Buzzin' away on Indy's airwaves, mostly forgotten, is one of those "video musicbox" low-power stations, little more than a fat server hooked to a little transmitter. I was hunting radar as dinky, noisy pop-up storms tackhammered into town and channel-hopped in just in time for this to start up:
...Okay, now you tell me what genre that is. I thought country at first but on second thought, I'm not so sure. Kinda catchy, whatever it is.
(The consensus is "R&B" or "blues;" and the word is, there may just be a little band called Sidewinder in the Air Force that does a cover -- and some other very fine performances you can find on that there YouTube.)
Update
3 days ago
13 comments:
Uh wow! I just lobbed a music post up. I cannot select a genre for that song, but it is impressive!
Ok, maybe old school gospel with blues mixed in?
Now, look up the USAFR Band the Sidewinders performing the same piece.
I am surprised you haven't heard it before. It seems like every other song on half the stations I listen to is "Rolling in the Deep."
Staff SGT. Angie Johnson & Sidewinders Band (performing cover Rolling in the Deep) - YouTube
On the basis of this YouTube video--a jam session, not a regular performance!--they have been offered record deals as soon as Uncle Sam is through with them.
Blues.
If SSGT Johnson disappears instead of becoming famous, it'll be because the Spacetime Patrol got wind of them.
On our time-track ("shim"), blues & jazz musicians got sidetracked into showing off their technical and musical abilities instead of performing the song. That made them inaccessible to people who just wanted to listen to music, and their fan base degenerated into a cult following that sneered at "commercial appeal".
Ms. Johnson has migrated, or dropped in, from a shim where Fats Waller lived to be 80 and was #1 on the charts from May to October of 1959. If it was an accident the SP may let her stay, but they take a dim view of people who mess up the continua on purpose.
Regards,
Ric
Wow! Drang, thank you for adding that link!
Ric: Y'know, that makes perfect sense to me.
R&B bigtime. Add horns (trumpets and saxes) and it'd be Memphis-style. Or guitars and call it Detroit. Add both and it's Chicago-style. But regardless, that lady can wail. Nice find!
Jetaz: I rarely listen to the radio; Indy doesn't have a whole lot original on the air -- University of Indianapolis' WICR plays decent jazz (even some older stuff) -- but otherwise it's a vast wasteland, same-old, same-old.
I just recently found Adele myself. If you want to really make a shocked face, find a live performance where she speaks. She's all 'Liza Dolittle until she starts singing. It's like she's the English, female Mel Tillis, sans stutter.
You should also find her singing "If It Hadn't Been for Love". It's more bluesy bluegrass and she knocks the hell out of it. Hail Britania.
I wouldn't have thought to call Adele country, but that's because I have her first album, where she focused on torch songs. Most of her stuff falls more into that category, or blues. She doesn't really have a particular genre.
The really astounding part: She's only 21. (Might be 22 by now; point still stands.)
If you want to hear an absolute heartbreaker, track down and listen to "Someone Like You".
Blues-inspired, but I wouldn't call it straight blues.
I will, however, recommend Krypton 88. Fantastic rockabilly. (And once upon a time, a lifetime ago, I dated their current lead singer.)
What's funny is I've only heard that song on local dance channels. Talk about transcending genres!
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