In yesterday’s Dugout Chatter, Townsman Scott asked:

If it’s hard for white people to get into B.B. King, why do white people make up the vast majority of his fanbase?

Today, I’m no longer concerned with B.B. King, but I think the answer to this question raises a broader point: African American musicians and music fans seemed to have taken Satchel Paige’s advice to heart: Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.

It’s extremely rare to find an African American musician who tries to re-create a vintage sound the way white rock musicians have done since about a week after the genre was hatched. What’s the closest you find, Prince dressing up styles from the past and paying homage to the masters? A modern-day R&B singer dressing up like Diana Ross circa 1966 for a few quick cuts in a video? Where’s the African American artist who’s trying to re-create the sounds of a Motown record or record an old blues-style song in scratchy mono? Where’s the African American artist who’s trying to sound like Prince circa-Dirty Mind? I find this seeming disregard for re-creating the past both fascinating and totally alien to the white rock mentality. I have some ideas about what’s behind this, but I’ve never seen anything written on or heard anything talked about the subject.

By the way, I am specifically using the term African American to identify a particular group of people, not just to follow a style guide’s suggestions for race terminology. British blacks don’t have a baseball history, and as a result, they’ve had artists re-creating classic ska and other styles.

So here are my questions:

• Has anyone read anything on what’s really behind this cultural tendency? I suspect it has a little more to do than reverance for Satchel Paige’s six “master maxims.” Any African American Townspeople out there who might have some insight or personal reactions to this issue?
• Is there a form of “white” American music that white Americans have let be and not tried to re-create slavishly and reverently?

I look forward to your responses.

It’s one of those days when a single hit may be all we need. Have one or see if you can empty this dugout. If anything’s left when you’re through, pass it on!

Are you cool with multi-instrumentalists who play their guitar while standing behind their keyboard?

Failure to launch…Abort mission…Is any artist’s career more in need of a pulled plug than Joss Stone‘s? Can she get transferred to American Idol? Does American Idol have some sort of “amateur status” criteria for contestants? Taylor Hicks had a few albums out before appearing on that show. Anyhow, that Joss Stone kid would kill, don’t you think?

Does anyone actually like the music of B.B. King, or do people simply bow down to his greatness as a reflex?

Are you more likely to trust the testimony of a police officer than you are the testimony of a regular citizen? (This is the question the judge asked me that finally led to me getting relieved of having to serve jury duty on a criminal trial expected to last 6 days.)
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Gerry Todd’s recent All-Star Jam, which drew comparisons between an Oasis song and an old number by The Stranglers got me thinking about the 2005 album from Oasis, Don’t Believe the Truth. It’s not a bad album, but that’s not what I care to discuss.

It’s never been a secret that Oasis has lifted hooks from the great works of others, but what’s been overlooked in reviews for their last few albums is that the band is branching out in its recycling of classic rock riffage. Here’s a song that demonstrates the band’s newfound skills. Let me know what you’re hearing in this one – the lifts may be multi-faceted – and in coming days I’ll roll out some other examples of what passes for growth.

Oasis, “Mucky Fingers”

You gotta serve somebody.