The Pointer Sisters made country music during the 1970's and beyond. They loved to express music in multiple genres, including R&B, soul, pop, dance, and country music. Their members back then were Ruth, June, Bonnie, and Anita Pointer. The Pointer Sister started in the Bay Area in Oakland, California, a city filled with a history of social consciousness (as it was the origin of the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense). The Pointer Sisters had massive successful career in the 1970's and the 1980's with songs like Automatic, Jump (for My Love), Slow Hand, So Excited, etc. In the 1970's, the Pointer Sisters had a country music song called Fairytale. That song was from their February 1974 album of That's a Plenty. Anita Pointer said that she wrote the breakup song of Fairytale from her personal experiences. Anita heard music from James Taylor (who is a great singer and songwriter), and she felt inspired to write the song Fairytale. The Pointer Sisters had a series of promotional appearances in Nashville with an August 16, 1974, performance at Fairgrounds Speedway. On October 25, 1974, The Pointer Sisters performed Fairytale at the Grand Ole Opry, making the inaugural Opry appearance by an African American vocal group. The group sang the song first at their April 21, 1974, concert at the San Francisco Opera House. Fairytale would later result in something. Later, The Pointer Sisters won the Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the year. This was the first awarding of a Grammy to an all-women vocal group, making The Pointer Sisters the only black women to date who have won a Grammy in a country music category.
By the early 1970's, country music icon Dolly Parton was already a legend. She was born in the South at Pittman Center, Tennessee. For generations, Dolly Parton has been a singer, songwriter, actress, and philanthropist. She has participated in country music for more than five decades now. Her first album was called Hello, I'm Dolly in 1967. Dolly Parton was raised very poor. She performed on the radio as a child. She moved to Nashville after she graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964. By 1968, she released the song of Just Because I'm a Woman. Dolly Parton by the 1970's, increased the number of hits like Joshua, Coat of Many Colors, etc. She loved to do duets with fellow country artists too. Tons of people know Dolly Parton's signature song Jolene, which was released in in late 1973. The song topped the country charts in February of 1974. Beyonce and Dolly Parton did an ode to the song called Jole from Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album. Dolly Parton released the song I Will Always Love You in 1974 which was about her professional break from Wagoner. It went to number one on the country chart. Parton wanted to own her own royalties and publishing rights which caused her to earn millions of royalties from the single. Whitney Houston made an iconic cover of I Will Always Love You too from the Bodyguard soundtrack back in 1992. Dolly Parton did pop music too along with Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. Parton's album of Here You Come Again in 1977 sold over one million copies. In 1978, Dolly Parton won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Dolly Parton continues to make music to this very day, help the sick, promote tolerance for fellow human beings, and lives a very quiet life in the South.
The Man in Black Johnny Cash remains one of the many icons of country music. When he was on the stage, he brought massive excitement, skills, and intensity. He was born in Kingsland, Arkansas and lived in Nashville, Tennessee for many years. People know her for his deep, calm, and bass-baritone voice. Johnny Cash was also a military veteran. He worked with the Tennessee Three and had established his own solo career. Johnny Cash had music that dealt with sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption. His music became more introspective as time came about during his life. He lived to be 71 years old. He loved his five children, and he married Vivian Liberto and June Carter. A lot of people don't know that Vivian D. Liberto's father Thomas Liberto was of Sicilian descent. Her mother Irene was of German, Irish, and African American descent (who was in Texas since the 19th century). One of Vivian Liberto's great-great-great grandmothers was Sally Shields, a woman of biracial heritage. Sally Shields' mother was an enslaved African American. Saly's white father and slave owner was William Bryant Shields. Johnny Cash had imperfections from drug abuse, violence, and adultery. Vivian Liberto's children supported a documentary that outlined a fair picture of how Vivian Liberto was a kindhearted woman who cared deeply for her children (back in the 1960's, the Klan wanted to kill Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto, because many of Vivian Liberto's relatives and ancestors were black people). Johnny Cash's first single was I Walk the Line being inspired by Vivian Liberto. Cash had many signature songs like Ring of Fire, Get Rhythm, Man in Black, One Piece at a Time, and Jackson. He sold over 90 million records worldwide. He worked in country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel music. He was inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Halls of Fame. By the 1960's, he had an outlaw image. Cash made songs to defend the human rights of Native Americans. He worked with Pete Seeger's TV show Rainbow Quest. He had his own television show called The Johnny Cash Show on ABC lasting from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971. It was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the grand marshal of the United States Bicentennial parade too. Johnny Cash converted to Christianity early in his life and attended First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee before his passing with his wife.
