I chose this song because it moves and stirs me–in the way a gospel song might. I think it’s the exuberant mixing of genres and cultures that makes that happen for me.
The song blends country bluegrass with elements of funk and a little gospel. The bango and guitar and fiddle and hoots are bluegrass. The syncopation (the more complicated rhythms layered over the simple beat) and horns are funk. The harmonies feel like gospel, as does the way the melody rises and falls. It’s also interesting that toward the end, they mix in (mash up?) part of a Chicks’s song, “Long Time Gone.” It becomes a bridge–a section that’s neither verse nor chorus but becomes a link (or bridge!) between the two.
The song is about a father teaching a daughter to shoot, in case “trouble comes to town.” It’s taking classic country elements and making them feminist. The blending of bluegrass, funk, and gospel, with Beyoncé and The Chicks at the helm, makes me feel this visceral sense of their empowerment. They are crossing cultures and genres to claim power. I feel that especially in the harmonies. I think it’s relevant that bluegrass and funk are both about fun–about gathering, dancing, hooting, letting loose. And that kind of fun is power too, with a collective spirit.
I was torn between playing the actual live performance and the recorded one, where the production is cleaned up. You can feel the spirit in the live performance, but you can really hear the musical elements with the cleaned up production on the single they released.
Terms
Bluegrass: A form of country & western (C&W) music thought to have originated before WW II but actually developed during the mid 1940s. Fans, DJs, and record companies began using the term ” Bluegrass ” to describe a sound associated with the music of Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys. Monroe is ofted referred to as “The Father of Bluegrass.” The term refers to Kentucky (the Bluegrass state), Bill Monroe’s home state. Typically performed by a ” string ” band consisting of violin, mandolin, guitar, 5-string banjo, and string bass. —Free Music Dictionary
Funk: A music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). Funk de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Like much of African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a “hypnotic” and “danceable” feel. —Wikipedia
Gospel: A genre of Christian music. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. . . . Black gospel, by far the most well-known variant, emerged out of the African-American music tradition and has evolved in various ways over the years, continuing to form the basis of Black church worship even today. It has also come to be used in churches of various other cultural traditions (especially within Pentecostalism) and, via the gospel choir phenomenon spearheaded by Thomas Dorsey, has become a form of musical devotion worldwide. –Wikipedia
Syncopation: In music , syncopation is the deliberate upsetting of the meter or pulse of a composition by means of a temporary shifting of the accent to a weak beat or an off-beat. In other words, it is when a musician plays on rhythmic and metrical expectations such as giving a silence where a stressed note is expected or stressing a normally weak beat. Used extensively in the fourteenth century, syncopation is a rhythm in which normally unaccented beats are stressed either through agogic or dynamic rhythm. Syncopation has been used in the music of all periods, and is one of the foremost features of jazz. —Free Music Dictionary
Harmony: The concordant (or consonant) combination of notes sounded simultaneously to produce chords. Countermelodic notes to accompany a tune.The vertical dimension of music, referring to the notes sounding together. Often abstracted to mean sets of pitches thought to sound well together. (1) the study of progression, structure and relationships of chords (2) when pitches are in agreement, or consonance<br><br>The way in which chords are arranged in a musical composition.<br><br>The study of simultaneously sounding tones. —Free Music Dictionary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odnFjjt0AzY
