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Fear of Having
Missed a Performer in Her Prime
(The Daily Corinthian, 30 April 2005) |
Sometimes
I have the feeling that I've missed out.
I feel this way about not having
had the chance, for instance, to see Elvis perform live, considering
that I was just shy of four years old when he died.
I had vowed to go see Jerry Clower,
one of my favorite comedians, and Ray Charles, one of the virtuosos
of music of his time. But, again, I missed out. On these accounts,
I simply waited too late.
I also would have liked to have
seen Johnny Cash perform, but I really only discovered him right
before his death, when he released the remake of the Nine Inch
Nails song "Hurt," and I realized what a seasoned artist
he was. Alas, when I came to my senses, it was too late.
Further, I discovered Loretta Lynn
of late. But last year I went to see her perform at her ranch
in secluded Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. I thought this time I
had made it on time.
In October, when I attened one
of a few annual concerts Lynn holds on her ranch, I found that
she was suffering from a bulging disk in her back. For much of
the concert, she sat in a chair on stage. She wasn't faring too
well from the heat either, which was obvious. She rounded out
the concert by having her sister, brother-in-law, and several
of her children perform songs while she took periodic breaks.
I must say it was quite a disappointment not to be able to see
her at the top of her game.
Nevertheless, I vowed to trudge
on. A short while after, I learned she was to perform in December
at Sam's Town Casino in Tunica. I duly bought tickets for me
and my mother and made plans to go.
However, during treatment of back
problem, Lynn's doctor suggested that she go off the road for
a while, and the December concert was postponed until April,
which, at the time, seemed a long time away.
But April finally rolled around,
and last weekend, my mother and piled into the car and made the
35-mile drive from Memphis to Tunica, full of anticipation to
see Loretta Lynn back in full force, the same vibrant performer
we had witnessed in television performances.
Lynn dazzled us when she appeared
on stage wearing a trademark white-sequined gown and immediately
belted out "You Ain't Woman Enough."
But two or three songs into the
performance, she had to sit down. She explained to the audience
she was still recovering from back surgery.
She ended up doing a few duets
with her three male backup singers, including the award-winning
"Portland Oregon," a recent title on the "Van
Lear Rose" album recorded with rocker Jack White of the
White Stripes.
During one portion of the song,
while Mike, her backup singer, sang his lyrics, a coughing spell
overtook Lynn, who sat beside where he stood. I wondered if she
would be able to make a comeback and finish her upcoming lines
in the song. She did, but she then informed the audience she
was suffering from a cold.
Again, she garnered help getting
through the concert. This time it was mostly from her band, including,
again, the backup singers who gave a rousing rendition of "Man
of Constant Sorrow."
She also called upon her son-in-law
to perform a couple of songs and her keyboard player, who gave
an unimpressive performance of a Mel Tillis song.
Some of the songs Lynn sang herself
included the aforementioned "You Ain't Woman Enough,"
"When The Tingle Becomes A Chill," "Fist City,"
"One's On The Way," "Don't Come Home a Drinkin'
(With Lovin' On Your Mind)," and "God Bless America
Again." She finished out the hour and 20 minute performance
with her autobiographical "Coal Miner's Daughter,"
but not without help from her son-in-law, who sang the last couple
of lines with her when her voice seemed to give out.
Overall, the performance seemed
disorganized. Instead of relying on a pre-established song set,
for most of the concert, she and her band took requests from
the audience. Performing an audience request or two isn't necessarily
bad, but most fans expect a more organized performance. Further,
she opted not to sing several of the songs the audience called
out.
A few fans requested songs Lynn
had performed with Ernest Tubb back in the '50s, which she said
she couldn't remember. And when one fan requested Patsy Cline's
"I'm Blue Again," Lynn said, "Honey, I couldn't
do that if I was blue."
After it was all over, I felt as
though I had waited too late on Loretta, too. I wondered maybe
if I had missed this performer in her prime.
But I'm not giving up. I just hope
she takes some time off-and then comes back like a powerhouse.
(Stacy Jones, a Southerner,
is a Master of Fine Arts student in fiction writing at The University
of Memphis. She is a native of Guys, Tenn., and her columns,
which appear on Saturdays, are archived at Southern-Drawl.com.) |
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