In the first week of July—on the fourth, as chance would have it—I’m scheduled to give a presentation at a gerontology conference. It’s a slightly unusual gig for me—I generally present at music, media or cultural studies events—but the panel I’m on reflects a longstanding interest in how popular music responds to and represents time, age and experience. This was the theme of my book
I think the sepia and black and white are inspired by those old west photos of Edward S. Curtis, and with Willie's, there is a clear influence from Curtis’ photos of Native Americans. Also possibly Solomon Bibo.
I love the photo of the hands. For an artist, they are the tools that create the art. Same with the feet of ballerinas. I also love the idea of how somebody who works with their hands, say Willie, Lucien Freud, or even a metalworking mechanic, compares to the hands of somebody who has never used them (the Queen's aging hands would have looked nothing like Willie's).
Wonderful article, as always, Richard. It was a nice read on a sunny morning in beautiful Arequipa, Peru, as I nurse my foggy Pisco head.
Thanks, Michael. I'm sure you're right about the sepia connection to photos of the old west; that western/cowboy iconography seemed to be important to Cash, Nelson, Highwaymen, plus others such as Ian Tyson, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, etc.
As for working hands and tools of the trade, again spot on. There are a couple of passages I was tempted to quote from the Jim McGuire book Nashiville Portraits which I briefly reference in the piece, but they were a bit off topic (also, Nelson features in the book as one of The Highwaymen, but not solo). One is from McGuire's preface, in which he talks about being inspired by Irving Penn's 'Small Trades' photos: 'He took simple, working people you would probably never notice in your daily travels and presented them in a way that compelled you to look at them, to appreciate them. It was a combination of that beautiful hard lighting, that simple gritty canvas backdrop, and all those glorious tones of gray. They became as important as they were timeless.' The other is from the foreword by then-director of the Morris Museum of Art, Kevin Grogan: 'McGuire's work ... continues to share certain characteristics with Penn's portraits, particularly in his depictions of tradesmen ... both go well beyond the merely reportorial to produce work of genuine insight, capturing a gesture, a fleeting expression, or mood to reveal something intriguing and unexpected about their subjects.' As I say, a bit off topic, but insightful on the representation of country musicians as photographic subjects.
I hope that Peru is proving a wonderful experience, Michael, and that the pisco head clears!
Richard, regarding Penn's quote on "simple people and making them compelling," have a look at the Lee Jeffries brilliant portrait series of homeless people entitled 'Lost Angels.' They are absolutely breathtaking and almost have a religious quality to them.
The connection of music and aging is a rich one, there are any number of ways to connect and this is a nice tribute.
It occurs to me that, for all of the ways that people can lose physical skills and abilities as they age playing music is often one that can be maintained (though I also have a sense that many musicians at some point in their career have to learn how to manage tendonitis or posture problems imbalances that can come from carrying or leaning over an instrument for so long).
But I will take a moment to share one store about music and memory that just happened recently. Many years I'd found a video on youtube of someone singing a sea chanty with a couple of co-workers in a back room in their office. Part of what made it interesting was the way it demonstrated the legacies of the British empire, with an American and two people from the Indian subcontinent singing a song from the age of sail.
I had been looking for it, and unable to find it, and didn't have much hope -- that description, while clear, doesn't offer much use in searching for it. But then, at some point, I was looking for something on Mainly Norfolk and reading one article I thought, "wait, that's it, that's the song they were singing in the video over a decade ago." https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/stormalong.html
Thanks for sharing that story, Nick. We can never exhaust the ways music and memory work together; I find it endlessly fascinating. And I've experienced rediscoveries like the one you mention (some of them also via Mainly Norfolk!) and have come to rely on the internet, and especially YouTube, for affirming musical memories that were lurking in my subconscious. When I was working on one of my memory pieces here earlier this year, I was amazed to find that some of the things I remembered from long ago (recordings, new stories, clips from TV shows), but that I would have otherwise misremembered, were there to be found online.
