People often ask me what kind of music do I like, the answer is always the same, ‘I like everything but pop country.’
The lyrics are cliche, the melodies are meandering, the guitar leads don’t sync with the rhythm and they all dress like a bunch of metros that look like they stole their wardrobe from a Patsy Cline drag show parody.
So when I hear one of these drugstore cowboys wins an CMA for a cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’ it got me curious (I never heard the cover until tonight).
This song is very special to me and many of my friends, because we can relate to the same situations in our lives;
‘Starting from zero, got nothing to lose
Maybe we’ll make something
Me, myself, I got nothing to prove’
So this ass in a hat gets a CMA for covering Tracy Chapman’s ‘FAST CAR’?!
I have to tell you, I almost fell asleep listening to his cover. It is obvious that the original passion in the song comes from the fact that the original writer sang it. There is also a gender line. I think a man can cover this song, but it was specifically written into the perspective of a woman, so that is hard for a male singer to pull it off and sound sincere, as Luke exhibited.
But what makes his turd version even more recognizable is the dripping passion and emotion Chapman puts into her creation.
The irony of this progression is that folk and blues was passed onto to white folks from African Americans in which early performers transformed into country swing and bluegrass and later into blues & jazz, rock & roll, reggae, rap and hip hop.
Now we have the pop country crowd once again going to the well of African American influence. And while other international and national artists have successfully cultivated and praised those influences, pop country wipes their behinds with it.