TONIGHT: Georgette (Queen Esther + Lee Ann Westover) at Uncharted! 8pm

 Uncharted!  Thursday, April 9th at 8pm  -- $20

Greenwich House Music
46 Barrow Street
New York, NY
Ph: (212) 242-4770



 *Please note: Your ticket gets you free beer and wine all night long.

As a part of the Uncharted Music Series at Greenwich House Music School, singer/songwriter/musician Lee Ann Westover and I will be blazing away as Georgette,  our newly formed alt-country/Black Americana outfit.  

With George Jones as our namesake (because I love him -- and why not?) we've decided to delve into a few 70s feminist classics along with some of our own original material.  The result is a twang-drenched, soulful and *surprise!* irreverent take on modern sounds in country music. 

The Band:

Hilliard Greene, bass

Pete Matthiessen, guitar + vocals

Dalton Ridenhour, piano + vocals

Shirazette Tinnin, drums

John Widgren, pedal steel guitar

 See you there!

Good news, everyone!

My new Black Americana album The Other Side arrived from the manufacturer on Monday. Read all about that here.

Black Country Gold -- with The Pointer Sisters (and Elvis)!

I can't even begin to tell you how often I sat next to my Uncle Tyrone's stereo in his den as a small child, casually thumbing through his extensive album collection until my fingers happened upon this album and then I stared and stared and stared.  The Pointer Sisters were such a huge watermark for me in so many ways -- for style, for panache, for the way they embodied the past and yet were so much a part of the now.  I must have memorized every nuance that I saw in this picture an effort to absorb just the slightest bit of that elan.  They were as brown as me and they reveled in their blackness in this really deliberate way that was just as powerful and authentic as a well-coiffed Afro and a fist in the air. And I loved them for it.  Actually, I still do.

In my mind's eye, I am the fifth one at that table and they are the sisters I never had.

As the story goes, they couldn't afford designer items for their first album cover and they didn't have a stylist to borrow them, so they raided their mother's attic, wore their grandmother's clothes and came up with something beautiful and timeless.  Sounds exactly like me. When I came to New York City, I had nothing to sing in, so I'd raid Domsey's on a regular basis. Only $5 for a vintage cocktail dress. Ha. Even I could afford that.

This country song -- Fairytale, written by Anita (lyrics) and Bonnie (music) -- is one of my favorites.  It sounds so upbeat and it's full of heartbreak and misery. (Perfect!) Everyone in the industry was genuinely surprised that they wrote this -- except them, of course.  Sure, they grew up in Oakland, California -- but as it turns out, their parents are from Arkansas (!!!) and they've always sung country music.  This wasn't the only country song they recorded, either.

The stats? In 1974, The Pointer Sisters won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and Anita and Bonnie were nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Song. And then Elvis covered it the following year. (Ka-BOOM.)

Thank Jesus all of my uncles had really great taste when it came to music.



Here's The Pointer Sisters, singing it live. I just looooove the way they look -- the flowers, the make-up, all of it.  I know stylewise I'm leaning ever so slightly in this direction when I perform. I just can't help it.



...and here's Elvis, singing it in full on drugged out Vegas glitterati pantsuit regalia -- giving it his all.  Interesting, to hear a male voice sing it.  And even though he's kind of out of it, he's still got it. Go, Elvis.

Lyrics:

I'll pack up all my things and walk away,
I don't want to hear another word you have to say
I've been waiting for so long,
And just found out there's something wrong
Nothing will get better if I stay
There's no need to explain anymore
I tried my best to love you,
Now I'm walkin' out the door
(Walkin' out the door)
You used me, you deceived me,
And you never seem to need me
But I bet, you won't forget me when I go

Oh no, no, no

Seems I've been lost in a dream
Pretending that you care
But now I've opened up my eyes
And found it's all been just a great big fairytale
I've been lovin' you so long
Don't think I even know how to forget you
But now the way that things have been
I think I'm better off alone than to be with you
You don't love me it's plain to see

There's no need to explain anymore
I tried my best to love you,
Now I'm walkin' out the door
(Walkin' out the door)
Ahh, you used me, you deceived me,
And you never seem to need me
But I'll bet you won't forget me when I go
Oh no, no, no

Seems I've been lost in a dream
Pretending you were mine
Someday you'll open up your eyes
And realize that a good woman's hard to find
Yes I've been lost in a dream
Pretending that you care
But now I've opened up my eyes
And found it's all been just a great big fairytale

so...

now that the jazz cd is almost finished, i'm already hard at work on the next album in my head. i honestly can't help myself. maybe that's why i'm usually steady at it, making lists and drawing things and jotting down ideas. there are about three different projects popping off in me all the time, at least. there's music, always music - and all the stuff that goes with it, like guitar/piano/theory/voice lessons. there's a really good book in me, somewhere.   i think i  started looking for it sometime last year.  and yep, i'm still working on the book and lyrics to the jazz burlesque musical that i mentioned awhile back. the treatment/synopsis is done and i'm just about finished with the polishing and the spit shining of the first act. yikes.  if i ever get any real money to produce the things i'm dreaming of, i'm going to be in big trouble.

