Monday, April 5, 2010

Yeah, but are you sure Hank done it THIS way?

If this isn't the avant-garde of country music circa 1970, I'm not sure what is. It starts out normal enough, with some homespun chatter between former roommates Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings (the mind reels at the thought of what that house must have been like), and then Waylon steps over to play with...The Waylons. Double-neck guitar! Flower sticker on the bass! Freaky mod suits that look like they were designed for The Standells. And a dolled-up Jessi Colter playing a keyboard better-suited for Stereolab than your typical Nashville act of the time. Fresh off winning a Grammy for his version of "Macarthur Park" (which seems to be lost to time, sadly...not that I won't keep looking), Jennings is pushing the stylistic envelope here in a way that undoubtedly blew a few minds at the time...it's still kind of blowing mine every time I watch it.

"Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" and "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man", from The Johnny Cash Show, March 25, 1970.

1 comment:

  1. wow--blowin' my mind here too. It's so weird to see them styled that way, on that set---then they start singing and here comes that twang. Crazy!

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