Country music in the 1960's and the 1970's dealt with a transition in culture. These two decades saw a massive shift in culture in general. This shift is called the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution saw no fault divorce being legalized in America, the growth of civil rights and voting rights laws, and the anti-Vietnam War movement reaching its zenith. Before the 1960's, many women couldn't sign a loan without a husband or male relative's permission, black people suffered Jim Crow apartheid, the Cold War was heating up, and massive conformity was commonplace. Anyone desiring to revert back to the early to mid-20th century is just plain mistaken and wrong. Then, society was massively changing by many activists who desired the expansion of human rights. Also, many people were sincere to desire for freedom for the human race. Other people were overtly funded by the CIA, foundations, and corporate interests to distract people from opposing imperialism and other evils via the usage of recreational drugs and divide-and-conquer strategies too. John Potash wrote literature proving that too. Country music in the 1960's had artists like Glen Campbell, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, George Jones, The Statler Brothers, Jeannie C. Riley (with the famous song of Harper Valley P.T.A.), Roger Miller, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, Dottie West, Johnny Cash, and other human beings who sang powerfully about their lives and the issues of the world.
Philip Lee Hicks is my 3rd cousin. His sibling was Linton Pretlow Hicks (1950-2005). His parents were Willie O. Hicks (b. 1913) and Eunice Katheryn Flythe (1916-1999). Eunice Katheryn Flythe's parents were Henry Hersey Flythe (1873-1965) and Lena Mae Flythe (1893-1962). My 1st cousin Lena Mae Flythe's parents were William Theo Scott (1865-1935) and Roberta Hill (1875-1935). My 3rd great-grandaunt Roberta Hill's parents were Tom Hill (1838-1915) and Sarah Claud (1842-1892). Sarah Claud's mother was my 5th great-grandmother Zilphy Claud (1820-1893).
There is the story of my late cousin Lorie Ann Claude. She was born on January 8, 1968, in Roanoke Rapids, Halifax, North Carolina, and passed away in November 2011. Her parents are Matthew L. Claud (b. 1941) and Helen Bridges Harrell (b. 1946). She had two sons whose names are Anthony Gilchrist (b. 1990) of Garysburg, North Carolina, and Amos Gilchrist (b. 1991) of Seaboard, North Carolina. The siblings of Lorie Ann Claud are Kenneth Claud (b. 1966), Sharonda Claud (1976-2010), Benjamin Claud (b. 1982), and Nicole Claud (b. 1985). Benjamin Claude married Latoya Claude on August 17, 2006. Benjamin and Latoya Claud have 3 daughters including Kelly Claud and Niakayla Claud. My 5th cousin Sharonda Claud married Michael Bernard Walton Sr. (b. 1975) on June 9, 2001, in Northampton, North Carolina. Their child is Michael Walton Jr. Matthew L. Claud was my 4th cousin whose parents are Amos Columbus Claud (1916-1965) and Minnie C. Clarke (b. 1917). The parents of Amos Columbus Claud were Joseph James Claud (1894-1988) and Georgia Bynum (1893-1975). The parents of my 2nd cousin Joseph James Claud were Frank Thomas Claud (1856-1948) and Elizabeth Whitehead (1868-1939). Frank Thomas Claud's parents were Mason Claud (1840-1877) and Isaac Gilliam. The mother of Mason Claud was my 5th great grandmother Zilphy Claud.
One important point is that we must talk about poverty and the poor, not just about the middle class. There is nothing wrong with helping the middle class, but comprehensive economic justice must relate to helping the poor and working-class human beings too. In America alone, there are about 140 million poor and low-income people. If people want to bring more of the electorate to vote, then politicians have to promote succinct policies that address poverty. Poor and low-wage human beings make up 30% of the American electorate in every state of the Union. If just a small percentage of time votes at a higher level, the election can be determined in every battleground state alone. We know what works too. There should be more investments in the green economy to increase family-sustaining jobs. There must be a living wage nationally from the urban to rural locations. The oppressed are tired of being talked to instead of talked at. If someone is just talking about law and order (instead of law and justice), that is certainly not good enough. You have to talk about ending voter suppression laws, having resources to build up our health care systems in establishing universal health care, taking care of our environment, having a strong investment in public education, growing affordable housing, rejecting the agenda of the military-industrial complex, preserving our civil liberties and civil rights, having our democracy strengthened, and making sure that the super wealthy pay their fair share of taxation.
By Timothy
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