Four Track Mind #1 - Part 10
Billy Joe Shaver made me cry again. Every time I have ever seen him play live he does this to me. Billy writes some of the best gospel songs you'll ever hear and early on in his show he explained why. "Every coin has two sides and I am one coin". Billy is a Christian. If you hang around his show long enough and make it through all the off color jokes , toilet humor and jive he will get onto the subject of Jesus. Billy at one point in his life tried to rid the world of beer and blow. Two sides, one coin. Not in any yin to yang sort of bullcrap way, just a complete picture. We have pointed out here before that mainstream Gospel is so bad because it details a concept of perfection, it only shows one side of the coin and not the relationship between the two sides. Which brings drama, reflection and illumination. You know what all good songs are made of.
I think about this and write about this a-lot because I play rock n roll in music city U.S. of A and I am also in the heart of Dove Bar awarded GMA rolled out schlock. They call them Dove Bars don't they? I'll tell you again why, if we see church music as God's music and the rest as the devil's music then it implies that the whole of secular music is Godless. This is wrong. God is all over all music. Maybe not Norwegian Death Metal. Really, because if there is such a thing as music influenced solely by the devil then it would be this. I'm thinking of the stuff where they claim they are playing the devil's music and they burn churches to the ground in Holland. Whatever that stuff is might be a candidate. Do not mistake the devil is real. The Louvin's were damn straight on that joint. O.K. I'm feeling church lady ish again.
As you may have guessed from our last installment (The Twilight Singers as Gospel band-they just played Tel Aviv, Israel and covered "Amazing Grace") I like to argue perhaps even some of the pulpits most obvious choices for condemnation may actually bear some fruit of the spirit. Eminem for example. In the final scene of 8 Mile he does exactly what God wants to do for you. He acknowledges all of his shame and brings his sins and failings to the light and in doing so cripples and destroys his enemies. This is, other than shock value in the "oh I can't believe he just said that" sense-that makes his art work. To be sure he may not repent but he definitely names his sins which is more than a-lot of pop gospel will do. The best part of the movie "Walk the Line" is when the Capitol Record exec tells Johnny he can't go sing in a prison because his fans are good Christian people. Johnny smirks "Maybe they aren't good Christian people."
I was at a bar the other night talking to a friend who is a songwriter/bass player/producer. At one point he was a gospel writer. He plays on stuff you have heard. Trust me. He told me if you wrote a song with any doubt, or if you did and did not wrap it all up in a nice bow by the end of the song then you were out. You were a turncoat. This is part of what hurts Christianity's appeal to people. They feel like they cannot live up to the perfection. But that is not what the Bible is asking them but it is what pop gospel is.
The best song I have ever heard in church was the last time I was in
Philadelphia. "Lord, I'm your bride and I been cheatin' on You". This church was hip. The second best church music I ever saw was in Franklin, TN. It was like U2. It was anthemic. The guitars were big. The guy was no Bono but he did alright. He was John Mayer lite. But as far as music in church goes this is pretty awesome. Outside of church Billy Joe Shaver does the best gospel music of anyone I've ever seen. We went to see Billy at the Opry Plaza Party here a few days ago. The Plaza Party is a free concert series that the Opry puts on through the summer. I've seen Billy Joe do this about 4 times now. It's on a stage in an open area between the Opryland Opry and Opry Mills Mall. Shopping and Hank Williams impersonators. It's fun. I always go see Billy Joe because I love his writing and his spirit. Billy Joe Shaver writes love songs without anger or bitterness and drinking songs that make you feel like you were there with him, but enough about this. Billy Joe Shaver writes bad ass gospel songs like "Jesus Christ, What a Man." I remember while we are watching Billy Joe and he introduced a song about his. His son was killed by a drug overdose. Billy talks about this in the movie "The Legend of Billy Joe". Furthermore he talks about forgiving the people who were a part of the night his son died. Watching this and watching him relate these stories with peace and calm and of all things love makes a man's lower lip quiver. It's this and the fact that he shouts, "If you don't believe in Jesus then you can go to hell", like he is your best friend and hot on the heels of singing "When the word was Thunderbird" as in wine, not grape juice. Billy plays a few serious songs and says, "Don't worry we'll get back to the sinin" and then launch into a honky tonk barn burner that makes you feel like you could drink gas. After an hour or so he always comes around to his testimony and it always gives me chills. Redolent, loving chills.
I'm sitting in the crowd before the show, this guy comes over to his wife, mom, friend can't tell. This little kid walked up to Billy, Billy asked the kid if he'd pray for him. The kid looked at his dad. His dad said, you say "yes sir." The kid said he would. Billy said "always ask kids to pray for you, God listens to kids."
- Adam Hill | 2006-09-25
