Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman became the first Black songwriter to win the Song of the Year award at November’s Country Music Association Awards. Luke Combs recorded a cover of Chapman’s 1988 hit, “Fast Car,” that reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Chapman said she never expected to see her name on the country charts. Country artists have for years, though, found success with tunes that had no Nashville pedigree. Songs that did have that lineage have soared for performers outside the country genre.
Just as Chapman never thought she’d be on the country charts, Dolly Parton may never have expected to see her name atop the R&B charts. There it was though, when Whitney Houston’s remake of Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” became one of the biggest hits of the 1990s. Houston’s recording seemed to be atop every chart besides Country, but Parton had already topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs with it twice: her 1974 original version and again in 1982 when she recorded a new take for the soundtrack of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Hank Williams was one of the finest if not the finest songwriter in the history of country music. He could recognize the potential in other writers’ material, though. “Lovesick Blues,” which became Hank’s signature tune, was originally from a Broadway musical, Oh, Ernest, with lyrics by Duke Ellington collaborator Irving Mills.
Williams’ “Cold Cold Heart” became a pop hit when crooned by Tony Bennett. Norah Jones, daughter of Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, revived “Cold Cold Heart” in a jazz-pop arrangement on her 2002 debut album, Come Away With Me.
Consider the song “The Dark End of the Street.” It was first recorded by criminally-underheard Southern soul great James Carr in 1967. By 1970, Wilson Pickett had recorded a version and so had Aretha Franklin. So had intrepid country-rockers the Flying Burrito Brothers. Since then it’s been performed by Linda Ronstadt, Gary Stewart, Eva Cassidy, Gregg Allman, Elvis Costello, Frank Black of the Pixies and Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode. Even avant-garde provocateur Diamanda Galas recorded it.
This suggests two things: One, “Dark End” is a great song that singers can’t resist. (James Carr’s version is definitive, though.) Two, great songs transcend the boundaries of genre, and it follows that great performers – or smart ones, at least – ignore those boundaries.
Luke Combs says he recorded “Fast Car” because he had loved the song since childhood and that it was one of the first songs he learned to play on guitar. His cover is faithful to Chapman’s original, the biggest difference being his voice and the advances in recording technology that occurred in the 35 years between the two versions. Just recently, Tracy Chapman made an exceedingly rare appearance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards and even performed alongside Combs.
Buck Owens, one of country music’s all-time greats, once took out an ad in music trade papers pledging his allegiance to country music, saying he was a country musician who played country music. His next release was a cover of rock ‘n’ roll architect Chuck Berry’s “Memphis.”
Owens might play only country music, this seemed to say, but he’d decide what was country. Whether he intended it to or not, it suggested that genre is a mirage. When a country band plays a rock song, is it country or rock? Who cares? Do you like it? That’s the only valid question.
Duke Ellington once said, ”There are two kinds of music: good music and the other kind.” Sound advice.