It is a long path to travel from our early agrarian ways to a nation of urban/suburban centers today. The development of culture from this dramatic yet systematic change is largely the basis of a large portion of early American Literature. Within the pages of novels from authors across the land, social problems are confronted and family issues explore the friction of generations at odds over whether change is necessary for survival or continuity is the best method to preserve tradition.
In John Williams's thought-provoking "Stoner," his need to follow his own divining rod castigated him from his farm-based family. Everything future professor Stoner learned from his upbringing was responsible for his values. Yet even with those tenets instilled in the man, they did not prove to be enough to survive in the rapidly changing world following the Second Industrial Revolution.
What about dissension within an agrarian culture where the move toward modernity is not the only culprit? In Willa Cather's "O Pioneers!" we are granted a vision of life on the farm as not quite so right. These immigrant families from Sweden half-a-world away in the Great Plains of Nebraska pose a lot of complex questions that stem from trying to lead such a simple life.
Cather lived in Nebraska from age nine until she moved to Lincoln for her higher education. Farming appealed to her father, and for a year and a half the Cathers pursued this bucolic life. Willa transplants some of her story to the Bergsons of Hanover. In their tiny town and life on the bluff, the Bergsons are indicative of a family in need of change. Alexandra's father John is dying. While he has a pair of sons in Oscar and Lou who are physically ripe to takeover his leadership, in reality they are better utilized like tools in the shed. All around them, farms are failing and their owners are selling out and leaving. When Nature hesitates to bring them the weather they need for success, it feels like it is time for these seeds to scatter and let the passing wind guide them elsewhere.
Infirmed and only able to observe his family, the reins of the Bergsons is turned over to Alexandra. When their neighbors and friends the Linstrums prepare to leave, we learn how each Bergson proves to be unable to survive alone (or even together in the case of the brothers) and how (on the mother's part, especially) their clinging to old ways could be a deterrent. Alexandra is dutiful and resourceful. What begins as a solemn promise ("We will never lose the land,") is the source of education for her as she schemes through complex mortgage agreements to secure more land for the family.
The brothers are hard workers. However, when they see no payoff (possibly for themselves,) they too want to leave. Cather does not villainize them, but does paint them as figurative horses wearing blinders. Fortunately, Alexandra is a good listener. She and her younger brother Emil spend days traveling the nearby river valley talking to other farmers and families. Aggregating all her intel, she draws a distinct conclusion
There's nothing in it for us down there, Emil. There are a few fine farms, but they are owned by the rich men in town, and couldn't be bought. Most of the land is rough and hilly. They can always scrape along down there, but they can never do anything big. Down there they have a little certainty, but up with us there is a big chance. We must have faith in the high land.
The grandchild of shipbuilders from Sweden, raised on a family farm that barely got along in the Great Plains of Nebraska, Alexandra as the inheritor of the family reins sees the opportunity of staying put as not only guaranteeing their future as a family. It will also provide security and fulfill her promise to her ailing father. In Alexandra, we see the rare occurrence in nature and American history of a person who is ready to make a change - but senses that it is not necessarily "staying put" but knowing that the potential of the soil beneath her feet will actually bring change to her.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
BTS - ARIRANG [4 VARIANTS ON CD](BigHit)
Having completed their military service in South Korea, the world's biggest KPOP act (selling some 40 million albums before this three year hiatus.) "ARIRANG" takes its name from a revered Korean folk song and sees the boys who were once espousing all the pleasures and pressures of growing up as men now prepared to take on the world on their own terms. "ARIRANG" emerges with 14 new tracks boasting a jaw dropping list of collaborators including Kevin Parker, Mike-Will-Made-It, Tyler Johnson, Flume, El Guincho, and still more.
TBONES will ring in ARIRANG with a special LISTENING PARTY on Friday, March 20th at 6PM.
ZACH BRYAN - With Heaven on Top [2LP/CD](Warner)
As much as Country Music needs him, Zach Bryan makes yet another stellar Country/Rock hybrid that could easily generate yet another hit. While his self-titled 2023 album remains his high watermark, "Heaven" shifts slightly toward a more black-and-white vision of Springsteen's classic run in the Eighties. To Bryan's credit, "Heaven" has the best grasp yet of how much he wants to be heard as a songwriter/writer (all the recitations and studio chatter) and how little he cares about delivering a hit as opposed to letting his most successful songs ("Plastic Cigarette" and "Appetite") speak for themselves and his loyal fans.
LUKE COMBS - The Way I Am [2LP/CD](Seven Ridges/Sony)
Like making up for lost time, Luke Combs kicks off his sixth album with the proclamation "Back In The Saddle" where both the swirl of banjos and a soaring electric guitar solo keep him at both the top of the Country charts and (curiously) on Madden NFL 26. While "The Way I Am" is not a traditional Country album per se, Combs does hit all the benchmarks singing about trucks ("My Kinda Saturday Night,") and of course, "Alcohol of Fame." As always Combs mixture of sincerity ("Days Like These") and swingin' for the fences is welcome.
