Lionel Ritchie's getting up there, again.

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.
 

John Watt

Member
Hey! It looks like my timing is still right on.
I typed that yesterday, and today I saw in the paper that Lionel's album came out as a number one hit in Canada.
I'm willing to lay more than just odds that his most produced video features Shania Twain,
and I'm thinking it was her and Mutt Lang's approach to country that influenced his new production, uh, values.

The one new thing that I read that he said that bears retread,
is saying that he got up on top of that pedestal, and it was lonely up there.
He was saying meeting new musicians and singing and jamming with them kept him musically creative.
Right on! Even left on!
 

John Watt

Member
Yes, the thought of Lionel Ritchie producing himself in Nashville still takes some getting used to,
just as the lack of usual rock star hype is something no-one had to get used to,
stories about him coming out of rehab, t.v. ads with him doing a weight loss thing, are just not there.

But what new country thing can Ritchie bring?
Considering all the New Orleans songs that were out before or mentioned the name,
no major artist has made it with a new song about what happened during and after the hurricane.
If someone can make a major statement or write a deep song about what happened there,
Lionel Ritchie has both the stature and musical grace to share with the world public.
 

John Watt

Member
Hey! If I keep adding to my own thread here,
using the title "Lionel Ritchie's getting up there, again", might have been prophetic,
even if I'm getting him up there again all by myself.
 

John Watt

Member
He is getting some criticism from pop fans, not liking the sound of steel guitars and "rural" instruments.
But I see that as just more publicity for him.
Back then, after the Commodores, I liked Rick James (from Buffalo too) on bass for his new finger-popping funk.
But look now and see, what the different acts became, Lionel getting down with country, Rick James long gone.
 
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