big show coming up this friday!
I hope you’re in nyc because me and the boys Trevor and Edu will be live in concert at the delancey at 8:30 pm. tix $10 at the door—see you there!
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if you’ve been following this newsletter or my instagram you’ve likely encountered my PSA campaign warning people about the imminent death of disco. I’m aware this may be sad news to many of you (though not all of you) but it’s best to just rip off the band aid:
disco is dying because country music is killing it. I digress.
I was recommended Beyoncé’s new album and it blew me away. she’s by no means the first to cross country over with black american popular music, but she’s done it in a very accessible and prominent way.
she combined an impressive array of influences—including cameos from Willie and Dolly, cementing her pedigree in a manner well-known to nashville—and commented on the process while she was doing it.
with Cowboy Carter, she has presented a complex academic argument to the global public in the most simple of terms: “because I am an american, I have a story to tell.” and then she showed us how one woman can be a cowboy, a diva, a rapper, a mother, and a daughter all at the same time. to name a few!
that to me is what country music is about. the Grateful Dead played country music. Nelly played country music. so did Hank Jr.
it’s a willingness to talk about the parts of life that aren’t so pretty and to do it in a way that connects with people. my mom’s side of the family grew up on a farm two hours north of st. louis—I’ve never lived there, but I visit every summer for our family reunion and their (our!) way of life has had a very important influence on me.
it’s a connection to your history and the challenges that made you who you are, but also to the successes and the things worth celebrating. it’s humorous and solemn, and it takes a certain level of stubbornness to maintain.
so I say with the biggest pleasure that people are now digging on country music. nyc has gone country and folks in their ringer tees and cowboy boots aren’t looking back. and if you make it down to the delancey this friday I can promise you some honky tonkin!
now, this isn’t to take anything away from disco. if country is king, disco is queen. and disco will never die, not for real.
but the party is over. the lights have come on, and the only place open is the saloon down the street serving $4 miller lights. turns out miller light isn’t so bad of a beer after all.
folks are tired of the excess, tired of the spending, tired of it all and just need a break. country music offers a simpler, more comfortable way of looking at the world.
one day soon we may again disco until dawn, but for now we put away the jumpsuit and pull out the chaps. don’t worry though, you can still shake your a$$ to country music—don’t knock it til’ you try!
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the coffeeshop I normally write from is full so this comes from the temporary seating structure on the street outside the building. brrr.
these constructions were built during COVID to get around restrictions on indoor seating. like nearly everything outdoors in nyc, they have since turned into public works infrastructure.
beyond allowing restaurants to seat more customers and hire more people, outdoor structures offer everything from locations for a coffee date to shelter from the worst of nyc’s elements. they also take up parking spots in the street, theoretically reducing the number of cars in the city and subsequent pollution.
for me, they have been a fully positive addition to nyc—largely because they came about when people put their heads together to come up with a solution to a collective problem: local businesses were running out of money. by sitting in one, you’re inhabiting the physical manifestation of human creativity in a time of crisis. it’s inspirational.
today, this structure gave me a place to wait until a spot opened up indoors. sure enough 10 minutes later I was inside writing in the warm again.
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