Friday, June 14, 2019

There Are No Sufficient Words


Category: News

On April 15 of this year the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris suffered a massive fire.

Imagine, if you will, if, on the same day, the Louvre, the Smithsonian, and the Library of Congress had also burned to the ground.

That might give you a slight understanding of the scope of the massive fire that Universal Music Group suffered.  Eleven years ago.

An article in the New York Times on Monday (6/10), the result of years of painstaking research including internal documents from UMG, reports that the fire that occurred on June 1, 2008 was unimaginable in its scope of loss.  It is estimated that that the number of destroyed master tapes range from 175,000 to half a million

All of music suffered.  "Grunge" pioneers Nirvana's Nevermind masters were lost.  Classic rock acts ranging from Aerosmith to Tom Petty to Steely Dan saw their recordings burned.  Legendary recordings from the likes of Benny Goodman and Ray Charles are forever gone. Most of Buddy Holly's masters went up in flames.

And, of course, country music suffered:  among the destroyed masters were recordings by Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, and Loretta Lynn.  

UMG denied it was a big deal then, telling Billboard the day after the fire (6/2/08), "We had no loss, thankfully.  We moved most of what was formerly stored there to our other facilities."

The New York Times article, which is detailed enough to be a Ph.D. dissertation, calls B.S. on that claim.  

According to an article on the website Ultimate Classic Rock, a lot of the affected artists are calling B.S. as well.  Donald Fagen, the surviving half of the creative force behind Steely Dan, said he was aware that there were "missing tapes" for years, but he had never been given a suitable explanation.  R.E.M. also has been kept in the dark.

What's even sadder than the fact that these treasures are lost forever is the fact that so many people just don't understand the repercussions of the loss.  Truly, there are no sufficient words to describe the magnitude of this loss.

Over recent decades the recording process has been a case of splicing.  Records -- even country music recordings -- are seldom "live" in the studio.  It's usually one musician at a time, playing multiple takes of the song.  Slight variations in the playing can be heard by the trained (and usually the untrained) ear.  From those various takes the "best" from each instrument will be selected and "mixed" together into the final product.  Even "live" recordings will have multiple takes, with the best one used and the remainder filed -- not erased.  It is those filed-away tracks that were destroyed.   For example, Donald Fagen explained that the use of Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler on the song "Time Out of Mind" resulted in over fifty takes to get a 45-second solo that appeared on the Gaucho album.  

All of those takes are GONE now.  Even acts who recorded "live," with all the musicians in the studio at once, have suffered with the loss of the original recordings, which is the ONLY place the truest fidelity existed.

If you're a fan of the Bear Family box sets you've been introduced to "alternate takes."  The first one I heard was the 7th take of "You'll Meet Him in the Clouds" in the Louvin Brothers' Close Harmony box set (where you hear Ira, sounding bored, tired, annoyed, or all three, introduce the song as, "Take seven").  From there, it was nirvana (no, not the grunge band): alternate takes of songs by Jim Reeves ("Then I'll Stop Loving You" in the box set is completely different than the version that's on The Best of Jim Reeves Vol. II), Hank Thompson, the Browns (the humorous inability to get "Bye Bye Love" started, resulting in chuckles from the trio), and so many others have graced reissues over the years.

Treasures like that are GONE.  FOREVER. We are left now with ONLY what has been released.  NO between-take chatter.  NO alternate takes of the songs.  Just a first-generation copy that'll never be able to match the fidelity of the original.

Why UMG continued, this week, to claim the loss was minimal or nonexistent is beyond me. Maybe they're afraid of lawsuits from the affected artists.  Maybe they're afraid of lawsuits from consumers who've been shelling out hundreds for "digitally remastered" recordings, only to realize now that they were NOT "remastered" but copied from a copy.

There should be 30 days of mourning declared.  The music we have lost is beyond measure.


