Posted by Scrumpestuous D | Posted in Guest lists | Posted on 11:04 AM
*Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics
How exactly do you go from Alan Jackson to T.I. in a playlist? It's not easy. But it's part of explaining the interesting combination that makes up Southern identity. I won't comment on the state of the South (because this isn't the place to politick), but suffice it to say, there're still the Alan Jackson folks, and the T.I. folks, and then people that are amalgamations of both. This setlist explains Georgia, my home, my ancestry, my youth, my present.
And, yeah, I've left out some obvious Georgia natives -- R.E.M., the B-52s, Widespread Panic, the Black Crowes. That's because they're not part of MY Georgia.
(Editor's Note: I'm super behind this week, so I didn't write out the list, and I got this up late. Sorry Lauren.)
How exactly do you go from Alan Jackson to T.I. in a playlist? It's not easy. But it's part of explaining the interesting combination that makes up Southern identity. I won't comment on the state of the South (because this isn't the place to politick), but suffice it to say, there're still the Alan Jackson folks, and the T.I. folks, and then people that are amalgamations of both. This setlist explains Georgia, my home, my ancestry, my youth, my present.
And, yeah, I've left out some obvious Georgia natives -- R.E.M., the B-52s, Widespread Panic, the Black Crowes. That's because they're not part of MY Georgia.
(Editor's Note: I'm super behind this week, so I didn't write out the list, and I got this up late. Sorry Lauren.)
1. Before you dismiss this setlist altogether based on this unusual first song, hear me out: This song is an example of Sacred Harp -- an integral part of old Southern life. My grandparents sang Sacred Harp. My great-grandparents sang Sacred Harp. My great-great-grandparents sang Sacred Harp. You get the point. It's part of my identity. I relate to this music more than any other music in the world. It's like the notes and my DNA are intertwined.
This song has nothing to do with anything, really. But it's similar to gospel music, and when I heard it the first time, it kind of just reminded me of home.
3. Oh, man, does this song remind me of Southern Baptist revivals -- where women wave cardboard fans, the preacher calls for repentance, and the offering plate is passed around until the congregation finally gives enough to support the missionaries going somewhere in South America where the locals need God.
4. Yeah, yeah -- so the dude's from West Virginia. Yellow country teeth are yellow country teeth, and I've seen my fair share.
5 - 7. Georgia natives: Atlanta, Athens, and Atlanta respectively.
8. One of the saddest ballads of ALL TIME.
9 - 10. When my little brother lost a tooth, he put it on the dining room table next to a vase of dying flowers. My mom took the tablecloth out in our backyard and shook off the dead petals -- and my brother's tooth. He had to write a letter to the tooth fairy in order to get reimbursed. (I don't get the meaning of this Iron & Wine song, but the entire album, "Our Endless Numbered Days" is Georgia in song form to me.)
11 - 12. Okay, so these guys are from Alabama, but I was raised right on the Alabama/Georgia border, so I associate with both. (Although, I don't admit that I'm from close to Alabama.)
13 - 14. Early 90s country. LOVED these songs growing up. I'll admit that.
15. I remember a girl CLOGGING to this song in a talent show when I was in elementary school.
16. My dad used to sing this song around the house, and for some reason, I thought CCR was from Georgia until I was in high school.
17. When I got homesick when I lived in New York, I'd walk around the city listening to the Allman Brothers. There was something about riding the New York subway while listening to Southern rock that amused me.
18. Jimmy Rogers -- raised in Atlanta.
19. Otis. My favorite Georgian musician. Love him.
20. Too darn hot is right, Mr. Porter. Don't wanna do nothing but lay there, spread eagle, under the fan in the heat of a Georgian summer.
21. I don't know. "Down South." Self-explanatory.
22. More Otis.
23. Native of Augusta, Georgia.
24. Ohhh, boy, was I obsessed with this song back in the day. I also, subsequently, learned which neighborhoods in Atlanta I probably should've avoided as a scared, preppy, white girl.
25. Currently obsessed with T.I. And he's down with being a tour guide of Atlanta. Nice of him, huh?
26. C'mon. You know I gotta put some gangsta rap on an ATL mix.
27. Goodie Mob -- represents the beginning of "Dirty South" rap during the East Coast-West Coast war.
28. Aw, Gladys. Everybody's favorite LDS Georgian soul singer.
29. Georgia. On my mind. And now on yours.