Today is the last day to join, so if you want in on it, be sure to read over the rules and PM Shakespearicles!Music for Writing: Post Ocho - Emotional/Rustic · 6:50pm May 20th, 2016
I haven't done reviews in a while, and I have a handwritten writing advice post I'd like to type up, but the illness that plagued my son and hubby has caught up with me, so I'm feeling rather low energy. Instead, I'll just do one of these.
Today I want to do something for Applejack. (I'll do something more generalized later! I'm in a mood. Hush.) I've been wanting to write a western-style adventure fic with her. Something potentially sad that paints her as a tragic hero. I may not like sad endings, but I can definitely write sad/angsty plots!
Anyway-- The videos below are folk, bluegrass, and country blues songs (or at least heavily influenced by these genres) that I think would be great sources of inspiration for such a fic. Get it after the jump! (I posted quite a few)
I'd just like to thank O Brother Where Art Thou for opening up my mind to country music. 
Without Lyrics:
With Lyrics:
Oooh I like these.
AJ, amusingly, is often referred to as being "southern" in some way when she really seems more Texas/Western. That accent is the kind you run into in like Arkansas and Oklahoma. I'm a sucker for interesting accents, but I happen to hold that one as one of my favorites.
Having said that, when I've written Applejack, I actually went for old Delta folk blues and the oldest countrified stuff I could find. And one man in particular. The legend himself who basically invented Rock and Roll: Robert Johnson.
This is actually the second version, rewritten as a kind of "funeral song" and while I like the original better, this is a really good version.
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The Ozarks, if I remember correctly! Mind you, the Ozark mountains runs through several states, but I've heard tell the people who live in that mountain range have a world of their own, so...
Oooh! OOOOH, dat guitar in Crossroads doh. So many feelz. I was making breakfast and I just had to stop and listen. Very mesmerizing stuff indeed! I'm still new to blues in general. I've only really come to pause and appreciate the magic of a good guitar picker and string sliding.
Y'know, that second song has me thinking again that AJ would be a great vehicle to explore faith and spirituality in the pony world. I think a lot of people default to Twilight because she's the "intellectual", but while Applejack is fairly down-to-earth, she has shown a humble respect for those forces that cannot be fully understood (I'm thinking particularly of Feeling Pinkie Keen). Southern music has such a close relationship with faith, it would be so easy to find the inspiration and make it fit in her country-centric world.
For the record, I've added all these songs to my special Applejack Pandora station. (You've discovered my secret hobby of nurturing good niche stations, lol)
I'm not as into Chicago or Piedmont Blues, but I do like Delta Blues. The difference between Delta and Country Blues (as far as I can tell) seems to be the density of notes and its acoustic qualities. Namely that Country Blues incorporates more bluegrass and folk than Delta does. That's what makes it something that I can see EQG AJ playing in the barn after a long day on the farm with friends and family for an impromptu jam session. Barn doors open to a dark farm alive with dancing fireflies and chirping grasshoppers. An old generator hums in the corner, powering overhead lights from the 40s. The Apple clan busts out banjoes, guitars, harmonicas, fiddles, crates and buckets for percussion. Hard cider is passed around from an ice chest by dusty hands... Yeah. That image gives me good feels.
Basically: Delta Blues makes me want to write AJ in a 30s-era sort of Dustbowl Equestria. Country Blues makes me want to write more of a straight Western... Or at least something more centered out in the wilds of the country.
Since we're sharing, I must push forward this band. I saw them live once when they opened for Amanda Palmer, and just... Great music. Great, great music.
First album is pretty much pure gold. I love it all. Second album, my favorite is Golden and Green.
It gives me chills.
Delta Blues is bleak as the world's end and just as simple. It's the barest essential, the singular guitar and voice. You can still hear it here and there, not that far from where I live now.
Ain't nothin better than some music after a long day. We used to drink on Fridays after a tough week and play folksy hymns and old folk country standards. Guitar, banjo, box drum, occasionally mandolin.
I actually did a story with AJ like that. It was kinda fun.