Among my favorites too, but don’t dismiss all of today. Granted gangsta Rap ain’t receiving approval here but I urge you to listen to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five doing The Message, it’s very much music, and not to be missed. It raises to the Aristotelian standard of changing the world. And there many others just as important as Dylan or Donavan but for a black audience.
And that’s likely it, how can you expect a black kid from the Bronx to share your love of Bob Wills (I’m from Alberta, Bob Wills is home) but try some of the best of Rap and think of it as vocal Jazz, or modern scat. It can be very much music.
I remember that my youthful rejection of country music had more to do with self image than a good ear. It sent me to jazz, where I discovered that no one plays piano like Bill Evans, or Basie, or Earle Garner or about a dozen more.
As for rock & roll, it’s today’s ‘classical’ music, had Mozart been around, he would have written stuff for Pentangle or Queen or? fill in the blank. We tend to be very dismissive of the arts of our own time. Just as people in Mozart’s day saw him as an undisciplined showoff. If you can stand to sit through one of his operas, I’m sure you’ll agree. And don’t forget, just like today, there was some terrible songs and music cranked out in the past. Happily, it hasn’t survived.
Finally, 1921 is not a really great date to be born, when you reach the age of majority in 1941 the Powers that be are kicking the shit out of one another. Welcome to WWII and all the resulting wars. Today’s really neat, I recommend it highly.