Lookin’ at Country
If Hank Williams was the Hillbilly Shakespeare, Loretta Lynn was surely the Downhome Diva Dickens. I’m saddened by the passing of one of the greatest voices and writers in not just country, but any music, any era. Though she eschewed feminist laurels in frilly-frocked country girl fashion, she was worth ten Gloria Steinhems for voicing through raw experience (“I know what it’s like to be pregnant, nervous and poor”) what most women felt and could never say over 50 years ago. Lyrics like “I’m tearing down your brooder house, ’cause now I got the pill” were revolutionary for country music women in the 60s.
My wife Jude and I made two warm connections with Loretta. The first was maybe a dozen years ago at a country legends show with her, Merle Haggard and headliner George Jones. “No-show Jones” was true to form, and a slew of people were as PO-ed as me to be denied the greatest male voice in country music. Since The Hag was undoubtedly on his bus toward the next gig, Loretta stepped up and performed a second show, pulling her musical kids and grandkids on stage to help fill the gap.
Our second brush with the Coal Miner’s Daughter was a few years ago at her childhood home in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, amid one of the starkest contrasts of natural beauty and human poverty I’ve ever seen. Even our GPS didn’t seem to believe this place existed. Loretta wasn’t there but her aura certainly was as her nephew patiently let us roam through the cabin immortalized in her song and shared family memories as deep as the outside “well where we drew water.” My country girl Jude, whose own farmhouse lacked indoor plumbing until she was almost a teenager, marveled “I feel like I’m back home.”
RIP to a legend.
New Duggleby/Birsan Song: “Sunflowers (for Ukraine)”
Like about everyone, I’m shocked and disgusted at Putin’s brutal assault on the citizens of Ukraine. And when I get angry, I try to get writing. So here is “Sunflowers (for Ukraine)”, inspired by accounts of everyday heroes fighting for their country and their lives. It’s a co-write with my friend, collaborator, world-class tenor/pianist, and Romanian native (now Chicagoan) Codrut Birsan. I’ll let the song speak for itself, in the link below and following lyrics:
Sunflowers (for Ukraine) By John Duggleby & Codrut Birsan © 3/2022
Like the dawn on the rise o’er the ruins, like the blood on my face and my hands Like the fire from the burst of the rockets, all is red across the green of our land Here I raced through the fields of summer, like the children of centuries before Here I’ve aged with my parents and babies, now I’m too old to run anymore
If my destiny ends with tomorrow, I’ll be home in the ground where I lie And in my pocket, the seeds of sunflowers, will grow in my place when I die
There are hands that stretch toward me with shelter; safe harbor in which I can hide But I can’t win a fight from asylum, I need ammunition, not a ride It’s a scar since the dawn of creation; it’s a hell fueled by power and greed When the few at the top flash their sabres, and the many below start to bleed
If my destiny ends with tomorrow, I’ll be home in the ground where I lie And in my pocket, the seeds of sunflowers, will grow in my place when I die
There’s a thundering down at the corner, rumbling up past the bar and the bank Crushing kids’ bikes and cracking the pavement, it’s the lumbering treads of a tank As a cold sweat encircles our village, and every last one fears the worst I step out and announce to the turret: “You’ll have to go through me first.”
If my destiny ends with tomorrow, I’ll be home in the ground where I lie And in my pocket, the seeds of sunflowers, will grow in my place when I die
Sunflowers wave their heads across the meadow, golden carpets as far as eyes can see Sunflowers reaching for the morning, smiling with hope for you and me
Oh, MAMA!
I’ve been voted Madison Area Music Association’s (MAMA) Children’s Performer of the Year for the second straight year. Thanks a gazillion to all of you who supported me, and especially donated toward MAMA’s mission of providing instruments and financial support to kids and music programs in need. And if ya know anyone needing a rollicking children’s show.
Return me to my MAMA!
Whoop de doo! After being voted Madison Area Music Association’s (MAMA) 2020 Children’s Performer of the Year, I’m a finalist for the honor in 2021. And you can help me nab this years award, even if you don’t live in MadTown. Here’s what you do:
Go to https://themamas.org/ and click on a red banner that says register for the awards. It will take you through a short process that ends in a voting page with a bunch of different categories on the left. Select the “Children’s Performer” category and vote for you-know-who (rhymes with “Snuggleby”.) Press the “Submit” button, then a link that says “Review Summary/Record Vote” at the bottom of the page. Any questions, shoot me a message (but don’t shoot me).
