Lost on the River Close Reading
In order to look through the scope of critical regionalism, a definition of region must be reached. Yes, a region is located somewhere and a region certainly has a physical manifestation, but this geographical area is merely a canvas waiting to be painted with culture and history. As Douglas Powell remarks, “a region is not a thing so much as a cultural history and ongoing rhetorical and poetic construction,” (Powell 6). In other words, the cultural history of a place must be researched and examined in order to allocate something as a region. Once that region is defined, the concept of regionalism must also be given attention. Regionalism is a way of creating art that refers to and utilizes the history and culture of the region it is created for. It is more advanced than creating something familiar, it should invoke feeling of home while simultaneously remaining modern.
The object I chose to analyze in this context is an album by The New Basement Tapes called Lost on The River. While this album was only produced and released in 2014, it has a history that dates back to the 1960s. In 1967, Bob Dylan crashed his motorcycle and was badly hurt. Though details of the crash are hazy, it is known that it allowed Dylan to step back for a year or so, a necessary break for the stressed out artist. While recovering during this time, he wrote many songs, some of which he recorded, some of which he did not. Some of the lyrics he wrote were left in a box for over 45 years until 2013, when music producer and longtime friend of Dylan’s, T Bone Burnett received permission from Dylan to use the lyrics to record an album of original music. Burnett carefully assembled a group of well established artists and let them take over the creative process. The music on the album is completely new, however it is influenced by the places and cultures that held importance to Dylan in the early 60s, and the place that holds centrality on the album is Kansas City, MO. By looking at Lost on the River we can analyze the lyrics, style, and process used to record the music, and use critical regionalism see what Dylan and Burnett want to say about the city.
In Kansas City, the people are proud of their blues. Many of their sports teams are even named the Kansas City Blues, and the blues are an important part to their region. This “region” that I refer to is the entire region in and around Kansas City that holds reverence for their specific type of blues, the Kansas City Blues. While “the blues” may seem like a ubiquitous genre, there are several nuances that very specifically distinguish Kansas City’s.
When looking at “Kansas City,” the third song on the album, the elements of KC blues are there. It has a feeling to it like it was recorded in a basement and the overall product does not seem “too perfect”, like much of today’s music. Even though Burnett could have easily turned out 20 polished and flawless songs, he let the artists collaborate in a room and through this open ended process, they are were to produce an album of unique blues style, one that harkens back to the KC region. Aside from the previous mentioned style aspects of KC blues, the most specific facet of Kansas City blues were the all night jam sessions that would happen in clubs around the city every night. The process used to record Lost on the River, mimics this in a new way. Instead of a dimly lit jazz club at three o’clock in the morning, the New Basement Tape’s jam sessions were held in a recording studio with the only guide being a set of lyrics. This is why almost every song is very simple stylistically. For example, one of the more popular songs “When I Get My Hands On You” features only a slow drum beat, two guitars and a singer. Much like the pure jazz freedom experienced in late night jams, Lost on The River has a very free and unique sound to it, derived from the jam sessions that it mimics. And while it does reference those sessions, the album still sounds modern, due to the fact that it was recorded in a professional studio, and this falls in line with critical regionalism, a modern piece of art that has roots in a region’s culture.
Another facet of the Kansas City region is the competition that jazz artists faced when they came to Kansas City, enticed by the unique jam sessions and fertile ground that existed there. When some newcomers arrived in Kansas City they were lost, not really able to fit into this new world of blues that existed there. As Claude Williams put it, “Kansas City was different from all other places because we’d be jamming all night. And [if] you come up here … playing the wrong thing, we’d straighten you out”. This “straightening out” was not an easy process and it is the theme of the 19th track, “Six Months in Kansas City (Liberty Street).” The lyrics follow a man who descends on the streets from “the old religion” but who “possessed no magic skill.” This refers to a new artist trying to make it, who has a blues background yet is nothing special when compared to others who know the style better than him. The chorus’s relay the hardships of a starving artist, “Can’t find no room and board…cause a man to rob and steal…are you ready to admit defeat”. The song paints a harsh light on this aspect of the Kansas City Blues region, but those hardships faced by many are part of the cultural history that makes Kansas City, Kansas City, and this song captures that emotional aspect with great power as the choruses are sung with a rich gospel-choir-like sound.