Haints and Saints

So I am completely not going to write about the article in the paper today on how women deserve to be paid less because they don't work as hard as people.
Partly, I'm not going to write about it because it will only annoy me, partly because biological determinism is so last century but one and even then it was only really the National Socialists who really got off on it, partly because it's silly (we all know that what we're talking about is women being financially punished for having children - academics and social scientists, out of the pool!) but mainly I'm not going to write about it because the guy who conducted the study is called 'Prof. Wooden'.

'"It's a well known fact that women are indolent," quipped Prof. Wooden, woodenly, "This is no laughing matter."'

You see? I'm not going to be able to be grown up about this, not even close. So instead I'm going to write about how I find Bluegrass music confusing.

I really like every sound in Bluegrass music, every instrument, I just don't like it when they all play together at the same time. (Yes, I know, for all of you humming "Mama Don't" in their heads at the moment.) When Torvill and Dean were awarded their honorary doctorates, the speaker joked that the definition of an intellectual ought to be anyone who can hear Ravel's Bolero without thinking of them and I have the version of a same problem with Bluegrass; it's very difficult not to think how twee redneckism really is.* Finally, it does have the unfortunate characteristic of making every song sound the same. I think that's mainly to do with not being able to vary the rhythm so much if you're getting strings to do the job of drums and because at the heart of it, it's playing not listening music. So, virtuosity is more important than not homogenizing everything.

Partly, of course, this is all Bill Monroe's fault. Anything earlier than the Bluegrass Boys has more variety or sound and rhythm and fewer instruments which lets the music come out from amongst all that talent a bit more. Clarence Astley is a great example of that haunting high and lonesome sound in the banjo music before Bluegrass. The Newgrass movement made some progress on that front and I think people like Gillian Welch who are on the edge of it have been even more successful because they're going back to pre-Monroe music. Rick Danko is my favourite male singer (all his early influences were Bluegrass but he did something with them) but Tim O'Brien is my next favourite and I never listen to him because there really is only so many times you can listen to the tiddle-ti-tees.


*Anyone who is going to write in to tell me that a) the term 'Redneck' originated in the South, not Appalachia and b) 'Redneckism' isn't actually a word, and please God, never will be, don't because know and I'm very sorry, really. (Actually, I always thought "Redneck" came from Mississippi, but according to the OED doesn't.)