SOD: The Tallest Man On Earth "Love Is All"

I hear some Dylan (a la "Buckets of Rain"). I hear Nick Drake too (especially because he's uses open tunings that Drake was fond of). And I hear Jackson C. Frank as well, in that guitar progression. Clearly Kristian Matsson (aka The Tallest Man On Earth) was influenced by the greats, and that's really what music and art boil down to. It's all about your influences, and not just in the genre you practice. Folk can influence a Rock 'n Roller, and The Blues can influence them all. It can go much further than that even. A musician can be influenced by a writer, and writer by a painter, and so on. If there's one thing I've learned it's that influence and inspiration are everywhere and can be found in everything.

Influences are also what I find most intriguing about the artists I listen to. There are times when you hear a song, and you can blatantly tell who the artists was channeling at that time. Other times, it's quite the opposite, you just can't put your finger on it. But the beauty is, we don't need to rely on the artist for this information, using our ear and own experiences with music, we can discern these things ourselves. Matsson said in an interview, "I don't consider my work to be a part of any tradition. This is how I play. This is how I write songs." I can understand how he feels that way, but I can't validate it. He can consider himself a part or not a part of whatever he wants, but the fact of the matter is he's drawing techniques and patterns from music he is influenced by, and in that vein he is a part of that tradition. And I don't mean that solely in the sense of genre's of music, because I believe genres are becoming more and more useless the more amalgamations of them we create. I mean it more in the fact that if Matsson listens and is influenced by say, Nick Drake, then he is part of the tradition that Nick Drake has created, and the legacy he has left. 

Contemporary Folk music (or Folk Revival Music) is traditionally against many musical traditions. Yes, it emerged as a voice of the oppressed and the poor. It was born from hardship, as so much music is. The difference with folk (and one reason I have such an affinity for it), is it doesn't romanticize the light at the end of the tunnel as other forms of music will. It's not a statement that "times are hard, but hold on, life will get better." Instead, it's message is that life itself is hard, and the misery you feel is real. But we're all in this together, and we're all feeling the same pain and disillusionment. The folk musician is a voice of the disenfranchised collective. The blues is similarly positioned in that venture, but there's a difference when it comes to folk. Instead of standing on stage playing to the masses, the folk musician was standing in the middle of the crowd, singing for them, and as one of them. Putting to words the feelings that all of us share, and making a statement on our behalf. At least that's how I always felt about it.

Kristian Matsson is keeping that folk alive, though he doesn't speak for the masses as say Guthrie or earlier Dylan did. Love is certainly a cause, and I think Matsson does a fine job in conveying it, but unfortunately the times have changed, and folk music isn't what it used to be. That doesn't mean I enjoy it any less, but it's a fact of life. Times change man, and so does music. What I like about this music is that regardless of what "The Tallest Man on Earth" thinks, it does keep a tradition of amazing music alive, and with that always comes the possibility of something new.