Happy New Year Friends
We nested comfortably indoors in the days before Christmas with plenty of food and beverage, rode out the Arctic blast with savoir faire and enjoyed our year-end break. For those who traveled, I salute you. To those who tried to get to family and turned back because of terrible conditions on the roads or at the airports, I feel for you. I hope y’all are staying safe. It was a surreal ending to a year of mixed blessings though not one without joys and wonders. I thought I’d share some short notes on recent happenings, while below is a review of my favorite stories for WMOT from the year.
Bluegrass To The Rescue: I began 2022 reeling from the news that our beloved show Music City Roots was not, at long last, making a dreamed-of comeback. The brothers/investors from Texas who were building us a performance venue turned out to be flakes. They’ve fired more people than we can count, stepped on multiple rakes, and their $15 million barn in Madison is still not finished. So I pivoted and asked my bosses at WMOT if they’d be interested in at last adding a specialty bluegrass and old-time music show to our lineup, and they were already heading that way. So they handed me that opportunity. I wanted the show to have some chemistry and conversation, so I invited in a terrific fiddler named Amy Alvey whom I’d met the prior fall while profiling her duo Golden Shoals. We were talking about our plans one night at the 5 Spot and she ordered an Old Fashioned. We both sort of went a-ha, and the show had its name. I came up with the slogan “where the ancient tones are forever young” and we launched the show in March. For all my years in radio, I’ve never hosted or programmed a regular music show before, and it’s been really good for me. I got far more attuned to the newest music being released and who’s on the bluegrass charts. Amy brought the expertise in old time music because that’s the world she’s traveled in for a decade, and the pooling of our different backgrounds and the sharing of our enthusiasms is what I think makes the show work. We’ve also produced and hosted numerous live events with traditional acoustic roots music from the area, including a big Americanafest throwdown I described in my October newsletter. If you haven’t heard The Old Fashioned, please have a listen to our most recent shows here at our home page.
The Show Went On: I saw some live music in 2021, but in 2022 it felt normal again. No vax checks. No masks. Full houses. I hope that wasn’t reckless, but I sure enjoyed being around the good vibrations. My first Ryman show of the year was Bela Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart tour, a showcase of the greatest newgrass composer and banjo player of all time collaborating with his legendary peers and a new generation of instrumental masters. Then in May I was back in the pews for Billy Strings on his Spring tour. The “break” between the magnificent and electrifying band sets was Billy and Bryan Sutton sitting on stools playing flatpicked guitar duos, the very format of acoustic music that got me excited about this stuff more than 30 years ago. Pat Metheny at the Schermerhorn was a stunner where I got to see a true hero in ideal acoustic surroundings and discover the magic of pianist James Francies. My buddy Nate and I rolled out for an overnight in Chattanooga in March to see Molly Tuttle and her new band Golden Highway as she toured on her magic Crooked Tree album. The Songbirds venue was super cozy and historically rich (it’s a museum by day), and I came back with a story about the place. Back in jazz territory, I got to see drummer Makaya McCraven, one of my top discoveries of the last few years, play what would be my last show at the legendary Mercy Lounge. (The venue will reopen this year under new management, but I’m worried about the vibe.) This fall, I attended and reported on the wonderful inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival, an event put on by a good number of cherished friends and colleagues. Back home, bass player Viktor Krauss returned to Rudy’s, and my ideal seat at the corner of the bar put me inside the sound of a double bass and guitar section (yes a section) in a way I’ve rarely experienced. Then there was more outstanding jazz with Julian Lage at the Brooklyn Bowl. The year ended with only-in-Nashville magic as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band played through their historic album Will The Circle Be Unbroken with four original members who’d been on those sessions, as well as key guests to flesh out the sound, including the awesome Trey Hensley. It was a 50th anniversary celebration at the CMA Theater, and I enjoyed the hell out of it with my pal Jon Byrd.
Twitter WTF: The biggest media story of the year, at least the one that affects me on a daily basis, was Elon Musk’s inept, shambolic and disturbingly reactionary takeover of Twitter. I quit Facebook a few years ago in protest of its irresponsible governance, and now I’m faced with a similar choice about the one social site I rely on to scan the news of the world and post a running record of my work and hot takes in real time. It was the best designed of the social sites because it’s chiefly text-based, and because it became the one place on the internet where the world’s journalists, scholars, change agents and public intellectuals gathered to share ideas. It’s been a genuine community and it adapted to needs over time without radical changes. It was for example where the hashtag was invented and popularized, which is quite an amazing thing. Twitter has had its problems, but at least you could bypass the algorithmic feed and view a relatively complete string of notices from everybody one follows. I’ve not had a toxic experience on Twitter because I curate my feed and because I’m not popular enough to attract trolls or harassment. I am outraged that Musk has undone all the progress Twitter made combating those problems however. As of a month ago, liberal leaning thought leaders are being attacked with hate speech and racism and Musk seems to take childish delight in it while covering for it as a commitment to “free speech.” I’m experimenting with Post.news, but all of us who value Twitter are in the same place - uncertain about the future, depressed that nothing can really take its place, guilty about staying on the service, and upset that this is all being threatened by a weird egomaniac with access to far more money and power than any individual should have.
The Country Comes Through: Finally, I want to recognize the state of the country, because 2022 was a months-long cliffhanger as we approached the Nov. 8 elections. Conventional “wisdom” was that Democrats would lose big and the now toxic and Trump-centered GOP would take over both houses of Congress and governorships in key swing states. Of course that didn’t happen and Democrats had a historically great showing for a mid-term, defeating election-denying candidates from coast to coast. It was truly heartening. I’ve felt better about the future ever since the results came in. Watching Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro and their ilk sputter and fume has been immensely satisfying.
This is not to overlook 2022’s bad news and tragedies. Losing the well-established right to abortion was the darkest day in domestic politics in a long time. The Russian war on Ukraine is a crime against humanity like I’ve not seen in my lifetime. But at least Putin is being crushed in his goals and losing his grip at home. And the threat of a shock takeover of US politics by anti-democratic right wingers is much diminished as we end the year, though our politics remains inconsiderate and hysterical to be sure.
As the year wound down, the Jan 6 committee released its final report, laying out in remarkable detail the events and facts of a shocking and indefensible political crime. Whatever our differences, we’ve peacefully transferred power for two and a half centuries. Only Trump and his desperate inner circle decided they’d have their way and break that indispensable tradition with fraud, deceit and ultimately force. Now just about every aspect of their conspiracy is laid bare in the historic record, based on overwhelming evidence. I do think 2023 will bring indictments of Trump and a good number of associates and lackeys. There were about 40 indictments after Watergate. The United States shouldn’t hesitate to bring charges where warranted. As for Trump, I shared this last time about his prospects, which are dark. He’s diminished, pathetic, tarnished and spent. I take great hope from that.
So 2023 will be the year of holding on tight and trusting in the long game. Besides the tumult that indictments of MAGA leaders will bring, we’re about to come face to face with what living with Artificial Intelligence is going to look like. I’ve been playing with generative AI just a little bit, enough to realize that this is the biggest reality shift since the advent of the internet. I don’t fear it and I don’t put much stock in apocalyptic warnings. We tend to amplify the costs and liabilities of tech while getting very blase about its benefits, which change our lives and then get categorized as just normal life. Let’s strive in the new year to retain our sense of wonder at the tools and knowledge we have at our fingertips.
Craig H.
Nashville 12.31.22
NEW WORK
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