Monday, May 04, 2009
Beyond Country Music
Although I was not "hooked" within the first 20 pages of the novel, and haven't found it particularly "interesting", once I look past my personal views, I can assess, and truly understand Jennings methods. His continuing list of country songs serves to represent certain episodes in both America and his life. He is able to speak about something that he finds so close to him, and relate it to his life. Although I am not familiar with his "country singer name dropping" throughout the book, what I can take from it, is that this genre of music means much more to him than guitars and lyrics. His style (in terms of his rant about country music) can be compared to any writer who has written a story and connected it to an object or sport that they love. Jennings shouldn't be judged on what he parallels his life and American events to (country music), but should be judged on the effectiveness of his writing style. Yes his ongoing prose about Johnny Cash and other country singers may get annoying, but he is able to clearly illustrate his stories and the story of growing America, I find it very interesting that he is able to find connections between country songs and these topics.
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Jennings on the whole presents his tale not only anecdotally but also with a sort of fanatical spiritualism that he invests in country music. By creating a type of mysticism around the music, Jennings is able to devote himself to it, almost as one devotes himself to a higher power. When reading this I imagine being spoken to by an elderly gentleman, because both the vernacular as well as the tangents into the "Country spiritualism" remind me of my grandpa. In that context, its easier to establish a connection between many points that seem, well, tangent. Rather than try to pinpoint his voice as an author, I would rather attribute it to that of a skilled story-teller, one whose life is rich in character and depth.
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