【鄉村月 Day 13】The Judds – Why Not Me、Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will The Circle Be Unbroken

The Judds – Why Not Me (1984)

There are many brothers or families in the country, but The Judds is special because the members are a mother-daughter duo, mother Naomi Judd and daughter Wynonna Judd. They were one of the most successful country artists of the 1980s, with multiple number one singles and albums. This "Why Not Me" was their first official album, following their unexpectedly stunning debut EP the year before. Then chase after the victory.

Naomi lived with her daughter after the divorce. She recommended herself to the music producer and was successfully signed by the record company. The daughter is in charge of the lead singer, and the mother is the backing voice. The two of them have a perfect combination of singing, which is very popular with the record company, so they invited many famous country writers and musicians to make songs. "Why Not Me", "Girls Night Out" and "Love Is Alive". These songs can be dynamic and lyrical, and none of the other seven songs are weak. I would like to especially recommend "Mr. Pain", which is a lyrical song written by my mother Naomi, which tactfully tells her heartbroken past.

No matter how good this country pop record is, I still can't tell who is the mother and who is the daughter on the cover... By the way, Noami has another daughter who also became famous later, the actor Ashley Judd .

PS. They are mentioned in the country music episode of Netflix's "This Is Pop", which shows their representativeness in the music world.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will The Circle Be Unbroken (1972)

I've heard about this album since the beginning of my obsession with old rock, almost ten years ago. After that, I started to buy music on iTunes, and this piece was in the first batch I bought. At that time, I wanted to say that more than 40 songs sold for the same price, and the CP value was super high! At the time, I thought this album with an old-fashioned cover was folk or southern rock, but I didn't expect that after listening to each one, I realized that the music was good... How did I know a Mao country at that time!

I haven't listened to it a few times in the future. At most, I only know that the title song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" comes from an old British folk song covered by the Carter Family, the ancestor of country music, and other concepts are still lacking. Until recently, I looked through the history books of country music, and listened carefully to the people and songs mentioned in the book, and then went back to study this record and found that the band invited Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Jimmy Martin, Doc Watson and so on, it's all a shining name in the annals of history! The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was just a young band from the West Coast at the time. All the members were no different from long-haired hippies. What tricks did they use to bring these old sensible people together? Incredible, so dreamy! And the music is high-purity traditional country and bluegrass, I got goosebumps and scalp numb when I listened to the songs, and I was amazed and admired how powerful this album was!

What's even more terrifying is that many songs are recorded directly after everyone has discussed the method, and they only need to be completed once or twice, showing full skill! These unrefined voices and laughs are also recorded (there's even a conversation where Doc Watson and Merle Travis first met). You know, in the 1970s, rock music completely dominated the pop music scene, and even country music dominated the hands of the popular Nashville Sound. In this state, can traditional country artists put aside their knots and cooperate with young people to regain their style and win back their respect?

The end result speaks for itself, and this is an unrivaled must-hear classic.