most of my favorite bluegrass is gospel. Carl Story was a genius. and whoever his banjo picker was is one of the masters, i can’t remember his name and may have never heard it, but that man was a MONSTER. prototype of the Crowe sound, but very Reno-like too. love it.

Fulks’ “Papa Was A Steelheaded Man” is instantly one of my favorite songs of all time… Fulks is a total revelation. I have truly seen the light…

Keep fighting the good fight.

I never knew that about ol’ Ralph. The Maddox Brothers & Rose, IMO, do the definitive version of “Tramp on the Street”, but I read an article in which Rose Maddox said that while she loved singing the old gospel numbers, the sentiment behind them left her feeling empty.

You’re referring to the Satan is Real album cover. It’s too bad that the only reason that it’s been reissued is because of the infamous cover art (and maybe because Emmylou covered “Satan’s Jeweled Crown”); The Family Who Prays is a much better gospel album.

Oh… and Janine; your comment:

In the face of human life, Sal Cordova’s statement falls apart.

Is a beautifully succinct overview of everything Salvador Cordova has ever said, or ever will say.

The fact that you know it ain’t real makes all the much sweeter.

I have it on good authority that little ol papaw ralph likes to watch porn in the bus. Yet they’ll do that Beautiful Star of Bethlehem and make your damn eyeballs cry out.

That Louvins is good stuff. Ever seen that album cover, with the devil on it, or the flames, or something?

“Music has meaning in a world designed by God, it has no meaning in the world of Darwin.” Sal Cordova

Björk. Peter Buck. John Carpenter.(He scored many of his own films.) Vic Chesnutt. Justin Currie. Julia Darling. Ani DiFranco. Micky Dolenz. Brian Eno. Bob Geldof. David Gilmour. Kathleen Hanna. Paul Hester. Penn Jillette.(Played in a band called “Bongos, Bass & Bob”) Billy Joel. Kramer. Tom Lehrer. Barry Manilow. Shirley Manson. Nick Mason. Mike Mills. Randy Newman. Gary Numan. Andy Partridge. Trent Reznor. Brian Ritchie. Brad Roberts. Chris Robinson. Henry Rollins. Captain Sensible. Nick Seymour. Robert Smith. Ken Stringfellow. Matthew Sweet. Eddie Vedder. Frank Zappa.

Perhaps, Sal would try to defend his statement by stating that the only music that is “transcendent” would be the high cannon of the western world like Chopin. No matter. There are plenty of people who express themselves in a medium that Sal claims has no meaning to them.

I am also pleased to find out that many musical pleasures I have had is meaningless to me. All of a sudden, I feel so empty. Time to get rid of all my cassettes and CDs. Time to delete my files. Time to delete a lot of my bookmarks.

Music is a silly argument for the existence of the big sky daddy. As it stands, music is what many animals make, not just human. But in the human realm, every society that existed made music. That means even all of the non christian societies. One could argue that most of the music ever made does nothing to glorify Cordova’s concept of god. I guess all of that is not really music.

Musical talent is not a reflection of one’s religion. The closest thing I have to a musical deity is a converted muslim, Richard Thompson. One of my very favorite singer song writers used to be a contemporary christian singer, Sam Phillips. I cannot imagine my life with out music for prepared piano, which was meant to send a zen message, by John Cage.

In the face of human life, Sal Cordova’s statement falls apart.