream “country” would find a new name. But why? Is it just so that we can categorize ourselves or find a place in radio or start a movement? If “country” is to make a comeback, it will do it on its own and by way of the music itself. Not because of a name or because the music is forced down people’s throats as mainstream music is.  Look at George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, and Randy Travis in the 80s. Look at Alison Krauss. Movements are because of music and artists and social culture. Period.

I don’t see “country” coming back. HOWEVER, I do see artists playing music that is inside of their souls touching other people. You can’t stop that. Maybe it won’t be hundreds of thousands of people. But is that REALLY what you’re all about?

Do what you love. Spread the word about what you love. The rest will take care of itself.

New download just for you. And Free. Imagine that.

Backstory:

In June of 2008, John Conquest included the following in his 3^rd Coast Music review of my CD “Between the Whiskey and the Wine”:

“Though she sails under the flag of convenience of honky tonk, she really sings and writes Hard Country, a subgenre, neatly summarized by the title of Barbara Ching’s book Wrong’s What I Do Best, that has all but fallen off the musical map, perhaps because it was so quickly coopted by countrypolitan.”

I read those words and thought, “This is the story of my freaking life.”  I’ve always been an outsider. Growing up, I was awkward looking, smart, played the violin and belonged to a religious group that didn’t allow for inclusion in many social situations. I was the ultimate nerd.

In some ways, that was good for me. I learned to be independent – used to being on the outside, I made decisions because they followed my own heart and path.  Although I continued to be constrained by a system of “What You Should Do”, I broke free several years ago. With 3 kids under the age of 3, I started (of all things) a honky tonk band.

And 3 years ago I started writing songs – nothing close to the mainstream – and even a little outside of typical honky tonk. I wrote songs about drinking heavily, divorce and cheating (if you want to classify the songs from a surface view, of course). At a deeper level, the songs were about soul – about losing yourself and heartache and longing and regret and love.

I continue along my path of “Wrong”.  I give away free music downloads. I sell my CDs at my shows for $5. I play most of my shows for only enough money to pay the band – my expenses come out of my own pocket.  Some shows I fund with my own money because I think they’re important. Fellow musicians think I’m nuts.

Musically, I continue to follow my heart. Whether it’s popular or hip or cool or whatever, I don’t give a crap.  I play the music that I love. I write the songs that I feel in my heart.

When I wrote this song, “Wrong Is What I Do Best”, I had my relationships in mind.  I think most of us feel this struggle of 2 people trying to live together – that each person feels they’re never quite doing the right thing. There’s always something wrong. They can’t ever make the other person happy. At some point you come to a level of acceptance – you are who you are. Wrong, good, bad, whatever the perception is. Personal growth is great, but at some level, I’m still going to be the same bitchy, cranky, caring, passionate, loveable ME.

I like to think that I do it well – that I do “Wrong” really well. Mainly, I just try to be true to myself – true to what’s in my own heart. That’s all I can do. Buck Owens wrote in “Streets of Bakersfield”, “I don’t want to be nobody – just want a chance to be myself.” And in that larger spectrum of life and relationships, that’s what we all want - to be ourselves and to (hopefully) be loved for that.

OH and ANOTHER WRONG – This is the title cut of the new CD. I KNOW that I’m setting myself up with the critics. It’s a nice open door to let them walk through. But the title reflects the place I was in when I wrote a lot of the songs on the CD and in some ways is my life's theme song. 

Album Cover Stuff And Other Oddities That Us Nerds Care About:

Lead and Harmony Vocals, Fiddle: Miss Leslie Sloan
Pedal Steel Guitar: Ricky Davis
Lead Guitar: Bill Kirchen
Electric Guitar:  Tommy Detamore
Acoustic Guitar: Dave Biller
Upright Bass: Ric Ramirez
Drums: Timmy Campbell

Songwriter: Miss Leslie Sloan
Publisher: Zero Label Publishing / BMI
Producer: Tommy Detamore/Ricky Davis
Recorded at: Cherry Ridge Studios, Floresville, TX
Record Label: Zero Label Records

Lyrics:

You say that it’s wrong – you’re tired of me leavin.
You’re tired of my late nights, drunk fights and mornings without a sound.
You got one thing right – I’ve stopped believing.
And it makes no sense at all for me to stick around.....

Because wrong is what I do best.
If I’m not good enough for you – I’ve got one choice left.
I try to do what’s right, but I end up wrong and I’m tired of failing all your tests
Because wrong is what I do best.....

Now I was good to you (and I never cheated) –
I loved you all the way, I never strayed, I gave you all that you were needin
I did what’s right – and that’s got me thinkin
If what is right is always wrong, then why ain’t I leavin?....

Because wrong is what I do best.
If I’m not good enough for you – I’ve got one choice left.
I try to do what’s right, but I end up wrong and I’m tired of failing all your tests
Because wrong is what I do best.....

Because wrong is what I do best.....

I want to have an album title one day called “Soul Work”. . . . except somehow it doesn’t fit with honky tonk. I guess I’d have to call it “Whiskey Dreams” or something like that.

I do a lot of soul work. I’ve always been a very spiritual person.  I think I was born with existential thoughts in my head.  Music is what connects me to my soul. Always has. I can’t remember a time that music hasn’t been constantly going through my head. But turning that into a creative experience – that is a different, much longer story.

My background has been one of accomplishment.  I was a very good classical violinist.  My heart wasn’t in it enough to be the best in the state in high school, but if I would have had the desire, I could have been the best.  I loved achieving, though. I loved getting awards. Being first chair. Playing solos.  Winning medals.  Graduating at the top of my class.

