Songs For Your Day

Early in the morning–sometimes late at night–I can be found singing “Acuff-Rose” by Uncle Tupelo.  Written by Jeff Tweedy, and performed by him extensively during his solo acoustic shows, it is number one on my personal list of Songs Sung Out Loud, Frequently, and Without Shame.  The original UT recording has a sweet fiddle playing along, but the song is so damn good and authentic that it truly does sound best played alone by Jeff on his guitar.  It’s the kind of song I wish I could play around campfires, at sick childrens’ bedsides, at old folks homes, for presidents, at the ends of movies, on nearly empty subway cars, on road trips, and alone when I need a little pick-me-up.

Acuff-Rose was a music publishing firm out of Nashville formed by Roy Acuff and Fred Rose in 1942.  Fred Rose had seen too many country songwriters cheated by agents and promoters with regard to copyright issues.  So Acuff-Rose was established, according to Rose, under the principle that “our company would be honest.  The writers would always be taken care of.  No one would act in a shady way.”  Acuff-Rose became the catalogue for some of country music’s greatest songwriters, including Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell.  It was honest music promoted by an honest company, and here honored in this song by one of the most earnest musicians around today, Jeff Tweedy.

It’s a wonderful song of adoration, expressing calmly and in equal measures awe and nostalgia for a company that was the storehouse of songs “that everybody knows… children at the playground / to folks at the show / anybody anywhere who’s ever felt alone.”