If you are familiar with some of the other musicians and industry professionals up for awards, many of whom are my friends, please show your support with a vote for them as well. AND, though MAMA Awards voting is now free to anyone, consider taking the chance you’ll be offered to toss a few bucks to help put instruments into the hands of area kids and school music programs that need them the most. Make your mama proud!
NEW KIDS’ ALBUM: MY SPOOKY HOUSE!
So, last winter my Chicago friend, sometimes collaborator, Romanian piano champion, San Francisco Opera tenor and International Emmy Award-winning composer Codrut Birsan called me saying he wanted to create an original album of mildly scary kid songs with his melodies and my lyrics. When Mozart beckons, who declines?
Our concept album, MY SPOOKY HOUSE, was just released. Common household items take on a creepy life of their own in a tuneful romp for youngsters that is more convivial than nightmarish. And all eight songs are ORIGINAL– no rehashes of “Monster Mash” or “Ghostbusters”. “A young Chi-Town lady named Jocelyn Noeth makes her vocal debut, and is my nominee for the next revival of “Annie” anywhere on the planet.MY SPOOKY HOUSE is available for $2 per song or $10 for all eight, on a plethora of platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/Resso, YouTube Music, Amazon and Pandora. Get it for a little goblin in your life– which just might be you!
New song: “Rosie”
Happy Fat Tuesday! I wrote this zydeco song a few years ago and play it live occasionally, but I’ve never recorded it until now. The timing is appropriate, because this year’s Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans is cancelled for the first time in 32 years. So I’m bringing the party to you– Laissez les bon temps roullez!
My MAMA loves me!
I was recently voted 2020 Children’s Performer of the Year by the Madison Area Music Association (MAMA). Though ironically most of my kid’s shows this year were canceled because of you-know-what, this honor is the next best thing. To you who voted for me, thanks to the moon and back. To you who didn’t, book me at your library, restaurant, festival or kid party and see what the fuss is about!
New Song: “Corona Cafe”!
Though the coronavirus is far from over, America is ending quarantining. Dane County, Wisconsin where I live is taking a cautious approach, while others are flinging open the doors with no safeguards or rules whatsoever. (A certain rally in Tulsa comes to mind.) If you partake in the latter, welcome to the Corona Cafe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-LHfq-uuWA
New Song: “Take a Knee”
This song is one of the quickest I’ve ever written. Probably because, unfortunately, current events have provided me plenty of inspiration and material. I’ve expanded the grief and outrage of George Floyd’s murder to injustices facing all Americans, everywhere. I’ll let it speak for itself:
Here’s to Essential Workers!
My friend Jen Frank created a new advocacy group called the Essential Workers Party, and asked me to write a “Woody Guthrie-type” rallying song. I channeled my “inner Woody” and here’s the result. Blessings to all you essential workers! Lyrics follow:
We’re Essential by John Duggleby © 5/2020
We’re the doctors and the nurses on the front lines saving lives First responders, PPE makers too We’re police and firefighters who are ready when you call And the ones who clean the buildings through and through
We’re the farmers and the pickers in the field who keep us fed The workers at the processing plants We’re the truckers driving overtime delivering the goods Store employees hustling ‘round like busy ants
We’re essential in the jobs we’re getting done Influential in what makes our nation run Our credentials are proven every day Help us reach our full potential in the safest, fairest way
We’re the cooks and the waitstaff at your favorite restaurant The helpers at your hardware store We’re the ones who staff the drive-thru at the pharmacy and bank And the people getting mail to your door
We’re the teachers finding different ways to help our kids to learn Social workers helping neighbors in need We’re the folks who fix the potholes and the signs along our roads And the ones who mow the parks and pull the weeds
We’re essential in the jobs we’re getting done Influential in what makes our nation run Our credentials are proven every day Help us reach our full potential in the safest, fairest way
We’re men and women, young and old, black and white and brown We live a thousand miles away, and right here in your town Every day, a million ways that we and you connect We’d like a decent place to work, fair pay and some respect
We’re essential in the jobs we’re getting done Influential in what makes our nation run Our credentials are proven every day Help us reach our full potential in the safest, fairest way Our power’s exponential when our chains are cast away