"Credibility" & music

Me & my sister were listening to a country mixtape (cd...) in the car this afternoon. I know she likes Neko Case. I don't. I got into that tiresome "analytic" mood which is all about proving that one is right about something. Be that as it may. There's something about Neko Case I simply can't stand. No matter how conventionally beautiful her voice is, in my opinion her vocals are tediously one-dimensional. And the biggest problem with her music that I have is that I don't believe in what she sings. The only thing her dramatic lyrics make me feel is: oh, so you're tryin' to tell me you've seen it all & experienced it all. I don't know what kind of life you've lead, but dear Neko Case, your music does not convince me & it's not about you anyway. The songs are not credible; they don't evoke the sense of outlaw-ish thrill that they are appealing to. Not for me, at least.

But I'm not really comfortable with talking about "credibility". I'll explain.

"I'm going away", a folk song by guitar player & singer called Elizabeth Cotten, has all those things that Neko Case doesn't. Cotten began recording late in life. She was born 1895 and she died in 1987. Cotten worked as a maid. She gave up her song writing after marrying & having kids. Later on, she divorced her husband & moved in with her daughter. In her 60's, she started performing & recording. She worked for some famous people (the Seegers) and they introduced her to the folk scene or, should we say, the folk scene was introduced to her. The Seegers recorded her songs at home on reel-to-reel machinery. One of her songs, "Freight train", stood out from the rest and many artists have covered this particular song. In the early sixties, she toured with a bunch of renowned folk and blues musician. She made another record in 1967, Shake Sugaree. "I'm going away" is on that album. She was 72 at the time. Cotten was touring for a long time after that. She died at 92.

Cotten learned to play banjo & guitar by herself. This is always mentioned in biographical notes about her. She was left-handed, too. She played the guitar "against the norms". For that she is famous. "Cotten picking". She called herself guitar Stella and somehow this evokes different associations than stories about heavy rock sleazebags who talk about their guitars as Brenda or Molly or Daisy.

But as soon as "credibility" is latched onto some biographical details, the heap of bullshit surrounding authenticity piles up. When I first heard "I'm going away", I didn't know anything about the artists; I knew nothing about the recording surrounding and I knew nothing about her particular guitar skills. What I heard was an elderly lady with a shaky, beautiful voice who sang a song about leaving her Man to pursue a better life. There's something about that guitar sound that shimmers, the notes padding by softly with an incredible warmth. When Cotten sings that she is brokenhearted, I believe it. When she sings about her man that spends all her money, I believe it too. "You never gave me no lovin' that's why I'm goin away". There's a thousand emotions in her vocal delivery, but nothing is on the surface. And, as I said, her shaky voice is hardly American Idol material; but that is hardly an important remark.

But for some reason it is hard to describe what is so special about this song without lapsing into dubious territory. It's not that her vocals break with conventions. It's not that she's old. It's not that she worked as a maid and taught to play by herself. Her delivery has authority. She knows exactly what she is doing and at the same time the song feels as if she sung it for the first time. It's edgey, it's passionate, it's fun, it's inspired - brimming with life.

Neko Case tries to be edgey, but I don't see that there's no edge nudging against my ears. What I hear is, as I said, somebody who tries. Eagerly. Cotten tries nothing. She does what she does. I am tempted to say that I imagine her singing on her porch but that is an example of just the sort of domesticizing appeals to authenticity that, in the worst case, glorifies the distance between myself and Cotten. Cotten is domesticized into a black, elderly woman who sits on her porch. I don't want to do that.

I read an article somewhere about how images of age, authenticity and rock music have begun to evolve from the youth-praising cult we used to have into something different. A more interesting discussion would raise questions about how we describe voices as "experienced", "expressive" or "soulless". Nobody would listen to American Recordings if Johnny Cash were a has-been who has lead a hard life. I don't agree with those who argue that the only thing that attracts us to these records, along with records such as Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin, is fascination with death. Of course, it's not irrelevant. But if you want to listen to thanatos, go listen to an upcoming show with the ever-recurring gentlemen of The Eagles. Don Henley has seen one thing or two in his day and he didn't mind the drugs either. But that doesn't make him interesting. His croon is basically the same as it was in the good (bad) old days: soulless, naive, reverberating with self-indulgence.

It might sound as if I'm trying to carve out one last territory for "credibility", but I'm not. I'm just trying to point out some descriptions of music that have had a certain bad influence on me which is why it is so hard to criticize Neko Case & to elevate Elizabeth Cotten (that I'm pursuing this comparison between them might seem sumptuous, but the only reason is that Elizabeth Cotten was on the mixtape, too).

("I'm going away" on Youtube)