Comments on: Just Sing, Little Darlin’ http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/ Criticism and commentary on southern gospel music Thu, 24 May 2012 03:52:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 By: carl http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1512326 carl Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:32:46 +0000 http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1512326 I don’t find much life in their music. Still, the clip illustrates something basic about SG music. It put me in mind of something Emmylou Harris said about singing with Gram Parsons (quoted by David Meyer): “By singing with Gram . . . I learned that you plow [the overt emotion of a song] under and let the melody and the words carry you. Rather than this emotion thing, emotion will happen on its own. As you experience life and know more, then [emotion is] gonna come out almost unconsciously as you sing. You have to have restraint in how you approach a song.” I figure that’s a fundamental insight. It’s something the best SG artists know--that pretty balance between restraint and the rush of emotion that the restraint can’t contain. For my money, these young women have the restraint part down pat but haven’t got the heart part at all. They need to do a few gigs with SG artists, or maybe Ralph Stanley. (The quote is from David Meyer, *Twenty thousand roads: the ballad of Gram Parsons and his cosmic American music*, New York, Villard Books, 2008, p. 370.) I don’t find much life in their music. Still, the clip illustrates something basic about SG music. It put me in mind of something Emmylou Harris said about singing with Gram Parsons (quoted by David Meyer):

“By singing with Gram . . . I learned that you plow [the overt emotion of a song] under and let the melody and the words carry you. Rather than this emotion thing, emotion will happen on its own. As you experience life and know more, then [emotion is] gonna come out almost unconsciously as you sing. You have to have restraint in how you approach a song.”

I figure that’s a fundamental insight. It’s something the best SG artists know–that pretty balance between restraint and the rush of emotion that the restraint can’t contain.

For my money, these young women have the restraint part down pat but haven’t got the heart part at all. They need to do a few gigs with SG artists, or maybe Ralph Stanley.

(The quote is from David Meyer, *Twenty thousand roads: the ballad of Gram Parsons and his cosmic American music*, New York, Villard Books, 2008, p. 370.)

]]> By: Wade http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1511290 Wade Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:05:40 +0000 http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1511290 Ha Ha... I get the GRAM thing... he has done a lot of them... Ha Ha… I get the GRAM thing… he has done a lot of them…

]]> By: NG http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1511278 NG Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:59:20 +0000 http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1511278 Love this song. John Sakamoto recently wrote about it in the Toronto Star saying: "These two sisters from suburban Stockholm were born decades after the heyday of their main influences, to whom they pay heartfelt homage in the chorus: Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, June Carter and Johnny Cash. First Aid Kit may be Swedish, but this sounds like it was written and recorded in a hotel room in the heartland of America in 1970." Love this song. John Sakamoto recently wrote about it in the Toronto Star saying:
“These two sisters from suburban Stockholm were born decades after the heyday of their main influences, to whom they pay heartfelt homage in the chorus: Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, June Carter and Johnny Cash. First Aid Kit may be Swedish, but this sounds like it was written and recorded in a hotel room in the heartland of America in 1970.”

]]> By: NG http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1511241 NG Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:46:47 +0000 http://averyfineline.com/2012/01/27/just-sing-little-darlin/#comment-1511241 It's Gram not Graham. It’s Gram not Graham.

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