I just thought of another song for you -- I wouldn't immediately think of it as a song about aging, because it's about entering middle age rather than old age, but it does use the image of singer and guitar aging together.
I realized the other song which would relate to the photo (perhaps so obvious that it isn't even worth mentioning) is Bill Withers "Grandma's Hands" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NCwB9J14sE
Also, Michael K Fell's comment about photos of hands reminded me that the cover photo for Guy Clark's _Workbench Songs_ shows his hand holding a guitar.
Very much worth mentioning Withers' song, so thanks for doing so! When I was working on my piece on Gladys Knight and the Pips, I watched this version by her several times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTxHG75B6N0
As for Guy Clark, yes! I have extensive notes which I've yet to work up into anything Substackable on Clark's songs about objects and craft (boats to build, workbench songs, stuff that works, etc.) and how we was often pictured or filmed in his workshop. There's also the (to my mind) related debate/argument about songwriting as art and/or craft that permeates biographies and interviews with Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell and other members of that circle. It's really interesting how the idea of craft gets interpreted in both celebratory and anxious/annoyed ways.
Those are both good covers of "Grandma's Hands", thank you for sharing. Listening to them immediately after Bill Withers one thing that strikes me is that he tends to deemphasize rhythm (compared to either of the other versions).
It's got a little bit of funk to it, and he can clearly use rhythm, but Gladys Knight is much more likely to create energy by adding a little more snap to the timing. Whereas, with Bill Withers you get the sense that he doesn't close off the end of the line as much. Consider the section:
Grandma's hands
Used to hand me piece of candy
Grandma's hands
Picked me up each time I fell
Grandma's hands
Boy, they really came in handy
He leaves the line ending with "candy" open; you're mind is still hearing that phrase as you move onto the next line, which he doesn't do with "handy." There's a much sharper transition to the next line to switch into the next image (of grandma protecting him).
I think the sepia and black and white are inspired by those old west photos of Edward S. Curtis, and with Willie's, there is a clear influence from Curtis’ photos of Native Americans. Also possibly Solomon Bibo.
I love the photo of the hands. For an artist, they are the tools that create the art. Same with the feet of ballerinas. I also love the idea of how somebody who works with their hands, say Willie, Lucien Freud, or even a metalworking mechanic, compares to the hands of somebody who has never used them (the Queen's aging hands would have looked nothing like Willie's).
Wonderful article, as always, Richard. It was a nice read on a sunny morning in beautiful Arequipa, Peru, as I nurse my foggy Pisco head.
Thanks, Michael. I'm sure you're right about the sepia connection to photos of the old west; that western/cowboy iconography seemed to be important to Cash, Nelson, Highwaymen, plus others such as Ian Tyson, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, etc.
As for working hands and tools of the trade, again spot on. There are a couple of passages I was tempted to quote from the Jim McGuire book Nashiville Portraits which I briefly reference in the piece, but they were a bit off topic (also, Nelson features in the book as one of The Highwaymen, but not solo). One is from McGuire's preface, in which he talks about being inspired by Irving Penn's 'Small Trades' photos: 'He took simple, working people you would probably never notice in your daily travels and presented them in a way that compelled you to look at them, to appreciate them. It was a combination of that beautiful hard lighting, that simple gritty canvas backdrop, and all those glorious tones of gray. They became as important as they were timeless.' The other is from the foreword by then-director of the Morris Museum of Art, Kevin Grogan: 'McGuire's work ... continues to share certain characteristics with Penn's portraits, particularly in his depictions of tradesmen ... both go well beyond the merely reportorial to produce work of genuine insight, capturing a gesture, a fleeting expression, or mood to reveal something intriguing and unexpected about their subjects.' As I say, a bit off topic, but insightful on the representation of country musicians as photographic subjects.
I hope that Peru is proving a wonderful experience, Michael, and that the pisco head clears!
