This doesn't have "Kentucky" in the title, but this dude is from Kentucky and is a good friend of one of my schoolmates. First song is hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNV16tz1NK0
Can't add anything to that list, but I was wondering if you would mention the Deep Purple cover. As an old Purple fan, I always found it a really bizarre addition to their catalogue. Like, really out of left field! Do you have any idea what prompted them to do it?
I mentioned in the article that both Purple and Waylon Jennings had 1968 covers. Here's what Songfacts said about DP's cover of "KW": "Deep Purple included this song as their standard policy of putting their own spin on established, popular songs [like 'Hush' and 'Help' from their '68 debut] and including them in each album.
Music scholars sometimes point to Deep Purple's 'Kentucky Woman' as the first heavy metal song." As for that last sentence, that could be debated, and it'd be fun to do just that!
On their second album (the one with "KW), they also covered "We Can Work it Out" and "River Deep, Mountain High," further underscoring that Songfacts assertion.
Thanks Brad, always can count on you for some backstory. I would certainly debate the assertion that their KW was even heavy metal! I actually have Book of Taliesyn but don't have Shades of Deep Purple, and had forgotten about the older covers.
Good points, and thank you for the compliment, Charles! I learned something, too! I only first got into DP with their 4th album, and their first for Warner Bros. (U.S.), "In Rock," June 1970, upon release (thanks, Dad)! I was 15, and had just finished 9th grade! LOVED that album!
I still think a thread (wanna on your page?) would be fascinating to debate/discuss the genesis of "heavy metal"---it'd be fun to nail down Steppenwolf's "heavy metal thunder" time frame with what came before AND after!
"In Rock" is an amazing album, way ahead of its time. While Purple didn't "invent" heavy metal (you mention Steppenwolf, and there were also Blue Cheer, and of course Cream, and others) I think Purple put their stamp on it. Blackmore invented the modern shred solo--and Gillan's howling vocals led directly to Dio et. al. And this was all before anyone called it "heavy metal"! Good suggestion for a thread. Do I have your email address--maybe better to do this outside the comments.... Mine is chahsu@pacbell.net
You're right about BC, Cream et al. I only brought up Steppenwolf, because many "experts" cite their use of "heavy metal thunder" (in "Born to Be Wild") as the initial coining of the phrase, if not the birth of the genre (which I don't support, either)!
It would all boil down to timelines, release dates, and doing what I hate most (under most non-debate circumstances), talking about creativity-limiting genre labeling! But, with definitions built in, and some guidelines, it would be fun to hash out some parameters as we forge ahead and pound away at metal!! Metal lead singers? Another worthy thread to pull!
With you on genre labelling. Especially when people get all militant about it! Heck, if Beethoven had had access to electrified instruments, he would have been a metal monster. One disclaimer--I am no expert on metal. I don't have a bunch of Metallica or Iron Maiden albums and actually pretty much lost interest in it for a few decades, after it sank into an endless soup of gloom and doom and screaming. My interest returned when I discovered the European symphonic metal bands (they were there all along but never get any coverage here) and then the Japanese bands. But let's keep after this!
I got to spend a little time in Kentucky back in 2021 when my wife was doing a summer program there for her Master's. Despite the fact that it gave us Mitch McConnell, I really liked the place. Good playlist!
Thanks, Patrick! I actually played in an accordion recital in Louisville. My mom and I took a bus from Houston. It was 1963...I was 8, and managed to win a trophy!🏆I saw The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" shortly thereafter, and quit the accordion.
My rationale? "Mom (Dad couldn't care less...not that he wasn't wonderful, but Mom made all these decisions), I don't wanna play the accordion anymore. None of The Beatles play one!"🎹Those are my Kentucky memories!
What IS surprising is why I didn't then decide to take up the guitar, instead! I just knew I wanted to keep looking for music that mesmerizing, that melodic, and with fabulous harmonies!🎼🎤💿📻
I played cello in elementary and junior high school until motorcycles and cars became much more important in my life. They still are (well, motorcycles anyway), but my point remains....
This doesn't have "Kentucky" in the title, but this dude is from Kentucky and is a good friend of one of my schoolmates. First song is hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNV16tz1NK0
I've heard of Sturgill Simpson! Never really heard him before.....That's some kontry, though! Thanks, Charles!
