吾土吾民的歌唱

中國有人不喜歡秦腔，北美有人不喜歡鄉村音樂。

我總是都很喜歡。

秦腔是中國戲曲的鼻祖。曆史悠久，源遠流長。京劇，豫劇，四川邦子，湘劇，都是以秦腔為基礎發展起來的。有人說秦腔藝術會不會失傳，我相信不會。為什麽？因為它樹大根深，即使一時萎縮，會再葉繁花盛的。

還沒來北美時，在國內就常從VOA短波把鄉村音樂欣賞。生活北美近三十年，欣賞從來沒有中斷過。鄉村音樂有著濃厚的鄉土氣息，一歌一故事，富含生活哲理。有的幽默，有的激昂。有的扇情，有的悲傷。首首舞蹈性極強。每每聽起，好像聽到陝北腰鼓，似乎又在欣賞秦腔。

近年來特別注意鄉村創作歌手Eric Church的歌唱。他的作品總是有著極其明顯的個性。曲曲都有新鮮感，有獨到之陽剛正氣。是鄉村又不似鄉村。令人琢磨、回味無窮，百聽不厭。

一首好歌總是對所要表達的情緒給予盡可能準確的定位。能使生活經曆、文化背景完全不同的聽眾個個引起共鳴。愛情是永恒的主題。情歌多如牛毛，珍品卻不是那麽容易發現。例如他的Can't take it with you是愛情悲歡離合的描寫之一。女友/妻子因為你自己的過失不告而別使你傷心難過得幾乎昏天暗地的心情被他演唱得淋漓至盡。我每每聽到此歌，總是幾乎熱淚盈眶。

他的座右銘是靈感不來不寫歌。不為唱片公司的季度指標而匆忙寫歌出歌(這樣寫出的作品往往是雷同、俗套）。他曾組織創作小組隱居深山老林，無網絡，與世隔絕一個月，專心致誌地寫歌。他最新唱片The Outsiders的12首，是從從未發表的121首中選出來的。有的歌，他連續兩天兩夜不休息寫出。有的僅僅隻是兩個小時就搞定了，比如如下的Talladega:



同一歌，聽者的經曆不同， 感受就不一樣。此歌提到賽車。我聽時卻回憶起下鄉時有天和幾個同學騎自行車幾十公裏到周圍縣城玩。記的最清楚的是在那縣城書店尋瀾書。

聽說他的團隊（從當初的十人擴大到目前的五十人）四月十四日來溫歌華Roger's Arena擺擂台。欣慰。特寫此文祝賀。並以此視頻為記。

吾土吾民的歌唱永遠不過時，最有生命力。

 

An update 2015 11 06

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Review: Eric Church captures the city's flaming party spirit with stellar Saddledome show

MIKE BELL, CALGARY HERALD
More from Mike Bell, Calgary Herald
Published on: April 12, 2015
Last Updated: April 12, 2015 8:55 AM MDT
Country music artist Eric Church brought his act to the Saddledome in Calgary on Saturday, April 11, 2015.
Country music artist Eric Church brought his act to the Saddledome in Calgary on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Lorraine Hjalte / Calgary Herald
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With all due respect to beloved colleague Stephen Hunt: No.

No, the Thursday night performance by Cirque du Soleil was not the perfect show to capture the spirit of the city, encapsulate the ebullience that its citizens were feeling as a result of the hometown hockey heroes making their way to the playoffs for the first time in years.

No. That particular big-top event was about bendy folk, jugglers, yo-yo masters, adorable little people, and the cycling equivalent of a pole-dancer. All excellent things, for sure (except that stupid juggler. Stupid juggler). But as upbeat and entertaining as it was, it wasn’t what the local folk were feeling in their bones, livers and drunken souls.

That would have been two days later, Saturday night on the same Stampede grounds, in the same building that said pro puck team clinched their spot in the post-season dance.

That would have been country star Eric Church’s party-starting performance on this particular night. One that was about country music, drinking, drinking, getting high, drinking, drinking, partying, and drinking.

This is, of course, Stampede city. Nashville north. Home of the mile du rouge.

And he is, of course, the man behind the song Smoke a Little Smoke, presumably a tune about attempting to start fires and get flames going. Right? No? Really?

Well, whatever the meaning behind that particular obtuse possibly number about a love of flammables, Church’s weekend Dome stint was the show that the news of the week needed, deserved.

Gallery: Eric Church

Eric Church brought his Outsiders World tour to the Saddledome.

It was fittingly, perfectly loud, mindless of the moment and ya-freaking-hoo.

It was also a pretty great concert, period. Far, far, far better than his last time through town. One that delivered everything it promised and more during its ceaselessly entertaining and energetic two hours for the 13,000 strong in attendance.

Church and his exceptional band took the stage to the title track from his latest album The Outsiders — again, a fitting number to connect with a crowd and fanbase that wasn’t supposed to be part of that other particular party.

But it wasn’t about other ideas or expectations, it was about this night and celebrating for the many reasons anyone might have, hockey or other.

Ignited, Chuch kept the crowd inflamed with an endless string of likable, not obnoxiously idiotic and insistently dumb country numbers. From Creepin’ with a pretty great acoustic guitar solo, to Guys Like Me, I’m Gettin’ Stoned, Jack Daniels and Pledge Allegiance to the Hag. Sure, yes, they can probably be included in the current crop of forgettables that the industry keeps promoting, but, hell, maybe because of the mood on this night, they seemed a little less and a little more.

And after all of that, after raising the roof and the crowd off of their seats for a good 30-minutes or so, he still had the awshucksy audacity to talk to the audience and say that he wanted to take temperature and see what kind of evening it was going to be in Calgary.

That had already been answered, but its reiteration came as everyone chimed in on the song Drink In My Hand and followed through the rest of the night into Talladega, That’s Damn Rock and Roll, Livin’ Part of Life and Country Music Jesus — which, oddly, and perhaps as an offering to the goodly hockey gods that inhabit the Dome, was preceded by a chant of “Go, Flames, Go.”

As for actual flames, well, there was none of that as the stage show, itself, was flashy but not FLASHY, with a bank of lights, a giant scoreboard-like screen but nothing too garish or unnecessarily ostentatious drawing attention away from the music, the band.

The most incongruous thing as far as being the drum riser lowering onto the stage on the first song, and giant telephone pole like things rising up and down later in the night during Homeboy. And even during the song Give Me Back My Hometown, the graveyard backdrop projected on the curtains behind the band was subtle and unassuming.

And — and this is an odd thing to say as a compliment, but it actually is one — Church, himself, was similar. He’s not an overwhelmingly attention-grabbing frontman or particularly dynamic performer. He didn’t make great use of the catwalks that dipped into the audience on the floor on either side of the main, somewhat empty, but stylishly so, stage. He interacted infrequently, briefly, but it actually suited the tone and tenor of the night.

His voice, those songs, this crowd, the mood.

It wasn’t amazing. But it was kind of perfect.

A perfect celebration.

And things got going even earlier with the evening’s beginners the Brothers Osborne.

Aside from the fact it was quite refreshing for a contemporary country act not to include on the bill a painfully similar one-guy opener — actually, usually it’s a pair of nondescriptly named, bro-country knobs — they were pretty sensational in their own right.

The American act, led by sibs John and T.J., had a roadhouse vibe that translated surprisingly well in the big room. They cussed and cajoled the, at that time, small crowd into the beginnings of the party that was to come.

And they rocked it out with different enough contemporary country songs such as Stay A Little Longer, one that, I believe, was called Down Home and of course the 40-proof hit Rum.

A good spirit to get things started. Get spirits raised. Get things inflamed.

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