Teaching about Can’t Get Right
Jed: To take the same kind of scope on can’t get right can’t get right is much more recent came out last year. Justin Golden, who is a contemporary American blues player. He’s also the one running the Richmond, Virginia Chapter Capacity Project. And if we were to zoom out from the, like, the close up view of this, what both of these songs are as they’re part of the lineage of the heritage of, of American music and that all the music we listen to that comes from the United States and a lot that comes from other places is founded on the contributions of black culture.
What are the connections?
Joe: That would get us into talking about the Piedmont, which is a region where Justin is from and a style of guitar playing that he does. And again, it could lead in a lot of directions. But, you know, that’s that’s really important that Jed emphasized that because we understand the blues and the spirituals as the intertwining kind of backbone of American music, both originating in black American culture, both now influencing culture globally, and not just music, but culture. And so that’s how we understand ourselves as Americans and as as we understand ourselves as musicians.
Can’t Get Right and St. James Infirmary
Jed: I love Beethoven. I love classical music. I love a lot of European music. But the fact that you can think about like Justin is from the Piedmont area, which, you know, heavily influences the way he plays guitar. And this is, I think the living portion of music is its connection to a community that still exists. And that’s what I love keeping alive. Music education wise, here is a music kind of become stale when it becomes academic. And that happens when you take it and separate it from an actual living community that expresses itself that way. So having both of these songs be part of the whole lineage of like, this is what a community sounds like when they make music, and that Justin’s heritage and his community is still alive in the way he plays guitar, in the way he writes a blues song.
