Tag, You're Not It

Let's Rock This House All You Bakersfield Farm Cats
By Bryce Martin

Growing up in the Midwest, a "story" was sometimes called a "windy." Someone who liked to talk just for the sake of talking, with no real regard for facts, was called "Windy." A father might say to a young son whom he had caught in a fib, "I think you're storying to me." Also, if someone passed gas, or wind, that was known as "letting a windy."

Story: "Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s."

Fact: There is so much wrong with this. It is part of the definition of the so-called Bakersfield Sound that I see tossed out there to the public as if it is fact. "Reaction"? So, Bakersfield musicians sat down together and consciously said "Forget the Nashville way. Let's rock it up." Something like that? Plus, that so-called "string orchestra-laden Nashville Sound" went all the way back to the early 50s (not late 50s), and before. Hank Williams was country on some and "string orchestra-laden" on others. But that was only part of the sounds coming out of Nashville. They rocked it up on country records, too, just the way they did in Bakersfield. That was just another of the sounds coming out of Nashville. The "rock" in country music was not even exclusive to Bakersfield on the West Coast. The Maddox Brothers and Rose were rocking it up in the late 40s. Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West were far-out gone cats down in Los Angeles. Wynn Stewart? he was not tied down to any genre. Like most in his day, he tried them all. His biggest hit was pop all the way.

The term "Bakersfield Sound" may have won out as a genre designation, but not because it deserves, or even needs, the label.

TODAY'S FOLKSY EXPRESSION OVERHEARD: "I'm so hungry I'm passing fresh air."


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