As a side-effect of growing up in Wyoming, building miles of barbed-wire fence, and driving in pickup trucks for hours across the endless ocean of the great plains, I was exposed to a fair amount of country music. Though it took me years to really embrace it as an art form, country music is beautiful in it’s simplicity, honesty, and universal appeal. Both jazz and country are born from the blues and indivisible from the history of America. Some of the main ties between jazz and country music are the relationship between melody and harmony, improvisation and the idea of soloing over a song form, and a shared blues heritage. The king of country music is Hank Williams, and one of his best known tunes is “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” Bill Frisell does a great version of it on his album “Ghost Town”, and pianist Jed Wilson has done a great arrangement which I’ll post above and bring to the session. Here’s Hank’s version for reference:
As a side-effect of growing up in Wyoming, building miles of barbed-wire fence, and driving in pickup trucks for hours across the endless ocean of the great plains, I was exposed to a fair amount of country music. Though it took me years to really embrace it as an art form, country music is beautiful in it’s simplicity, honesty, and universal appeal. Both jazz and country are born from the blues and indivisible from the history of America. Some of the main ties between jazz and country music are the relationship between melody and harmony, improvisation and the idea of soloing over a song form, and a shared blues heritage. The king of country music is Hank Williams, and one of his best known tunes is “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” Bill Frisell does a great version of it on his album “Ghost Town”, and pianist Jed Wilson has done a great arrangement which I’ll post above and bring to the session. Here’s Hank’s version for reference:
Sam,
Can’t wait. Email me the PDF as well in case you have trouble posting it.
Darrell