It's time for me to finally write this article. I know those
who watch the deadlines will breathe a sigh of relief as this feature comes in,
well, late! Right now I'm in danger of having my limited prose and this one
procratsinating writer bounced out of San Diego and the Troubadour for good!
Just joking. But, I can say with certainty, this feature was meant for me to
write. First, and most important, it is in praise of one of the finest
Americana bands in the country right now who hail from San Francisco: Blame
Sally. It's also an opportunity to pay homage to those of us whose voices have
shouted the loudest lasted through eight dark years of the Bush era as we
witnessed the near ruin of our country's morale and economy in the name of
ideology over any form of compassion or reason. Often, we have felt unheard.
Even our best voices and givers of insight have been ignored and suppressed.
I'd even argue the last 28 years of the Reagan era is where this all began.
Over the years the swing from one political view to the next, like so many
silhouetted monkeys jumping from branch to branch, has taken the poets, the
artists, and the prophets of hope to keep our spirits alive as both Americans
and a culture. In my opinion,they most strongly represent those who tell the
truth. They've been there throughout history.
There have
been times, like during the late '50s McCarthy era, when the edge was taken off
of the truly cutting folk song in the name of the Cold War and the false
implication that to protest is equals lack of patriotism. So many lives were
ruined during that time. But, I was never more proud to be an American than
during the recent pre-Inaugural concert when Pete Seeger literally overshadowed
Bruce Springsteen as they sang the forgotten, intensely more radical version of
"This Land Is Your Land," including Woody Guthrie's sarcastic verse about
"private property."
I was walking, I saw a
sign there
and on that sign it
said Private Property
On the other side it
didn't say nothing
that side was made for
you and me.
Also heard on that day were "This Land's" visually dramatic
lines, linked so closely to today's current events:
by the shadow of
steeple,
at the relief office,
I saw my people
as they stood hungry,
I stood there wondering
if this land was made
for you and me.
Of course,
the record company dared not include these verses in the popular version of the
song. Even Woody's classic original recording exclude these critical and
powerful lyrics. Woody, who could barely speak or play in his later years, his
body ravaged with the long term effects of Huntington's Chorea, taught these
banned verses to his young son, Arlo, telling him to never forget these verses
in hope the complete song would still live.
There, on
that wintery January day a few weeks ago, the song and the songwriter stood
tall and loud above the corruption, lies, and arrogant disregard of the Bush
administration, personae in Pete Seeger, who half-century ago, went to jail for
singing songs such as these. In the presence of his grandson Tao, Bruce
Springsteen and millions of others sang out, via television, those original words
around the world. In the end, the song and Woody Guthrie have won the
recognition and the audience it deserves. And so the time goes from generation
to generation to songs like these that heal and help all of us to see.
Today, the
songs still go out. As in times before, they are ignored, called unpatriotic
and suppressed. This is why the San Francisco-based Americana quartet, Blame
Sally's poignant song and accompanying video, "If You Tell A Lie," is like a
surviving piece of art from the ruins of a long, unholy apocalypse. Written by
keyboard player, Monica Pasqual, over a period of time beginning on Inaugural
Day 2001, the song conveys the feelings of the millions of people who watched
the first president appointed to the excutive office by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Fortunately, the truth of the words can speak volumes, outlast the years to
come, and, like the best prophetic, topical songs of protest, they will remain
a timeless condemnation of the manipulation of the powerful over the powerless
as expressed in the words to the chorus of this song:
Water isn't wine
Brass isn't gold
One day you'll account
for
all the lies that you
told
An
oft-heard criticism of the modern topical folk song is that as soon as
recorded, they are irrelevant. Arlo Guthrie has said of his more topical songs,
"It's not only out of date, but it's long over due." Blame Sally has managed to
eclipse other songs written about these times and what can now safely, and with
no small amount of disdain, be called the Bush Years, by addressing the ageless
accounts of political and government corruption since time began. Like Dylan's
"Master's of War," and "Blowin' in the Wind," this one rings true to times
past, present and future.
