John Watt
Member
Watching Lionel Ritchie singing on television last night convinced me of the integrity of his recent moves, that I've only been reading about. He's putting out a new album, moving into the Nashville scene. Articles I read saw him saying he just didn't want to put out a country album by himself, because, according to him, everyone would think he was just jumping on the country bandwagon, as a mature performer, and he didn't want that. He used band names, awards, and sales statistics to illustrate how what was American country has now become world pop. He was even saying his songs were country songs all along, if you treated them that way. So he decided to go to Nashville and use country singers to sing his old songs, with him as duets, putting out thirteen, featuring major American country artists and Canada's Shania Twain. Meeting her is reason enough to do anything.
The one thing he said that had resonance with me, beyond his sensible business talk, was saying he didn't want to just crash into the Nashville scene, and when he started recording he was very moved when everyone came in saying they didn't need any lyric sheets, knowing the songs by heart. Yeah, it all sounded good, but we're talking Lionel Ritchie of The Commodores fame, solo fame, and being recognized as one of America's finest songwriters, now in his late sixties. How's this adding up for you?
When I saw him live, it all came together. There was, I think, Blake Shelton, wearing a cowboy hat low, a rugged shirt and blue jeans, his arms leaning across the mike, singing, uh, like an ordinary country singer and the star he has become. And right beside was Lionel Ritchie, looking elegant, very nice, moving with the music, dancing with the mike, looking at the audience, reacting with the band, floating along onstage, like the international recording and video artist he is.
He was saying the nicest benefit of this approach is having thirteen bands he can visit and get up to sing a song with, certainly fun for anyone. But watching him onstage again, I'm thinking none of those other country artists stands a chance. He's going to make them all look lame, like good old boys who never went to The Commodores dance school. Very smooth, very smooth. And Lionel's saying now that this is working out, he's got 100 new songs ready to go, ready for a new country treatment.
When I saw Lionel Ritchie as a solo act in the early eighties, he surprised me, saying when he went to university he had his Jimi Hendrix poster on the wall. He's definitely not trying to be on the cutting edge of sounds and recording techniques, even if it sounds like the old sounds of steel guitar, dobro and fiddle are his new sounds. When I saw him, my girlfriend shook his hand. I just stood there looking at this very exotic looking gentleman. I'm thinking more, hearing more, but this transmogrification is still a work in progress for me, and I'm more than interested in hearing how his re-animated career plays out.
The one thing he said that had resonance with me, beyond his sensible business talk, was saying he didn't want to just crash into the Nashville scene, and when he started recording he was very moved when everyone came in saying they didn't need any lyric sheets, knowing the songs by heart. Yeah, it all sounded good, but we're talking Lionel Ritchie of The Commodores fame, solo fame, and being recognized as one of America's finest songwriters, now in his late sixties. How's this adding up for you?
When I saw him live, it all came together. There was, I think, Blake Shelton, wearing a cowboy hat low, a rugged shirt and blue jeans, his arms leaning across the mike, singing, uh, like an ordinary country singer and the star he has become. And right beside was Lionel Ritchie, looking elegant, very nice, moving with the music, dancing with the mike, looking at the audience, reacting with the band, floating along onstage, like the international recording and video artist he is.
He was saying the nicest benefit of this approach is having thirteen bands he can visit and get up to sing a song with, certainly fun for anyone. But watching him onstage again, I'm thinking none of those other country artists stands a chance. He's going to make them all look lame, like good old boys who never went to The Commodores dance school. Very smooth, very smooth. And Lionel's saying now that this is working out, he's got 100 new songs ready to go, ready for a new country treatment.
When I saw Lionel Ritchie as a solo act in the early eighties, he surprised me, saying when he went to university he had his Jimi Hendrix poster on the wall. He's definitely not trying to be on the cutting edge of sounds and recording techniques, even if it sounds like the old sounds of steel guitar, dobro and fiddle are his new sounds. When I saw him, my girlfriend shook his hand. I just stood there looking at this very exotic looking gentleman. I'm thinking more, hearing more, but this transmogrification is still a work in progress for me, and I'm more than interested in hearing how his re-animated career plays out.