for awhile, i thought about not doing a country record, and then one day i thought why not? and i seriously couldn't think of a good reason.  and then ideas came at me like schrapnel and everything started happening. and then i ran out of money.

maybe the black country record is a love letter to the south. i do so miss austin, texas. or at least the austin i knew when i was an undergrad there.  i miss breakfast tacos! and i miss charleston, sc too. but that's going to be a different country album. that one is brighter, it's country gospel, that one happens later.

i can hear the songs in their fullness - what they sound like all finished, who's playing on them, what i want my voice to do.  it's like my head is a radio and the sounds are happening all the time.  it's really fresh and uncomplicated. and thankfully, it's halfway there - the black country sessions. i suppose it's the kind of stuff you're most likely to hear on boot liquor radio. i'm still trying to find the right way to phrase the title but thankfully, the songs are wandering towards me slowly, slowly - belligerent, unrepentant, melancholic.  it hasn't been a struggle to remember how miserable i was when i was living through these lyrics - though now that i'm this happy and there's this much joy in my life, it honestly feels like it happened to someone else.

i"ve recorded half of it already. whenever the spirit moves me, i'm sifting through lyrics and melodies with my bare hands. every so often, i wallow in it, but since that's the kind of thing that's apt to make me weepy in all the wrong ways, i tend to avoid long jagged songwriting sessions with this stuff, especially when the place is quiet and i'm alone in bed.

mostly it's songs about me getting my heart ripped to shreds by what was ostensibly the very epitome of what could only be described as a really nice guy.  it's really super catchy happy sounding sing along stuff. i can't wait for you to hear it.

gin n' juice, for real

don't wonder why snoop dog is making forays into country music, singing duets with willie nelson and such -- with this c&w cover of one of his most popular songs, he's garnered a devoted redneck audience that he could never have anticipated. and he's scrambling to figure out a way to cash in on it.

why? because you can have a career in country music, no matter how old you are as long as you and your songs are compelling. because evidently, people who buy country music -- all those red state folks -- are very loyal fans. and because country musicians consistently make money.

mark my words: black country music is the wave of the future. think about it. it's the only hybrid that hasn't exploded yet and that hasn't been truly explored. and when it does, it could very well be the thing that instigates real change and racial healing in this country. but that's just my opinion...

this version (recorded in february '08) of gin n' juice is by the gourds -- a grand 14 minutes long. enjoy!



part one



part two

i am the black gold of the sun

i can't even tell you how much happiness flooded my soul when i heard this song. all of a sudden, it was summertime and i was 7 years old again -- surrounded by aunts and uncles and a hoarde of cousins in charleston heights, south carolina.  i remember everything: ripping and running and romping around in the countryside, eating lots of seafood and reading whatever i wanted all the time -- which was mostly encyclopedias and biographies, and of course kid-lit like the little house on the prairie series.  i loved half-pint!

i suppose i could ask "how green was my valley" as i remember my little kidhood but the real question to explore is: how black was my world?  i had my great-grandparents, my grandparents and my parents. get christi love! was on the tv. pam grier was at the drive in. and so was cicely tyson. and abbie lincoln. and blacula. don cornelious was on soul train. all of my aunts and uncles had naturals.  everybody wore dashikis. the first time i ever saw my uncle jackie's then girlfriend/now wife aunt mattie, she had on a beautiful gele, and i thought she was glowingly lovely. lots of their friends were visiting africa and spending time there. and this song flooded the airwaves -- or at least, my uncle tyrone's 8 track stereo system.

no one had to tell me that black was beautiful.  

i watch black music videos nowadays, i look at black pop stars and i wonder -- was it all a fad? was it fashion?  or a dream that we collectively felt would never end?  

i think there was a moment back in the day when we began to truly love ourselves and each other.  it's not that the "n" word didn't exist -- it's just that everybody was so caught up in calling each other "brother" and "sister" that no one ever bothered to use it.  (we were COGIC, too -- i'm pretty sure that had a lot to do with it.) we began to explore our history, we embraced our past and found our way back to africa as best we could. 

and then the 80s happened.

the thing is, all of what i remember is still alive in all of us, right below the surface. i know this is true because when i walk down the street and i call someone sister or brother, they give it right back to me with so much feeling that sometimes, it aches. years ago, i fell back into the habit of saying it all the time -- especially to the africans. instant unity: the glow that is exchanged never goes away. it's just sitting there, waiting to come alive whenever any of us says it to each other again.

we really are the black gold of the sun.

ray charles, johnny cash and black country music

for those of you who don't think that you like black country music, don't believe that it exists, or believe that black americana is an abberation before the Lord that i somehow invented when i self-released my CD, here's ray charles on his second appearance on the johnny carson show, singing everyone's favorite -- ring of fire.

actually, ray charles recorded this song for his album love, country style in 1970. truth be told, i love it when anyone can make a piano twang -- but this is something special.