Most welcome. I don't listen to a lot of that genre, but he's pretty good! He has some slower stuff which has echoes of Johnny Cash, too.
Can't add anything to that list, but I was wondering if you would mention the Deep Purple cover. As an old Purple fan, I always found it a really bizarre addition to their catalogue. Like, really out of left field! Do you have any idea what prompted them to do it?
I mentioned in the article that both Purple and Waylon Jennings had 1968 covers. Here's what Songfacts said about DP's cover of "KW": "Deep Purple included this song as their standard policy of putting their own spin on established, popular songs [like 'Hush' and 'Help' from their '68 debut] and including them in each album.
Music scholars sometimes point to Deep Purple's 'Kentucky Woman' as the first heavy metal song." As for that last sentence, that could be debated, and it'd be fun to do just that!
On their second album (the one with "KW), they also covered "We Can Work it Out" and "River Deep, Mountain High," further underscoring that Songfacts assertion.
Thanks Brad, always can count on you for some backstory. I would certainly debate the assertion that their KW was even heavy metal! I actually have Book of Taliesyn but don't have Shades of Deep Purple, and had forgotten about the older covers.
Good points, and thank you for the compliment, Charles! I learned something, too! I only first got into DP with their 4th album, and their first for Warner Bros. (U.S.), "In Rock," June 1970, upon release (thanks, Dad)! I was 15, and had just finished 9th grade! LOVED that album!
I still think a thread (wanna on your page?) would be fascinating to debate/discuss the genesis of "heavy metal"---it'd be fun to nail down Steppenwolf's "heavy metal thunder" time frame with what came before AND after!
"In Rock" is an amazing album, way ahead of its time. While Purple didn't "invent" heavy metal (you mention Steppenwolf, and there were also Blue Cheer, and of course Cream, and others) I think Purple put their stamp on it. Blackmore invented the modern shred solo--and Gillan's howling vocals led directly to Dio et. al. And this was all before anyone called it "heavy metal"! Good suggestion for a thread. Do I have your email address--maybe better to do this outside the comments.... Mine is chahsu@pacbell.net
You're right about BC, Cream et al. I only brought up Steppenwolf, because many "experts" cite their use of "heavy metal thunder" (in "Born to Be Wild") as the initial coining of the phrase, if not the birth of the genre (which I don't support, either)!
It would all boil down to timelines, release dates, and doing what I hate most (under most non-debate circumstances), talking about creativity-limiting genre labeling! But, with definitions built in, and some guidelines, it would be fun to hash out some parameters as we forge ahead and pound away at metal!! Metal lead singers? Another worthy thread to pull!
With you on genre labelling. Especially when people get all militant about it! Heck, if Beethoven had had access to electrified instruments, he would have been a metal monster. One disclaimer--I am no expert on metal. I don't have a bunch of Metallica or Iron Maiden albums and actually pretty much lost interest in it for a few decades, after it sank into an endless soup of gloom and doom and screaming. My interest returned when I discovered the European symphonic metal bands (they were there all along but never get any coverage here) and then the Japanese bands. But let's keep after this!
I got to spend a little time in Kentucky back in 2021 when my wife was doing a summer program there for her Master's. Despite the fact that it gave us Mitch McConnell, I really liked the place. Good playlist!
Thanks, Patrick! I actually played in an accordion recital in Louisville. My mom and I took a bus from Houston. It was 1963...I was 8, and managed to win a trophy!🏆I saw The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" shortly thereafter, and quit the accordion.
My rationale? "Mom (Dad couldn't care less...not that he wasn't wonderful, but Mom made all these decisions), I don't wanna play the accordion anymore. None of The Beatles play one!"🎹Those are my Kentucky memories!
Nice! Not bad logic. But I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't have taken a different path if Weird Al had arrived on the scene 20-25 years earlier.
What IS surprising is why I didn't then decide to take up the guitar, instead! I just knew I wanted to keep looking for music that mesmerizing, that melodic, and with fabulous harmonies!🎼🎤💿📻
Never too late, Brad!!!
Ha! I love your optimism! I forgot I wrote about just THAT experience in December! Here' 'tis for whomever hasn't yet read it! And, Michael, in case you missed it: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/the-gospel-accordion-to-john-and
I played cello in elementary and junior high school until motorcycles and cars became much more important in my life. They still are (well, motorcycles anyway), but my point remains....