With the
opening lines of the song, the power of the folk singer's voice as prophet and
truth teller rings:
If you tell a lie
again and again
It does not become the
truth in the end
If your voice is loud
and your lies are well heard
Still it does not mean
transformation has occurred
Finally the
song was finished the in spring of 2008 when Pasquel wrote another verse that
could apply to the Crusades as well as the days of the war in Iraq:
You can speak of God
while you lead your Holy War
As if your hands
weren't stained by the oil you adore
More innocents will
die and more soldiers will fall
You name your church
for God but it was greed that built those walls.
It's the passion, creativity, and stamina of the modern-day
American singer songwriters that we depend on to punctuate the ends and
beginnings of epochs of eras such as these transitional times. With "If You
Tell A Lie," Blame Sally has accomplished this with a beautiful melody, direct
lyrics, and eloquent instrumentation. All the tools one needs to tell the
truth. That, and a few chords.
While airplay
is limited Blame Sally has gained national acclaim with "Lie" by landing on
Neil Young's Living with War Today website, which is dedicated to anti-war
anthems from known and unknown songwriters. The song has been among the top
five most listened to songs on the site, which numbers in hundreds and
thousands of songs.
All that
said, however, I wasn't assigned to write about topical songs and the end of
the Bush era. This is a feature about an influential, creative foursome on the
rise from San Francisco: Blame Sally. By virtue of their all female line-up
(I'm not sure this is relevant; how often do we describe other bands as the
"all-male-line up?"), their proficient folk-based original material and
instrumentation, they may beg comparisons to the Dixie Chicks (well, without
all the flash and make up and stuff) or the Indigo Girls. Funny, but while I'm
not fond of offering comparisons to artists who have created a distinctive
sound of their own, I find them closer to a folk-based U2. Listening to the lead
singer breathe out her words in the song "House of the Living," combining
subtle piano with hypnotic background vocals, there's something powerful about
such lines as:
I don't want to waste away another precious day
snap me out of this before I throw my life away.
"House of
the Living," which presents the urgent message to live life to its fullest or
lose all meaning, seems an equally significant personal call as "If You Tell A
Lie" is to the country. Looking at the instrumental diversity on their three albums,
with Severland being the latest, it's easy to see how most fans of Americana
music will be drawn to Blame Sally. What is a surprise, however, is the breadth
of their style - borderng on light jazz and alternative rock lined with
latter-day Beatle background vocals that are choral, harmonic, and ethereal.
Mixing these musical virtues with lyrics that are in depth, memorable, and
accessible, suggests a band with a future of growth and an ability to draw a
mainstream following - that, of course, with the right promotion and exposure.
But those two factors are hard to come up in the bright-eyed underground of
house-concerts, small folk clubs, and spring outdoor music festivals. Like many
other independent musicians, they handle most of their own promotion, bookings,
and publicity. However, while lacking in mass popular success, they have gained
a great deal in consistent critical acclaim. For example, the Santa Cruz
Sentinel has written "The four-piece group effortlessly goes from spunky
kiss-offs that bring to mind Lucinda Williams at her most decisive to political
barnstormers that come off more as lyrical smackdowns than folkie polemics. The
band's spirited, take-no-prisoners attitude is a welcome contrast to
traditional folkie navel-gazing, and the band has the songs, chops, and pipes
to back up their tough-talking, clear-minded folk rock." Indeed, even the more
reflective songs from the new CD, Severland, are more inclusive than
introspective, which gives the listener a shared experience inside the song
rather than the feeling of being an outside observer, an easy, indulgent trap
for songwriter's to fall into.
Consisting
of Pam Delgado on percussion, guitar, and vocals; Renee Harcourt on guitar,
bass, banjo, harmonica, and vocals; Jeri Jones on guitar, bass, dobro,
mandolin, and vocals; Monica Pasqual on piano, keys, accordion, melodica, and
vocals; Blame Sally maintains a busy tour schedule of folk clubs, house
concerts, and among the most reputable festival circuits in folk music today.
In a day of
hope dimly beginning to light our way through the topical and tranforming time
of this new century, Blame Sally has given us the kind of music that brings
hope a little closer to all of us by speaking truth in a personal and universal
way and being true, most of all, to the songs they sing.
Blame Sally will perform at Jimmy
Duke's Dark Thirty House Concert in Lakeside on Sunday, March 22, 7:30pm. Call
for reservations: (619) 443-9622.