In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Foreword My father, J. W. Crowell, grew up in Western Kentucky, in the Blood River bottoms of Calloway County. An enigma and a savant, he impacted my musical career more than anyone I’ve known. Although he had limited access to popular music—listening to the Grand Ole Opry on a neighbor’s radio, going to local barn dances, or hearing his father play music on the front porch—he possessed an uncanny knack for learning songs. As a bandleader, his ability to absorb a song’s essence in one or two listens and to keep a dance floor full was something to behold. He knew more songs than anyone I’ve ever met, from Appalachian dead-baby songs, to blues, to gospel songs, to songs about cocaine and murder and trains and jailhouses and sainted mothers. In later years, I called him the “human radio.” Musicians, singers, and songwriters like my father who were raised up in the South—particularly in the predominantly ScotchIrish Appalachian region—defined what we know as the “high lonesome” sound. That tonality essentially defined country music in the first half of the twentieth century. With each generation, roots music retains its appeal for the simple reason that the beautiful vulnerability that defines the ix human experience is best conveyed through song. Especially a well-written folk song. In A Few Honest Words, you will learn how well-known artists such as Dwight Yoakam, Naomi Judd, Matraca Berg, and Joan Osborne are keeping that storied tradition alive. But you will also find that Kentucky’s up-and-comers have a firm grip on their singular artistic vision. By shining a light on an inclusive array of homegrown performing artists—some well known, some destined to be, and all of whom are in their own way following in the footsteps of Bill Monroe, Lionel Hampton, the Everly Brothers, and Loretta Lynn— Jason Howard has crafted a thoughtful and loving homage to his beloved state of Kentucky, giving us pitch-perfect journalistic prose from the heart of the country. —Rodney Crowell Foreword x ...

Share