I just saw this on Facebook:
And I thought, “What a great prompt!”
And then I thought, “That’s such a good prompt that I’ll bet I’ve used it before.” And, sure enough!
Well, I can use a prompt again, can’t I? Why, yes, I can!
Here’s what I wrote two years ago, regarding Johnny Cash’s voice:
There was always something special about Johnny Cash’s voice that I could never put my finger on. It really shouldn’t work, that gravelly baritone that doesn’t always home in on the exact pitch the way a singer should. Sliding into a pitch instead of hitting it dead on is a standard device of country singing (Reba McIntyre and Garth Brooks are canonical examples of this technique), but what Cash does is…more than that. Sometimes he sounds like he’s perfectly content to waver in the vicinity of the actual pitch without actually getting there. If you heard a young music student singing like that, you’d question their ability. When you hear Johnny Cash doing it, you know that you’re listening to a master who is doing exactly as he wishes with his voice.
I stand by that.
(I’m hoping that embeds the entire playlist comprising the entire album.)
One of my favorite Christmas hymns is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” (from the Longfellow poem). He’s done a version. I don’t LOVE the slightly over-sweetened orchestration, but his voice is unmistakable, and it works.
Johnny could make some musical mistakes, mostly in 1980s, but he may be s the solo artist I have the most CDs