What’s In a Recording?

I was fortunate to recently receive a recording of my Grandmother reciting a couple of poems. Charlotte Reid McConnell was born in 1887 and lived a full life until she reached 100 years of age. I spent all my summers with her as a boy and have great memories of those times. Still, it is difficult to describe how wonderful it is to be able to hear her voice again and how thankful I am to the person who had the foresight to make the tape.

This got me thinking about music recordings. I’ve been involved in dozens of them beginning in 1977. This material has been produced on vinyl, eight track and cassette tapes as well as CDs. No matter the physical media, I always called them records. This was because of my belief that they are a snapshot or record of a particular time, event or even moment.

Like many artists, I didn’t particularly enjoy listening to them when they were first recorded because my ears would usually become distracted by the perceived flaws in my work. As time has passed, I have become more forgiving of myself and have come to understand how fortunate all of us are to have this record of our work to share with others.

This feeling was reinforced this past Fall with the passing of Raylene Rankin. I was fortunate to be present for many of her live performances and always marveled at how such beautiful and powerful singing could come out of her small frame.

To think that I’ll never again have that experience would be even more difficult to consider were it not for the body of recorded music she has left behind. Just take a moment to listen to this and you’ll see what I mean. RIP Raylene.