The Big Green House

Friday, November 22, 2002

 

Bohemian Non-Sequitor

I recently picked up a compilation of Western Swing music, and was somewhat surprised to hear the accordion so prominently featured on so many tunes. My introduction to Western Swing was through Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys; their standard line-up was fiddle, piano, guitar, steel guitar, drums, bass, and a horn section, so I just assumed that was the norm. And it pretty much was, except a lot of bands also included the accordion.

I don�t think I�m going too far out on a limb to state that the accordion, as a musical instrument, does not get a lot of respect from the general listening public � at least, not here in America. I think we all know who to blame for that. I used to buy into the anti-accordion hype, myself. Back in the day, someone gave me a T-shirt which read, �Use an accordion, go to jail�; being the dope that I was, I wore it proudly, usually with a big smirk on my face. Well, I�m not smirking now. (Not about that, anyway.)

As I�ve matured, for lack of a better & more descriptive word, I�ve come to appreciate the sound of the squeezebox. Two things helped show me the error of my ways, accordion�wise: a friend sent me a Buckwheat Zydeco tape from New Orleans, and I saw Flaco Jimenez perform with Ry Cooder around the same time (late 80s, as I recall). Yea, the scales fell from my eyes. Also, I lost the T-shirt.

I have to admit, though, that I was kinda thrown for a loop by hearing the accordion in a Western Swing context. It was a bit of a non-sequitor for me. I figured out why the accordion is there: there was/is a sizeable Czech population in Texas, where Western Swing began, so� yeah, of course, accordions. And being as Western Swing is an amalgamation of bits and pieces of other styles � ragtime, conjunto, fiddle tunes, hot jazz, blues, reels, etc. � it only makes sense that there would be a little polka in there, too. I�m just not used to hearing it in connection with Texan music. Zydeco - yes; conjunto � si; western swing - huh? It�s sorta like eating Thai chicken pizza for the first time; it�s kind of an odd combination and it takes a little getting used to, but it does work.

As for the compilation itself � I�ll probably get to that on Monday. Think of it as sort of a cliffhanger. Suspenseful, no?

bmarkey 11/22/2002 06:08:00 PM