I sometimes wonder what their first efforts sounded like. Picture a white kid of 16 or 17 or so trying to imitate a middle-aged black man or woman...? Probably pretty funny. I'm about to do something I very rarely do, which is to read a book about pop music: Greg Allman's autobiography. That might give some insight. Yeah, I wish I'd seen them live, too.

I've never been that big a fan of Joplin, actually--great talent, but her singing usually seemed somewhat over the top to me.

I guess so. But do you know if that was the case? To the extent that it's mentioned at all in the Wikipedia piece, the implication is that they heard it on the radio.

Yes, that's certainly natural--even people like me who can't really sing tend to do it. But the way Gregg Allman or Janis Joplin sounded was so far from what was probably their natural singing voices that it seems like it had to be a conscious decision and deliberate effort.

I like the selection, especially "Dreams" and "Statesboro Blues."

The Allman Brothers Band is often classified as southern rock, but they were extremely popular in the northeast where I grew up. In the early 70s, I bought "Eat a Peach," "Fillmore East" and "Brothers and Sisters" on vinyl. Most people I knew loved that stuff.

The guitar solo on "Blue Sky," shared by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts (according to Wikipedia), was and is one of my all-time favorites. Not sure who's the better guitarist there.

Another favorite is the jubilant solo in "Jessica."

I don't think they ever played within easy reach of me, although I was in the south. If they did I didn't know about it. As for Duane and Eric, yeah, both great, and I considered including something from Derek & the Dominoes here, but I have to say I was/am not a huge fan, although they had some great moments. I think it's partly the recording but the two guitars don't seem to be complementing each other a lot of the time.

English people often laugh at pop singers of the 1960s singing with American accents - there are phrases in many English pop songs of the time which only work if you put on (or already have) an American accent. The Stones are full of this.

I don't think it took a conscious effort to sing like that. My bride can mimic effortlessly, and most of my kids inherited that capability. As I have mentioned, I never really 'got' the blues until later in life. But I always got the Allmans. Whatever the influence, they did way more than mimic. Take the guitar solo in 'Dreams', which is essentially a blues riff. In all, and I do not know whether this is because they were southerners or geniuses, they surpassed every English band in doing blues. And of course I always loved the sweeter sounds they made, like 'Melissa' and 'Blue Sky'.

Or say "deliberate choice" if "conscious effort" makes it sound too difficult. At any rate, the point I really wanted to make about Gregg Allman's singing, and this really goes for the whole band, is not that he sounded black, but that he sounded genuine, and experienced, and authoritative in a black sort of way, far beyond his years. If you listen to Mick Jagger singing "King Bee" (Muddy Waters song, iirc) on one of the early Stones albums, it definitely sounds like somebody playing a role. Or Koerner, Ray, and Glover, a bit earlier, imitating country blues artists.

That's what happens when I only get to comment once during the day (or night).

I second that.

AMDG

It works the other way too, Grumpy - but probably not with pop/rock. Gregorian chant scholas need to de-Americanise their accents a bit to get a nice sounding Latin.

Well, you don't have to find videos of authors.

AMDG

Maybe we could all share it. I cant do the math but something like 20 authors Mac (its your blog), 5 dan, 5 grumpy, 5 janet, 5 rob g, 5 louise, 5 craig, 5 gotcher

Fiction?

I don't think it would have to be limited to fiction, Robert.

I choose God, then. And Potok. I'll have to think about my other three.

And there is Art Deco too - 5

If we interspersed everyone's contributions, most people would write one thing every couple of months. We could all manage that.

I don't know if I recognize 'El Miserable' unless AD changed his nom de guerre

I think maybe we could other people to participate, too: Sally, Paul, Nick?

AMDG

He was in Grumpy's list.

AMDG

I always say 'Dan'

I didn't say everyone - just off the top of my head. We could ask RC to do a guest appearance

If you are doing Von B., I could do de Lubac.

This could be fun. Let's just throw it open to anyone who wants to participate. I'll do a post announcing it sometime in the next day or two (very busy at work right now). I'll assume everyone who's spoken up wants at least 5 slots, and we'll go from there.

A young shakespeare scholar

El Miserable = Stu. I work with Mac. I would do five classic authors (fiction). Tolstoy would certainly be one. I want Mac to do Dostoevsky if I am allowed to ask that. :-) This will be fun because I am quite interested to read what others enjoy, and what their remarks are, etc.

I think we should each just write what we want to write, Robert.

I will do Graham Greene, Michael Perry, and Dean Koontz, and I'm thinking about a couple of children's authors: Hilda van Stockum and maybe E. Nesbit, but maybe y'all wouldn't be interested in those.

