Category: Review/Personal
There is nothing like being wrong. I'm not being sarcastic, either: mistakes are the best teachers we have. And I'm thankful for people who will dialogue with you when they feel you're wrong, not just yell, "Well, you're wrong" and walk off.
While at the Americana Music Association conference, I went to the Doyle and Debbie Show (actually, a shortened version of their show). I trashed it here. I felt it was an insult to country music.
Enter a gentleman who read my review and disagreed with it. He expressed his disagreements with my review in an articulate, thoughtful manner. We had a very good (at least, in my opinion) conversation about the subjects at hand (satire, country music, etc.). Based on his enthusiasm for the show, I went to the Doyle and Debbie website and listened to their songs again.
The reason I'm writing this is to admit how absolutely wrong I was on that first review. I put the songs on and forgot about the negative reaction I had to them initially. As a result, I not only liked what I heard, I laughed heavily and frequently.
There is nothing like being wrong. I'm not being sarcastic, either: mistakes are the best teachers we have. And I'm thankful for people who will dialogue with you when they feel you're wrong, not just yell, "Well, you're wrong" and walk off.
While at the Americana Music Association conference, I went to the Doyle and Debbie Show (actually, a shortened version of their show). I trashed it here. I felt it was an insult to country music.
Enter a gentleman who read my review and disagreed with it. He expressed his disagreements with my review in an articulate, thoughtful manner. We had a very good (at least, in my opinion) conversation about the subjects at hand (satire, country music, etc.). Based on his enthusiasm for the show, I went to the Doyle and Debbie website and listened to their songs again.
The reason I'm writing this is to admit how absolutely wrong I was on that first review. I put the songs on and forgot about the negative reaction I had to them initially. As a result, I not only liked what I heard, I laughed heavily and frequently.
"I Ain't No Homo" would make a major hit if a record label would pick it up and release it now, with all the caught-in-the-men's-room-with-their-pants-down public figures claiming they most definitely are not gay. Although the song sounds very current and topical, this song is at least one year old! There is a video of Doyle's performance on their MySpace site. Let me warn you, though, it's not exactly G-rated (a number of their songs are not), and if you've recently suffered a broken rib you'd do well to NOT watch it.
While listening to this last night, I came across a thought that is much sadder than my original opinion of this show: the reason the Doyle and Debbie Show uses classic country music in their comedy act is because the only way to get classic country music heard is by lampooning it! (Consider the scene in The Blues Brothers when Jake and Elwood walk into Bob's Country Bunker. Kitty Wells' version of "Your Cheatin' Heart" is playing in the background, and the immortal line Claire gives when Elwood asks what music they play: "Oh, we've got both kinds. We got country and western!") That's an awful fact, but it is sadly the truth. Had Doyle and Debbie done straight-laced country music they'd be cast onto the heap pile of acts dubbed "TC" (Too Country). However, as comedians, they can actually perform real country music without being slapped with the "TC" label.
So, thanks to the considerate discussion of the subject by a fan, I, too, have become a fan. My next mission is to get the owner of Louisville's Comedy Caravan to bring the Doyle and Debbie Show to town. If and when he does, I'll be on the front row.
1 comment:
I think Rascal Flatts and their ilk are far more harmful to country music than Doyle and Debbie.
Nashville has buried an art form to make money by taking pop music and adding fiddles and cowboy hats and calling it country.
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