{"id":18805,"date":"2023-01-25T09:28:13","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T16:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=18805"},"modified":"2024-06-09T16:59:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T22:59:34","slug":"gifts-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=18805","title":{"rendered":"Gifts of Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Paying It Forward<\/h1>\n

Most music lovers owe their families or friends a debt of gratitude for the gift of music \u2013 not just for introductions to songs or artists, but for the mind-expanding opening of doors onto new genres, and sometimes even unfamiliar cultures.<\/p>\n

For musicians, discovering new music has even deeper significance, because it can inspire and even influence our own work.<\/p>\n

I’ve been especially blessed because I grew up in a culture which treated music as an indispensable way of life. Even before I formed indelible memories I was immersed in music, and for as long as I can remember I was singing and playing music with my family.<\/p>\n

The 1960s music revolution unfolded in the outside world as I progressed from junior high through high school in our small farm town. Until the end of the decade, we only had AM radio, so cutting-edge music could only be found on LP record albums and 45 rpm singles at distant big-city record stores. They couldn’t reach us until someone’s parents drove them there and back, and were either played for groups of us in listening parties or briefly loaned out by the lucky few.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the 1970s, my friends and I made and shared cassette copies of our own music and LP records, and that continued over the next three decades, ending in the new millenium when we could burn music CDs on our computers. Schooled in the DIY culture that followed punk rock, we appreciated these cassettes more than the later CDs because cassettes were a little more tangible \u2013 they wore our friends’ handwriting and sometimes handmade art, and they had their own dedicated mobile device, the boom box, which had speakers so a room, car, sidewalk, or beach full of friends could all listen.<\/p>\n

At this point, the only way I can repay this debt is by paying it forward. Here are just a few of the cultures, genres, and artists gifted to me by family and friends. In most cases I’ve avoided posting live videos of the artists performing, because they’re not available, because the sound quality is poor, or because I want to save them for a later topic.<\/p>\n

Delpha & Stella<\/h1>\n
\"Delpha <\/a>
Delpha with Clyde, and Stella with Clay <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Maternal grandmother Stella and paternal grandmother Delpha represented my rural Scottish cultural ancestry. Delpha and Stella sang me to sleep with Scottish lullabies, and throughout my early childhood, we met with their large extended families at the Williamson and Carson homeplaces out in the country, for reunions and Sunday sings, all of which featured Appalachian mountain hymns and songs, many of Scottish origin.<\/p>\n

Thus it was like coming home when I discovered the Stanley Brothers of Virginia in the mid-1970s. They sang just like my Williamson uncles, with much the same repertoire. “Angel Band” was a song rendered sweetly by Uncle Wib, and “Amazing Grace” was one Stella sang to inspire neighbors in the nursing home before she died.<\/p>\n

That old Appalachian music is the first and one of the most important influences on my own work.<\/p>\n