Lionel Richie goes country......again?

Lionel Richie

Earlier this week I read that Lionel Richie will be releasing a country album March 2012. I was not surprised and most likely none of you reading this blog are surprised either. You will be able to see him perform songs from the upcoming album November 9th at the 45th Annual CMA Awards performing duets with Little Big Town, Darius Rucker and Rascal Flatts. However, this is not the first time Lionel Richie has appeared on the CMA Awards show. Back in 1984 he appeared with Kenny Rogers performing the song “Lady” and again in 1986 singing “Deep River Woman” with Alabama.  As I heard the news of Richie‘s new country album I wondered why we don’t see more performers crossing genre lines to sing country music? Many years ago Ray Charles performed and recorded country music. Charles’ sentiments were very much the same as Richie, both speaking of their backgrounds growing up in the south influencing their decision to record country music. I understand that record labels dictate the music their artists will record, but record sales speak volumes too. Plenty of singers and groups reach the point where they act as executive producer and choose their own material. Why not choose the genre as well? If you are a singer and grew up listening to country music, or even if you like some of the songs, why not sing country music sometimes? Music is music. Songs are songs regardless the style of performance. Lionel Richie, have fun singing and playing music with other good musicians. We will listen!

Lalah!

Lalah Hathaway

A hit song will make some money, but a talented musician will make a career. If you think about that statement for a moment, you will realize it is so true. Talent is always on display when Lalah Hathaway is on stage or recording. Some may know a few facts about Lalah. She is the daughter of the late, great Donnie Hathaway. After five solo albums and countless compilation recordings she is a seasoned recording artist, a Berklee School of Music graduate and she is another great musician from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. However, even after critical acclaim from the music community at large and several other brilliant artist with whom she has collaborated, Lalah Hathaway still flies somewhat under the radar. When speaking with others about many of the R & B female vocalist of our time her name is not mentioned too early in the conversation. In fact, as I listened to Hathaway’s new album as research for this blog, I mentioned to a friend that I was reviewing her new music. My friend knows Lalah is a singer but he is not familiar with her music. Hopefully, this blog entry will enlighten my friend and many of you not too familiar with Lalah Hathaway music. By the way, the album is a fantastic collection of songs and musicianship. As I listened to “Where it all begins” my first thought was: “this is how to put together an album“.  The choice of songs, arrangements, studio musicians and producers all just fit well to make the album a cohesive listening experience. Please make sure you give “Where it all begins” a listen and broaden your personal library of music. Remember, hit songs make money, but talented musicians make careers. Lalah Hathaway has a great career that is still going strong.

Still Blazing the Trail

Jimi Hendrix

Last week as I was listening to a radio station with a friend I heard the Jimi Hendrix song “Foxy Lady“. As I listened I was struck by the historic value of Jimi Hendrix music. You see, September 18th marked 41 years since Hendrix death.  Although this friend I was listening with is not a musician, he still can appreciate that Hendrix was one of the greatest guitar players of all time. As I listened, I thought about how much Jimi Hendrix had influenced not only guitar players, but also modern rock and metal music. I would ask everyone to try a little experiment with me. Why don’t you play one of Hendrix’ albums, any of them. Then listen to any hard rock or metal band of your choice. After you have heard maybe four songs including the guitar solos, tell me how many guitar players are still playing like Jimi. If your answer is all of them you are correct. Jimi’s style of play has even crossed genre lines into R & B and Funk music. Of course there have been musicians whose music has continued to be relevant hundreds of years after their death. However, in Jimi Hendrix were talking about a musician who used the electric guitar and gear in a way that had not been heard before, and all guitarist after him followed his innovation for over 40 years after his death.  Not to say that we have not had some very good guitarist in the past 40 years, but Hendrix stands out like a beacon. Will we hear changes in the way guitars are played in the future? Maybe!  But for now, Hendrix is not with us anymore but his music is still blazing the trail.

Technology in reverse?

Technology has affected everything surrounding our daily lives. Just about every home has a computer with internet connection, and growing numbers of us own telephones with access to the internet and more. Those are just two evidences of scientific advances changing life for us all. The music industry has been affected as much or more than any other. Last week as the country mourned the loss of Apple CEO Steve Jobs many musicians chatted or tweeted thank you notes to Mr. Jobs for helping change everything about music production.  You may or may not agree about the extent of Jobs’ influence on the music industry, but there is no doubt about technological advances effect on music products and services. Gone are the days when we would walk to the record store to pick up an album of music because we liked a particular song we heard on the radio. Also gone are the times we got in our car and drove down to the mall music store to buy CD’s we enjoyed.  Now we have MP3’s to download and music sharing websites. All the aforementioned changes have happened in my short lifetime. However, according to Nielsen SoundScan, music-related cassette album sales are up 46% 22,000 units this year from 15,000 the previous year. Overall, those numbers are small when you look at the larger picture, but its eye opening because there are not a lot of new releases created in the cassette format.  Why the growth? It could be that independent labels find cassettes less expensive to create. Vinyl sales also increase year after year according to Nielsen SoundScan. I understand that statistic because many artists will tell you vinyl just has a different sound and seems to “breathe”.  Will this growth of old formats continue? Perhaps! Nevertheless, I do not believe we will go backwards in technology thirty years just because we can. No, we will move ahead. I hope that it will bring even larger musical selections for us all.

The Mother of Hip Hop

Sylvia Robinson

It seems that each week we lose another great person of the music industry. Therefore, I have decided to stop mourning the losses, but to celebrate the persons' life and accomplishments. Yes, this week we lost someone that many may not know, but she was definitely an icon in the Hip Hop world. I’m speaking of Sylvia Robinson who died at 75 years of age on September 29th. She started out in the 1950’s singing as “Little Sylvia” as one half of the duo Mickey and Sylvia with an R&B number one hit “Love is Strange” which found new life in the film Dirty Dancing in 1987.  Then in 1979 she and her husband Joe founded Sugar Hill Records and released the huge hit Rapper’s Delight by Sugar Hill Gang. I remember as a teenager listening to this "poetry" set to Chic’s “Good Times".  I was a budding musician learning how to write and arrange music and like some musicians I was dismissive of Rap music. “It will never last” I said then. Of course, it did last and was the birth of an entirely new music genre called Hip Hop. Why was Sylvia Robinson considered by some to be the mother of Hip Hop?  Well, her son Joey was a member of Sugar Hill Gang and his mother (Robinson) helped with the funding for the group and new music label. Consequently, she could easily be considered the mother of Hip Hop. Publicist Lynn K. Hobson called Robinson a trendsetter in music. My goodness, what a trend she set! Hip Hop and Rap music are the gas that helps drive the music industry car these days. Yes, now we should celebrate Sylvia Robinson’s life and her unbelievable achievements.  After all, she may very well have been the mother of Hip Hop.