WILLIAM CLARK GREEN - Watterson Hall [ORANGE SMOKE 2LP/CD](Stem Disintermedia)
Texas has a long tradition of detailed songwriting and a sense that writing one (or twelve) about yourself and your surroundings is eminently more important than banging out a bulletproof hit. East Texas singer/songwriter William Clark Green takes on New Americana production to make his songs fit in and pass muster ("Whole Lotta Lubbock") but carries the promising ability to tie his experiences up into writing that would easily crossover to Country Radio ("Good Time" with its Waylon-styled twang guitar unloads this lyrical nugget "I can't build a bar/But I can damn sure burn one down") if placed into the proper hands.
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - Live Trax, Vol. 72 -6.28.25 [NATURAL 4LP](Bama Rags/ATO/Virgin)
On their live tour for their most recent album, Dave Matthews Band went deep into their catalog steering away from pumping out the hits ("Crash Into Me" appears here) in favor of long, creative and emotional representations of their favorites with added sections and instrumentation.
AEROSMITH - Aerosmith: Legendary Edition [LP/CD/3CD/4LP](Capitol)
The Rock N'Roll debut in the Seventies was a long slog of a road where one would hope that a Top 40 placement could help jump an extra rung on the ladder. Boston's Aerosmith was not just a hard-working hard-rockin' band, they had to make their own opportunity. When they finally got an audience with Clive Davis of Columbia Records, they had to pay their own way to join a crowded bill at Max's Kansas City. The gamble partially worked. Signed to the esteemed label, they cobbled together their record only to see it lost in the promotional haze of another auspicious 1973 debut - Bruce Springsteen.
All these years removed from the rest of the catalog (and the development of the Toxic Twins writing team of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry,) "Aerosmith" crackles with everything that the "Dazed & Confused"-era lifestyle needed. Cool tacet vocal and guitar solos ("Somebody,") bluesy Yardbirds-into-Zeppelin style riffs built for footstomping boogie fans ("Movin' Out," the first true Aerosmith song,) and a cover of "Walkin' The Dog" with hidden flute! While the record broke into the Billboard charts at around #166, we retained a pair of classics from it in the bass-heavy strut of "Mama Kin" and their near Top 40 (#59) hit "Dream On." The latter was enough to keep audiences coming back for more, including this set's real prize (in the Deluxe packages): an early live set for WBCN from Paul's Mall. Energized for radio broadcast, early Aerosmith live disproves the early critical assertion that they were merely "the K-Mart version of the Stones."
SUPERTRAMP - Even In The Quietest Moments.../Breakfast In America/...Famous Last Words...[AUDIOPHILE LP](A&M/UMe)
Seventies success was about two things: persistence and finding the right time for your blitz. The "bearded millionaires" of Supertramp emerged from the Prog-heavy Sixties with a unique twist: dual Rock-based songwriters in Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson who wrote like they were the biggest band in the world. As their songwriting began to effectively reflect their mixture of useless optimism ("Dreamer") and pessimism ("Bloody Well Right,") they emerged as Art-Pop hitmakers. 1977's "Quietest Moments" delivered their first major hit ("Give a Little Bit") and saw them growing more experimental in midst of fighting off the "Americanization" of their sound. Texturally Prog ("Fool's Overture," ) Supertramp in 1977 were trying to be witty and smart, but something was missing.
Scrapping all previous ideas, the duo set out to make a self-described "fun" album about their fractured relationship (the original title was "Hello Stranger.") What emerged was a band at their creative crossroads. Ten years after the dissolution of The Beatles, many bands were christened "the next" (and more to come) - none could even attempt that standard of production and arrangement. So with six months in the studio and a healthy dose of America circa a bout with economic/social uncertainty, "Breakfast In America" surfaced as an outsider's view of taking America as a fastball thrown right down the middle. Once playful like "Dreamer," its successor "The Logical Song" delivered satire and sincerity - and a mega hit. "Goodbye Stranger" even repackages its early optimism as ironically delivered by a person completely lacking direction. "Could we have kippers for breakfast, mummy dear, mummy dear?" crossed over as well as a Benny Goodman-styled clarinet solo and Supertramp looked indestructible. "Take The Long Way Home," the last hit "Breakfast" served even captured the mixed feelings of the whole process coming to an end.
Did they know the end was nearing? The impeccable mixing and attention to detail on "Breakfast" was going to be next to impossible if the duo lived in two different places. However, when you are now among the biggest acts in the world - you balance your new demands with new privileges. The dark lyrics and that familiar "Dreamer"-like piano figure were trotted out again as "It's Raining Again." While it delivered a much-needed hit, "...Famous Last Words..." lives on as the Hodgson/Davies relationship runs out of air. Without the outer struggle resolved by the friction release that created/refined the song, tracks were "catchy" and "fun" but felt more like a reach for the charts than their pursuit of writing what they were experiencing. One year later, Hodgson stepped away from Supertramp and writing partners began the longer road of legal problems and deciphering who wrote what from their catalog. Rick Davies died from multiple myeloma and cancer last year amid plans for their reunion tour.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