Thursday, June 13, 2019

Dates of Note in Country Music, June 16-30

Category: News

(Hall of Fame members in bold on birth/death date, followed by hall[s] of fame in which they are enshrined and the year enshrined.  CM=Country Music; BG=Bluegrass; DJ=Disc Jockey; NS=Nashville Songwriter; SG=Southern Gospel; StG=Steel Guitar; GLA=Grammy Lifetime Achievement; RR=country act inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)


June 16:

Billy "Crash" Craddock born in Greensboro, North Carolina, 1946 (now 73)
Bob Nolan  (CM 80, NS 71) died in Newport Beach, California (heart attack), 1980 (was 72)
"Orange Blossom Special" recorded by the Rouse Brothers, 1939. Ervin Rouse co-wrote the legendary fiddle tune with Chubby Wise.

June 17:

Clyde "Red" Foley (CM 67) born in Blue Lick, Kentucky, 1910 (died 1968)
Dave Akeman (Stringbean) born in Annville, Kentucky, 1916 (died 1973)

Dolores Dinning Edgin died in Springfield, Tennessee (natural causes), 2015 (was 86)
Minnie Pearl suffered a stroke that ended her career, 1991
Ground breaking ceremonies held for the new Country Music Hall of Fame, 1999. Your blogger was a member of the "All-Guitar Marching Band," fronted by Chet Atkins, that led the Hall of Fame members to the site.

June 18:

Sir Paul McCartney born in Liverpool, England, 1942 (now 77). The legendary Beatle hit the country chart in 1974 with "Sally G." He was also introduced to a Friday Night Opry audience in 1974 by Roy Acuff, where McCartney proclaimed Nashville the "music capital of the universe."
Marty Haggard born in Bakersfield, California, 1958 (now 61)

Zeke Turner born in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1923 (died 2003)
A.P. Carter married Sara Dougherty, 1915

June 19:

Glen Allred of the Florida Boys (SG 01) born in Monroe, Tennessee, 1934 (now 85)

Doug Stone born in Marietta, Georgia, 1956 (now 63)
Howard Dixon of the Dixon Brothers born in Darlington, South Carolina, 1903 (died 1951)
Lester Flatt (CM 85, BG 91, NS 07) born in Sparta, Tennessee, 1914 (died 1979)
Pat Buttram born in Addison, Alabama, 1915 (died 1994)
Bobby Helms died in Martinsville, Indiana (emphysema), 1997 (was 63)

Slim Whitman died in Orange Park, Florida (heart failure), 2013 (was 90)
Chet Flippo died in Nashville, Tennessee (illness), 2013 (was 69)

June 20:

Anne Murray (Canadian Music 93) born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, 1945 (now 74)
Evelyn Mae Cox of the Cox Family born in Springhill, Louisiana, 1959 (now 60)
Jimmie Driftwood (ne James Corbitt Morris) born in Mountain View, Arkansas, 1907 (died 1998)
T. Texas Tyler born in Mena, Arkansas, 1916 (died 1972)

Pauline "Mom" Lewis of the Lewis Family (BG 06) born in Washington, Georgia, 1920 (died 2003)
Chet Atkins (CM 73, RR 02, GLA 93) born in Luttrell, Tennessee, 1924 (died 2001)
Ira Louvin (CM 01, NS 79, GLA 15) died near Williamsburg, Missouri (car wreck), 1965 (was 41)
Benjamin "Whitey" Ford, the "Duke of Paducah" (CM 86), died in Nashville, Tennessee (cancer), 1986 (was 85)

June 21:

Eddie Adcock (BG 96) born in Scottsville, Virginia, 1938 (now 81)
Leon Everette born in Aiken, South Carolina, 1948 (now 71)
Kathy Mattea born in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, 1959 (now 60)
Porter Howell of Little Texas born in Longview, Texas, 1964 (now 55)

Charlie Lamb born in Knoxville, Tennessee, 1921 (died 2012)
Jimmy C. Newman died in Nashville, Tennessee (cancer), 2014 (was 86)

June 22:


Kris Kristofferson (CM 04, NS 77, GLA 14) born in Brownsville, Texas, 1936 (now 83)

Peter Asher born in Williesden, Middlesex, England, 1944 (now 75). The former half of the pop duo Peter and Gordon was the producer of most of Linda Ronstadt's crossover hits.
Roy Drusky born in Atlanta, Georgia, 1930 (died 2004)
Elton Britt died in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania (heart attack), 1972 (was 58)

