Release party! Congratulations, Cindy. Needless to say, the strains of your new CD have been heard wafting through the air even in stuffy old Hartford recently.... Steve Courtney 7 Union St. Terryville, CT 06786 860-589-6412 ---------------------------------------- > Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:23:26 -0400 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: This year's winner of the MT Award is . . . . > To: [log in to unmask] > > http://travelingwithtwain.org/2011/09/22/hannibal-mo/an-evening-of-twain-in= > spired-bluegrass/ > > I hope this link survives the cut and paste. > These folks attended our CD release party > Tuesday night and shared their thoughts. > > From their website: > > From September 18 to December 11,=20 > a Northwestern journalism student, a 2011 > journalism graduate and I will undertake a > 9,000-mile odyssey, =93Traveling with Twain in Search > of America=92s Identity.=94 The drive will follow trips > taken around the United States by Mark Twain > in the 1850s and 1860s. Our journey will > attempt to weave together three stories about identity in America. > > > ________________________________________ > From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Harold Bush [bushhk@= > SLU.EDU] > Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 10:41 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: This year's winner of the MT Award is . . . . > > good question, Sharon. and again, as Sharon notes, this response also may > sound controversial .... > > As Cindy notes: the cd is pretty much the Nashville crowd, which is pretty > white these days. I love a lot of these artists, and some of the artists d= > o > tap into the old appalachian roots/Americana stuff from the old days. the > Church Sisters (very young but quite talented) represent a pleasant trend i= > n > music by youngsters -- getting back to the roots (or as Dylan named what I > think is his greatest record: "Bringin' It All Back Home"). and there are > some of the old hands, like Jimmy Buffett or Emmylou Harris, and younger > folks like Ricky Skaggs, whose veneration for older artists like Earl > Scruggs and Doc Watson (a couple of my personal favorites) is well known. = > I > like the line-up, but again; it's all dominated by the Nashville scene, by > Jackson's own admission; and so interpret that as you wish. Maybe John Bir= > d > could say more on this. > > A huge part of those roots, besides the race factor (and very often copuled > with African Americans) is the religious factor. What I really miss (and I > am this very morning writing about Du Bois and the black spirituals) is, of > course, those spirituals. There is some irony in the fact that Nashville > was once the original scene of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, whom Twain stated > on several occasions were his favorite music. In representing his life, at > least one or two old spirituals might have been nice -- and also since they > were so prevalent in his life, and in fact were the songs he attempted to > sing while comforting his dying wife Livy, for instance. Even the minstrel > shows and Tom shows drew upon these great songs. I wish this were at least > represented-- especially given the deep religious convictions of the presen= > t > day Nashville scene, which seems like it should know better. Emmylou is > pretty well known for her faith, but a lot of the other more prominent > religious artists such as Norman Blake, Alison Krause, Patty Griffin, Buddy > Miller, or T-Bone Burnett are not represented here. > > Not sure why this aspect missed the cut?? Perhaps, again, the general > misunderstanding of Twain as "not religious"?? just speculating .... but > without a doubt, MT loved the black spirituals, and often sang them to > guests at his home. > > ps -- Sharon and all; if you've not read David Reynolds' new book on UNCLE > TOM'S CABIN, you might find the material on the Tom shows as surprising and > interesting as I did. Not reviewed on this LIST, but certainly a must > read. It is one of the most positive interpretations of the music of the > Tom shows I've come across. > > --Hal B. > > > > > > On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Sharon McCoy <[log in to unmask]>wrote= > : > > > May I ask what may be a provocative question? > > > > Looking over the CD, it seems to include some wonderfully talented folks. > > But > > it seems odd to me, especially given what we know about Twain's taste in > > music, > > that a CD called "Mark Twain: Words and Music" seems to be composed > > entirely of > > white musicians and performers. Some of the names were unfamiliar to me= > , > > but > > when I did a quick Google search, they all appear to be white. Odd. > > > > > -- > Harold K. Bush, Ph.D > Professor of English > Saint Louis University > St. Louis, MO 63108 > 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h) > <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>