Richard, regarding Penn's quote on "simple people and making them compelling," have a look at the Lee Jeffries brilliant portrait series of homeless people entitled 'Lost Angels.' They are absolutely breathtaking and almost have a religious quality to them.
The connection of music and aging is a rich one, there are any number of ways to connect and this is a nice tribute.
It occurs to me that, for all of the ways that people can lose physical skills and abilities as they age playing music is often one that can be maintained (though I also have a sense that many musicians at some point in their career have to learn how to manage tendonitis or posture problems imbalances that can come from carrying or leaning over an instrument for so long).
But I will take a moment to share one store about music and memory that just happened recently. Many years I'd found a video on youtube of someone singing a sea chanty with a couple of co-workers in a back room in their office. Part of what made it interesting was the way it demonstrated the legacies of the British empire, with an American and two people from the Indian subcontinent singing a song from the age of sail.
I had been looking for it, and unable to find it, and didn't have much hope -- that description, while clear, doesn't offer much use in searching for it. But then, at some point, I was looking for something on Mainly Norfolk and reading one article I thought, "wait, that's it, that's the song they were singing in the video over a decade ago." https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/stormalong.html
And, indeed, it was -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyMODqEYARE
It was an interesting demonstration of the way that music can trigger memories; in that moment it just came back.
Thanks for sharing that story, Nick. We can never exhaust the ways music and memory work together; I find it endlessly fascinating. And I've experienced rediscoveries like the one you mention (some of them also via Mainly Norfolk!) and have come to rely on the internet, and especially YouTube, for affirming musical memories that were lurking in my subconscious. When I was working on one of my memory pieces here earlier this year, I was amazed to find that some of the things I remembered from long ago (recordings, new stories, clips from TV shows), but that I would have otherwise misremembered, were there to be found online.
I just thought of another song for you -- I wouldn't immediately think of it as a song about aging, because it's about entering middle age rather than old age, but it does use the image of singer and guitar aging together.
https://earnestnessisunderrated.substack.com/p/ten-years-have-worn-this-guitar-down
Thanks. New to me, really interesting.
I realized the other song which would relate to the photo (perhaps so obvious that it isn't even worth mentioning) is Bill Withers "Grandma's Hands" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NCwB9J14sE
Also, Michael K Fell's comment about photos of hands reminded me that the cover photo for Guy Clark's _Workbench Songs_ shows his hand holding a guitar.
Very much worth mentioning Withers' song, so thanks for doing so! When I was working on my piece on Gladys Knight and the Pips, I watched this version by her several times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTxHG75B6N0
And that led me to the brilliant version by The Legendary Ingramettes, which makes the connection to manual labour explicit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfJoprLi5X8
As for Guy Clark, yes! I have extensive notes which I've yet to work up into anything Substackable on Clark's songs about objects and craft (boats to build, workbench songs, stuff that works, etc.) and how we was often pictured or filmed in his workshop. There's also the (to my mind) related debate/argument about songwriting as art and/or craft that permeates biographies and interviews with Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell and other members of that circle. It's really interesting how the idea of craft gets interpreted in both celebratory and anxious/annoyed ways.
Those are both good covers of "Grandma's Hands", thank you for sharing. Listening to them immediately after Bill Withers one thing that strikes me is that he tends to deemphasize rhythm (compared to either of the other versions).
It's got a little bit of funk to it, and he can clearly use rhythm, but Gladys Knight is much more likely to create energy by adding a little more snap to the timing. Whereas, with Bill Withers you get the sense that he doesn't close off the end of the line as much. Consider the section:
Grandma's hands
Used to hand me piece of candy
Grandma's hands
Picked me up each time I fell
Grandma's hands
Boy, they really came in handy
He leaves the line ending with "candy" open; you're mind is still hearing that phrase as you move onto the next line, which he doesn't do with "handy." There's a much sharper transition to the next line to switch into the next image (of grandma protecting him).