June 23:

Dallas Wayne born in Springfield, Missouri, 1956 (now 63)

Zeb Turner born in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1915 (died 1978)
June Carter Cash born in Maces Springs, Virginia, 1929 (died 2003)

Dr. Ralph Stanley (BG 92) died in Coeburn, Virginia (skin cancer), 2016 (was 89)

June 24:

Johnnie Bailes of the Bailes Brothers born in Kanawha County, West Virginia, 1918 (died 1989)
Foy Willing of Riders of the Purple Sage died in Nashville, Tennessee (heart attack), 1978 (was 63)
Tim Krekel died in Louisville, Kentucky (stomach cancer), 2009 (was 57)

June 25:

Jenifer Strait, daughter of George Strait, died in San Marcos, Texas (car wreck), 1986 (was 13)
Boudleaux Bryant (CM 91, NS 72) died in Knoxville, Tennessee (cancer), 1987 (was 67)
Lew DeWitt retired from the Statler Brothers because of health issues, 1982
Billboard magazine renames the "Hillbilly" music chart the "Country and Western" chart, 1949

June 26:

Gretchen Wilson born in Granite City, Illinois, 1973 (now 46)

Colonel Tom Parker born in Breda, Netherlands, 1909 (died 1997). Before Elvis, Colonel Tom managed Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, and Minnie Pearl.
Doc Williams born in Cleveland, Ohio, 1914 (died 2011)
Kenny Baker (BG 99) born in Jenkins, Kentucky, 1926 (died 2011)
Charlie Cline of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers (BG 09) born in Gilbert Creek, Virginia, 1931 (died 2004)
Vernon Presley died in Memphis, Tennessee (heart failure), 1979 (was 63)
Elvis Presley's final concert, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, 1977

June 27:
Lorrie Morgan born in Nashville, Tennessee, 1959 (now 60)
Elton Britt born in Marshall, Arkansas, 1913 (died 1972)
Rosalie Allen born in Old Forge, Pennsylavania, 1924 (died 2003)
Little Roy Wiggins (StG 85) born in Nashville, Tennessee, 1926 (died 1999)
Joe Maphis died near Los Angeles, California (lung cancer), 1986 (was 65)
Bob Keeshan born in Lynbrook, New York, 1927 (died 2004). The Statler Brothers referenced Keeshan's best-known character in their hit "Flowers on the Wall:" "Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo."

Susanna Clark died in Nashville, Tennessee (illness), 2012 (was 73)

June 28:

George Morgan (CM 98) born in Waverly, Tennessee, 1924 (died 1975)
Bobby Caldwell (StG 10) born in St. Louis, Missouri, 1941 (died 2009)
Kim Williams (NS 12) born in Kingsport, Tennessee, 1947 (died 2016)
The WWVA Wheeling Jamboree began, 1940

June 29:

T. Tommy Cutrer (DJ 80) born in Osyka, Mississippi, 1924 (died 1998)
Frank Loesser born in New York City, 1910 (died 1969). The legendary pop songwriter was the first "victim" of a Homer & Jethro parody in 1949, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." After Homer & Jethro recorded seven more parodies of Loesser compositions for an EP (Homer & Jethro Fracture Frank Loesser), Loesser, a fan of the pair, wrote the liner notes.
Rosemary Clooney died in Beverly Hills, California (lung cancer), 2002 (was 74).  The pop singer worked on WLW with many country singers and recorded a cover of the Carl Smith hit "If Teardrops Were Pennies."

June 30:

Dwayne O'Brien of Little Texas born in Ada, Oklahoma, 1963 (now 56)
Doyle Holly born in Perkins, Oklahoma, 1936 (died 2007)
R.W. Blackwood of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet (SG 02) died in Clanton, Alabama (plane crash), 1954 (was 33)
Bill Lyles of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet (SG 02) died in Clanton, Alabama (plane crash), 1954 (was 34)
Chet Atkins (CM 73, RR 02, GLA 93) died in Nashville, Tennessee (brain cancer), 2001 (was 77)