Somewhere in college I started realizing that something was missing.  I continued in a classical direction.  I studied opera for 3 years and realized that it wasn’t cutting it. I had friends that were so into opera – they studied every part of everything. It was their entire focus. But it wasn’t mine. I loved opera – Kiri Te Kanawa and Marilyn Horne were 2 of my favorites. I’d listen to this Marilyn Horne LP and just cry and cry over this one aria from “Samson and Delilah”, but there wasn’t something inside of me calling me to that music.

Country had always been inside of me. I knew every word to every song by Ricky Skaggs. AND the fiddle solos. But that was just fun stuff, right? I couldn’t do that. I certainly couldn’t write it.

And 10 years after those college years and then a life of success in Corporate America led me to a soul search. And a discovery that there had been music inside of me all along and I just ignored it. I ignored my soul.

Today, that reach for insight into the soul and that focus on the soul is still a struggle.  I, like most people in middle America, have to work a day job to support my family.  My kids – that inspire me and share my heart – require time and energy and focus.

Sometimes my soul waits. In some ways, I’m in a little bit of a waiting period right now.  When I wrote the songs for “Between the Whiskey and the Wine”, I was writing sometimes 3-4 songs a week. It was a period of extreme creativity and inspiration.  Now, I have slowed to maybe 1 a month. As I said in my last blog, it’s just hard to tune everything else out in my life and just listen.

I find that it’s not too hard to find inspiration and lately I seem to have found more of it.  I read a great interview with George Jones that Juli Thanki did for www.the9513.com and wanted to share this with you:

JT: What does country music mean to you?

GJ: Well, I’m a traditional country artist. I always have been and I always will be. I love it so much—I always have—that when you speak of traditional country music, it’s like a religion to me. I didn’t get started seeking glory or seeking big dollars or being somebody big. I came into it because I loved what I was doing.

I think Waylon Jennings put it the best way—I’ve got a plaque in there with a quote from him, I wish I could remember all the words to it. You can’t come to Nashville, New York, or wherever you’re going to try to get a start in the business…you can’t go in there with it in your mind of being a big star, making a lot of money and getting glorification out of it. You got to go in there with your heart and soul. My wife ran and got this plaque, and I want to read it to you:

“You’ve got to care. You’ve got to care about the music. You work with other musicians who care, and your audience cares. You better care too, hoss, and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be doing it. You better not be doing it for the publicity, the fame, or the money. And you sure better not be doing it because it’s a way to make a living, ’cause that ain’t always gonna be easy. You got to believe it, believe in the music, you got to mean it, that’s all.”

He told it like I’ve been trying to explain it for years. And I said “doggone, I can’t believe you came up with that.” (Laughing).

I need to get this framed and put it up in front of me to look at every day. THIS is the soul work of the musician. To focus on the music and realize that it’s something inside of you that you are called to connect with. You don’t do it because it’s expected or because you’re looking to gain something from it. You literally do it because you MUST do it.

So I continue doing what I must.  I continue to write – to try and connect with myself. I continue to record and release music. Because, music is not only for my ears. Music is meant to be heard and shared. Music is a way for me to connect with someone else – maybe even express something that they, too, feel inside.  I continue to search for my soul.

Soul work.

My good buddy reminds me that my silence in my blogging is a little deafening.

I feel a little like I’m going deaf. . . .

I really don’t think I’m refusing to listen. I think I’m deprived of the sense of hearing at the moment.

You’ve probably checked out the new songs on the website. If not, do. Free downloads - can’t ask for much more than that. I’m dying to finish the new album. My goal is to get it out by November, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it.

I started a new day job 2 months ago. Yes, those of you that think I’m a glamorous singing sensation are just a tad off. I’m a regular gal that works 8-5 every day. That money pays my bills. The band just pays for itself – money goes to record and pay musicians. I say I’m a Not-For-Profit Organization. We don’t even pay our CEO (as in ME). Ha ha.

The day job has taken me to Longview every week, which is a 4 hour drive. I stay a few days in Longview, then head back home to spend as much time as I can with my kids and then play gigs. And my gig schedule was insane in August (one week I played 8 gigs).

In addition, I took on writing a column for www.the9513.com. I have really enjoyed writing it, but it’s been distracting from my regular blogging on my website and MySpace.

AND I’m trying to still book gigs, carry on band business, and organize a UK tour in January 2010.

So when I say that I’m deprived of the sense of hearing , I really mean that I’m deprived of the sense of listening. How can I listen with all of this going on? I still write songs but my pace has really slowed down. I’m only writing about a song or two a month and that’s crazy slow for me.

I’ve been doing some serious thinking in the past 2 months. Some planets have all lined up, as a friend of mine says, and it’s time for me to do some rearranging.

As much as I will miss it, I will not be playing every sh!thole bar in Texas. I’ve been doing it for 5 years, and I’m still facing the same 4 hour drive to play for money to pay the band (I still have to pay my own expenses out of my pocket) for 20 people. DON’T get me wrong. I love those 20 people. We connect. We have a great time. We see each other again down the road. But I’m doing this for what?

It’s time for me to play fewer shows and try to expand my fanbase through a forum where people can actually HEAR my music. I believe that forum is the Internet.

I also want to focus on what rejuvenates my soul.  I LOVE performing live more than anything. But it’s a bummer to make that 4 hour drive and lose your shirt on the show and wonder what you’re doing it all for.

I’m going to keep making recordings. I’m going to keep releasing them. If the audience is there, I will join them.

Until then, I need the space, the time and the inspiration to recover my ability to listen – to my soul and to the music inside of me.

This is a good thing.