We've lost another...

 That 2020 has not been a stellar year is not news. Lately, we've lost many of the icons of our time (youth?).

 Actually, I was not acquainted with Billy Joe back in the day, but I was well aware of the movement that he was instrumental in creating. 

Despite having grandparents in farming/ranching, in the early '70s, I wasn't much familiar with country music, outside of some Charley Pride and Roy Clark 8-tracks. Then I heard Good Hearted Woman, which turned me on to a new kind of country sound. Over time, I learned about the groundwork for the outlaw movement that had been laid by the likes of Michael Martin Murphey, [his classmate] Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P. Nunn, and Billie Joe Shaver.

This past week, we've lost two of those.

 Mr. Shaver and some whippersnapper, circa 2016.

 In pace requiescat, sir...

And I Miss Her So

Somehow, I couldn't get the video to start at the 1:12 mark.

 

Genius...just Imagine!

 This song wasn't from Mr. Wilson's comeback album, although it was the first solo work of his that I owned.

 

 

The critics weren't particularly kind regarding Imagination. Nonetheless, I enjoyed most of the songs on the CD, perhaps moreso because - to me, at least - it was a testament to his overcoming his demons (including the psychiatrist who had controlled/manipulated him for years).

For the record, I enjoyed the movie Love & Mercy.

 

If you can take two genii on one song, listen to Brian's unmistakable imprint on Jimmy Webb's classic Macarthur Park:

 

I love the psychedelic hillbilly third movement.