The High Road

Here's where I share with you some music that moves me. For a musician, or for that matter anyone who loves music, it's always painful trying to get someone to appreciate some musical moment on a favorite record, only to have them ask some unrelated question right in the middle of the part that sticks out to you as being so awesome. So I figure if I do it on this blog, at least I can't hear you talking over the brilliance.

If you go to the ANTI- Records website, you can download for free a Bettye LaVette performance of a song called "The High Road". Do it. No, seriously, do it.

I listen to alot of music, and a lot of good music, but rarely do I hear recordings where the songwriting and performance come together so effectively. The copy on the ANTI- Records site says that the song was written by Sharon Robinson especially for LaVette. This song has that pathetic quality where you know the grandiose declarations of stoic resolve you're hearing barely mask deep, regretful, and perplexed wounds, almost as if she keeps talking just to keep from bursting into tears. These days, all the hit break-up songs have the female victim hurling a scathing deluge of vengeful one-liners that essentially say, "I hate you, you %^$@#*!", but this song, like all good art, is worth a thousand words.

And LaVette's performance is as convincing as it could possibly be. As she sings, "I'll walk away with my head held high, Forgive and forget--uh, uh, daddy--not this time", you simultaneously burn from her scorn and hurt from her pain and weakness. In his review of the album at Reveal, Josh Hurst says:

And for her part, LaVette sings each song with a sort of lived-in passion, as if it’s her last night on Earth and she’s hell-bent on telling her life story. She may be a soul singer by trade, but don’t let that fool you—here she channels something more akin to black magic than traditional R&B, singing in a pained hush one minute and spitting her way into a righteous fury the next.

I'm a huge fan of this kind of production, and the band takes a masterful "less is more" approach in the performance. They accompany her so minimally in the quiet parts that it seems on the verge of exploding when they build. Check out the drum fills at the end of each major section--I don't think I've ever played with a drummer who'd be willing to play such a thing.

Anyway, as outstanding as each of the elements is--the songwriting, the accompaniment, the vocal performance--it's really the way they all combine that brings me into this character's head.

Comments?