The most unsuccessful lectures I’ve ever given are those where I try to explain the way today’s Country Music can be traced back to the country blues, an African-American genre from the early twentieth century. Students–whether white or black–are incredulous. They usually become even more so if I try to tell them the banjo came from Africa.
I just discovered this from last year, Rhiannon Giddens singing Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” with Simon helping out on guitar. Advance to about the 2 minute and 30 second mark if you want to skip Simon’s chat. It’s a stellar rendition of a beautiful–and I’ll say, important–song.
If you don’t know Giddens, she’s one of the best-known exemplars of the recent black-women-playing-banjos phenomenon. She studied opera at Oberlin but, a North Carolina native, also worked in traditional music of several kinds, forming the Grammy-winning roots music group, the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
As for the song, Simon wrote it in 1973–the year America lost the Vietnam War–and the confused, dispirited atmosphere of that year hangs heavy throughout. I won’t spoil your own exegesis beyond that.
If you know the song, you’ll notice Giddens’ lyric change. Simon’s original lyrics read:
We come on the ship they call The Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon ...
See what Giddens does with that.
It’s good to see Giddens (and others) taking the banjo back, and even better hearing her adapt Simon’s very American tune for yet more Americans.
Postscript: Giddens recently published a short essay in The Guardian, occasioned by criticisms of Beyonce’s foray into country. Her conclusion?
In this moment, after 100 years of erasure, false narratives, and racism built into the country industry, it’s important to shine a light on the Black co-creation of country music – and creation is the correct word, not influence. Black musicians, along with their working-class white counterparts, were active participants and creators, not empty vessels with good rhythm. We would not have any of what we call country without the history of the black string band musicians, who helped form the nexus of American music for 100 years or more before record players.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé is in the news as the first Black woman to top the country charts, with her banjo-infused “Texas Hold ’Em.” Giddens plays banjo and viola on the track.