The great Charlie Pierce touted this album a few months ago and I've been listening with pleasure ever since. Glad to hear you were on it when it was released. It's as if Van the Man found his lost voice.
Beautiful writing of all your stories. I'm wondering if you knew my fiends Barry Kearson and agent and manager for Bill Graham or Dave Getz? i come out of the Atlanta, Macon scene working with the Brothers down there.
Agree completely about Van's '90s output, and felt so at the time. The George Fame partnership was golden. Re: Johnny Ray, while I'm not claiming the line isn't cruel, I've always thought it referenced his hearing disability. In that context, Van might just be alluding to how Ray's hearing aid — which he made no attempt to hide, so far as I could tell — might imply he doesn't actually or fully hear his own music; I wouldn't be surprised if Ray's drummer had to follow him instead of vice versa. Or maybe that makes the line even more cruel, but it always made me smile, which is how I hope he intended it. I think he's dissing singers not named Johnny Ray who sound like they might be hard of hearing, relative more to their emotional commitment than their pitch. In other words, Johnny delivered the goods despite his disability, while other singers can't despite the lack of such an excuse.
Even on record from beyond the grave, Johnnie Ray brings those feelings out in his listeners. The very much still alive Van Morrison often does as well.
Hank Williams Sr. was an admirer of Johnny Ray in the early 50's appreciating the emotion and honesty the crooner brought to his songs. In Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, one of Ray's songs provides background to a mob hit, so both Marty and Robbie Robertson remained fans. Too bad Van Morrison (and Eric Clapton) have become such obnoxious cranks on public health issues. Unless one really compartmentalizes their art and careers, the wacky and loud anti-vax opinions they hold kind of sully their latter day legacies.
Very true about their attitudes on COVID vaccinations...A couple years ago I read an article/interview about Clapton where he expressed a lot of trepidation about receiving a new, unproven vaccine...after a lifetime of ingesting and injecting all sorts of noxious chemical agents. The hypocrisy was quite annoying.
The great Charlie Pierce touted this album a few months ago and I've been listening with pleasure ever since. Glad to hear you were on it when it was released. It's as if Van the Man found his lost voice.
Beautiful writing of all your stories. I'm wondering if you knew my fiends Barry Kearson and agent and manager for Bill Graham or Dave Getz? i come out of the Atlanta, Macon scene working with the Brothers down there.
Agree completely about Van's '90s output, and felt so at the time. The George Fame partnership was golden. Re: Johnny Ray, while I'm not claiming the line isn't cruel, I've always thought it referenced his hearing disability. In that context, Van might just be alluding to how Ray's hearing aid — which he made no attempt to hide, so far as I could tell — might imply he doesn't actually or fully hear his own music; I wouldn't be surprised if Ray's drummer had to follow him instead of vice versa. Or maybe that makes the line even more cruel, but it always made me smile, which is how I hope he intended it. I think he's dissing singers not named Johnny Ray who sound like they might be hard of hearing, relative more to their emotional commitment than their pitch. In other words, Johnny delivered the goods despite his disability, while other singers can't despite the lack of such an excuse.
Even on record from beyond the grave, Johnnie Ray brings those feelings out in his listeners. The very much still alive Van Morrison often does as well.
Hank Williams Sr. was an admirer of Johnny Ray in the early 50's appreciating the emotion and honesty the crooner brought to his songs. In Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, one of Ray's songs provides background to a mob hit, so both Marty and Robbie Robertson remained fans. Too bad Van Morrison (and Eric Clapton) have become such obnoxious cranks on public health issues. Unless one really compartmentalizes their art and careers, the wacky and loud anti-vax opinions they hold kind of sully their latter day legacies.
Very true about their attitudes on COVID vaccinations...A couple years ago I read an article/interview about Clapton where he expressed a lot of trepidation about receiving a new, unproven vaccine...after a lifetime of ingesting and injecting all sorts of noxious chemical agents. The hypocrisy was quite annoying.