Passion is No Ordinary Word was written by Graham Parker in the 1970s, but it's a song I still love and think of when I see the real thing--passion, that is. It's a song that, to me anyway, indicts a world in which the word passion is tossed about with increasing frequency while the real thing becomes increasingly rare. We're all pretending, Parker suggests.
But genuine passion cannot be faked, particularly in music. Nor can originality. In the words of Willa Cather, passion is "inimitable in cheap materials."
Which brings me to The Avett Brothers, a band whose passion and originality I first witnessed on the Grammy Awards in February. Now, the Grammy Awards have not always been an occasion for transcendent performances, but that night I felt fortunate to have tuned in. Seated at the keyboard was the band's lead singer, Seth Avett, whose long beard and sober features are more commonly found on Civil War tintypes than the Grammy stage. But there he was, playing a haunting song in 6/8 time called Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise:
There's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light
In the fine print they tell me what's wrong and what's right
And it comes in black and it comes in white
And I'm frightened by those that don't see it.
Backed by a guitarist, bassist, drummer and cellist, Seth Avett sang a song about a "kid with a head full out doubt," a song that includes the line: "Decide what to be and go be it." (Easier said than done, but I still love that line.) Was he singing of his younger self? He sings it like he means it--as if he has intimate knowledge of what it means to question who you are and what you may or not be capable of. I like to think the song was written to encourage some young Seth Avett out there--an aspiring artist with more talent than confidence--to be the person he is meant to be.
As I watched the performance, I wasn't thinking about what genre of music I was listening to--that is, rock or folk, etc. All I knew was that it was great and I loved it. Like some of the best music, it seemed to defy categorization. So I was a surprised to learn that The Avett Brothers CDs, including I and Love and You, which contains the song Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise, are shelved in the country section here at the library. I don't consider myself a major country fan--I frequent the rock and classical sections more--but the truth is, there are many songs and CDs that I love in the country section, and we shouldn't let genres or categories limit the music we explore. To paraphrase Leonard Bernstein: There are only two categories of music that matter, good and bad.
You'll find much that is good in our country collection. Here are a few of my favorites:
Johnny Cash's rendition of Trent Reznor's song "Hurt," which can be found on the American IV CD, is another genre-defying song. That CD, like the Avett Brothers CD I and Love and You, is produced by the eclectic and talented Rick Rubin, who has also worked with the Beastie Boys and Run-D.M.C. Clearly a man unencumbered by genres or musical boundaries.
Miranda Lambert didn't write the song The House That Built Me, about a woman who longs to go back to her childhood home to gather strength, but like the Avett Brothers, she sings it likes she means it. She delivers it with such conviction that you'd swear she's telling her own story, that the details in the song are her own, when it was in fact written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin.
Finally, check out the Loretta Lynn CD Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White, with whom she rocks out like a teenager, trading verses on the song Portland Oregon. The hallucinogenic instrumental introduction is like nothing I've ever heard on a country CD. But you'll find it in our country section, along with other great songs, new and old.
Feel free to chime in with your own favorite country songs or CDs, or the artists or groups you feel embody the word passion.
(To watch The Avett Brothers at the Grammy Awards, click here. Their performance begins at 2:40, but don't skip the amazing performance by Mumford & Sons that precedes it. The clip ends with the two groups backing up Bob Dylan on Maggie's Farm. Uncategorizable but definitely click-worthy!)
