Friday, June 12, 2009

Some thoughts on the recent George Strait tribute

...thanks for the reminder, Scott...
I didn't see all the tribute, but I did see some of the clips of it on YouTube. I particularly liked Lee Ann Womack and Jamey Johnson's rendition of Strait's 2006 No. 1 hit "Give It Away," which, if you're not aware, Jamey Johnson was one of the writers of. They sounded really good together, even if Jamey mainly did the speaking parts. I've heard whispers that they could be a modern-day George and Tammy, and I'd believe it too. Lee Ann has an amazing voice, and she nailed the singing part; I'd love to see her live again.
I did see some grumblings here and there about Jamie Foxx's appearance on the show, and to be honest I don't understand the big deal. I know he really doesn't have that much of a connection with country music -- well, any country music connection, really -- but he did grow up as a George Strait fan, so as far as I'm concerned it wasn't so bad that he got to show up and sing a song. Maybe they could have gotten someone different, but then they could have gotten someone besides James Hetfield to sing "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand" for that Waylon Jennings tribute too. I'm glad they didn't, though, because his rendition turned out to be surprisingly good; beyond that, Hetfield's appearance on that album showed the appeal of Waylon Jennings and of country music was wider than some might think. From my perspective, Jamie Foxx's appearance on the George Strait tribute did the same, even if his chosen song "You Look So Good In Love" was not one of Strait's more traditional numbers. And anything that further exposes racist assclowns like Spike Lee for what they are can only be a good thing in my book.