Friday, December 11, 2009

Happy Hanukkah!



Happy Hanukkah!

Above is a video made by Punk Empire of an old friend of mine Craig Morrison, and his band playing at Hillbilly Night. Hillbilly Night is an internationally-known event that welcomes all who are in favor of or at least open to authentic country music. It is attended by the young and the old, the French and the English, the ladies and the gentlemen, the hip and the square. Singers, whether amateur or professional, take turns backed by a pool of able players. Styles include hillbilly, bluegrass, fiddle tunes, honky tonk, western swing, country boogie, rockabilly, folk, and skiffle. This event has built a real and expanding community, and is a jewel in the cultural world of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

I highly recommend checking out the link to Punk Empire. If you don't have time to watch all the videos, at least read the "profile blurbs". There are definitive quotes about music, punk and the art-making process. This is one of the very best pages on YouTube. I shit you not. If you've ever wondered what punk music is, why it means so much to those of us who are punks, you can find all the answers here!

Craig Morrison just might be the hardest working music lover in the world. He was a huge influence on me when I was a young bitter "purist". He taught me all music is work to be respected regardless of it's genre or stature in history, and for that soul-opening lesson I am forever grateful. If you visit Craig's website you can see and order one of his books. He wrote an encyclopedia of Rock and Roll and a major contribution to the study of Rockabilly. Craig was writing a dissertation on Rockabilly back when it was a nearly forgotten art form and almost no formal work on Rockabilly existed. In this labour he was a visionary and brave academic soul.

"a definitive study of rockabilly music. This book is a gem! Unlike most rockabilly mavens, Morrison is a professionally trained musician, a lucid writer, a savvy sociologist, and a critical yet balanced evaluator of singers, songwriters, and songs. The blending of such theoretical strength and musical knowledge is rare among popular music commentators. The genius of this investigation resides in the author’s pursuit of cultural meaning rather than just stylistic definition." - B. Lee Cooper, Popular Music and Society.

Famous Jewish Cowboys:

1.) Kinky Friedman at Amazon
2.) Bronco Billy
3.) Chicken Farmer and singer Scott Gerber and his songs. Order the documentary
4.) Jewish Cowboy Museum
5.) Sammy Davis. Jr,
6.) Interview with James Caan The Best Jewish Cowboy

Everyone has a little punk in them...what's yours? Happy Festivus!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This is so neat!!!!
did you find this at random or did you look for it?

DILLIGAF said...

Only you could link 'Punk' to 'Hillbilly'

How do you do it???...;-)

Candy Minx said...

Tiff, isn't that a lovely video? I've been bugging Craig to have a blog on and off...everytime I get a newsletter. Today I offered to administrate it. I wonder if he will bite? Maybe if my visitors visit his web site and his numbers go up...or he gets a couple book sales he'll see how great blogs are.

Thanks Four Dinners, but I don't think I was the first to link Hillbilly and Punk. In fact, if it weren't for Hillbilly there wouldn't have been Rock and Punk in the forst place. And besides...the late great Joe Strummer is the fellow who turned us punks on to Hillbilly. Like all great artists he knew the value of assimilating all genres and styles in order to be unique!!!! He added metaphors and layers of meaning to his music with his own visual appearance. Like codes and clues...the history of Punk was visible in his manifestations...look at his hair man! He's got the southern Pompadour of Elvis, and every other self-respecting Hillbilly!

:)

mister anchovy said...

1. I am not opposed and am in fact in favour of authentic country music. They don't make much of it in Nashville these days.

2. Craig sounds great. I have such fond memories of going to see blues bands with him back in the 80s.

3. I am in favour of a Craig Morrison blog!

Unknown said...

mister anchovy it is worth the trip to Montreal to see the wheel club, and enjoy a hillbilly night if you have not in the past.
I too think a CM blog would be great!

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