This is a very eclectic bunch, but really I think I can make even Koontz interesting.

AMDG

Yes, I will be able to lie to myself for 6 months about how I'm going to write them early.

AMDG

I would be very interested in reading about the children's authors, Janet.

Appropriate to say RIP Johnny Winter here on the "52 Guitars" blog. :-(

Well, I don't see that anybody would be lining up for any of mine, except may GG. I was trying to find some off the well-beaten path.

AMDG

Well Rob, I KNOW you wanted Dean Koontz. ;-)

AMDG

I'm going to consider any claims stated here as binding, so if anybody else has any definite wishes, go ahead and say so.

Sure, you can change your mind, I just mean I'll assume that any writer spoken for in these comments is taken, and will list those assignments in the separate post I'm going to do.

Somebody should do Corman McCarthy, but not me.

I think I'm going to take Sheldon Vanauken instead of E. Nesbit.

AMDG

You do her. ;-) It's true, but there is a particular book of Vanauken's that I want to talk about. I was thinking about it on the way to work this morning in relation to something that's going on in my family.

AMDG

Well, there's definitely something in LWW that comes directly from one of her stories, The Aunt and Amabel.

AMDG

Maybe I'll do Nesbit instead of Van Stockum.

AMDG

I'm game, but not sure who I could write about. With Tolkien and Chesterton taken, the literary authors I know best are Waugh and Dickens, but I don't think I could say anything about either that would be new or interesting to others here. Non-fiction authors well represented on my shelves are Alasdair MacIntyre, Mary Douglas, Edith Stein and Christopher Derrick, if any of them are of interest.

I've just accepted a new job which will involve leading a semester's worth of seminars about American Literature (this is for a Master of Translation degree at an institution that thinks translators, subtitlers et al. should have a clue about literature in their foreign languages — not for students devoted full-time to literature). I would appreciate the opportunity to bounce ideas about. It will pretty much be a case of keeping one book ahead of the students. I was wondering about starting them off on some Cotton Mather (available free on Google Books) and Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", and then moving on to "Last of the Mohicans". And then ... and then ... If first impressions of American authors would be of interest, say the word.

I have, incidentally, just finished Walker Percy's "The Last Gentleman", which in some ways would be very useful (being quite explicit about North-East/Southern/Mid-West/South-West differences in landscape, mores and language, for instance), but plot-wise just seems to be one bizarre thing after another with nothing holding it together. Persisting to the end makes some of it fall into place retrospectively as a sort of American "Brideshead", but only some of it. And the constant rabbiting on about psychoanalysis and sex is extremely tedious, but perhaps that's just (engagement with? spoof on?) American mores too? It just put me in mind of Flanders & Swann.

In my mind it isn't necessary to say anything new or interesting. Substantial discussions, even of blog post length (typically 600-1200 words) may be more than people want to do, and it's certainly more than I would have time (or inclination) to do for 20 writers in the space of a year, if I end up with that many. We might want to just post an excerpt or two or three that we think really fine. So don't let that stop you. Also, although Grumpy originally proposed 5 writers apiece, since it's going to be open to anyone who cares to contribute I'd say 5 maximum, but fewer if you don't feel up to that.

I read your remarks on The Last Gentleman twice, under the impression, for some brain-misfire reason, that you were speaking of The Moviegoer, and wondering how in the world you got that view of it. But all became clear when I realized my mistake. I more or less agree with your appraisal of its structural faults. In purely literary terms I think The Moviegoer is his best. But I love Gentleman anyway. Part of it is sheer enjoyment of the southern-ness of it, which I can well imagine may not travel well. And as for the sex obsession...well, whether it's especially American or not, I find it quite...relatable-to.

I would love to hear about Edith Stein.

Ditto to Stein, and Derrick, too.

And Wodehouse. Hurrah!

AMDG

Yes, I meant to add that I'd certainly be interested in seeing all the writers Paul mentions included. I've never heard of Mary Douglas (that I remember) but I assume she's worthy of the company.

Sounds very much worth hearing about. The story about the pipe is very funny. And in 1963!--when smoking in public was treated as a fundamental right.

It's not so much sex obsession which is tiresome (that's a pretty widespread and relatable issue — thinking of a 17th-century comic-moralising dialogue between a drunkard, a gambler and a whoremonger as to which of them is worst; or a collection of 16th-century sermons on the 10 commandments that says it is impossible for most men to go a day without a lustful thought), as the constant talking about sex. The Victorians somehow managed to produce more children than the world had ever seen before, without constantly talking about how it was done.