Preservationists

Society needs innovators if it is to grow and remain vital. Society needs preservationists if it is to matter whether or not that society grows and remains vital. Preservationists stand as society's only protection against the tyranny of whims,fashion and fads. True preservationists recognize the timelessness of quality. They can sail against the wind and, more importantly, keep sailing whether the wind blows or not.

John Westbrook is a true preservationist. He writes first rate songs, but he also preserves an entire genre of American music, western music, that has faded from the current landscape. I have always been drawn to historic, rural music, composed and performed by not just a person, but by a people. Much of this music evolved into being repositories of timeless truths. The songs were honed as they evolved. The retelling of the best of the stories by the best of the story tellers produced the music that the Carter Family recorded. As Jeanette Carter said of her father, had he not saved and collected these songs they would have blown away like leaves in the wind.

Westbrook's performances appeal to the part of me that wants to be educated but there is still a part of me that does not mind being entertained. He appeals to that part too. He has a powerful voice, but more importantly he has a clean, clear distinct voice. He is a first rate instrumentalist, but it is the voice that serves him best as a preservationist. His voice jumps cleanly from 1943 to 2013 with no modifications to serve as a tipped hat toward the banality of what passes for lyrics today.

There are a hand full of people in this country that have discovered something so good and meaningful that they work to preserve that thing for future generations. They are not all musicians. Brislawn, Burris, Lockhart, Ives, Norush, all preservationists--all dedicated to preserving nearly extinct horses who carry with them nearly extinct beauty and nearly extinct ability.

A.P. Carter and I would make sense to each other. I strongly suspect that John Westbrook and Vickie Ives would make sense to each other too.