Consider this an addendum to my Lydia Loveless post. When I first started writing about “Jesus Was A Wino,” “Drinkin’ In My Sunday Dress” was a natural point of reference. Unfortunately, after roughly 27 drafts, I realized that the post worked better without it. However, I think the comparison makes sense.
Maria McKee is an obvious antecedent to Lydia. When Maria was 20-21 years old (1984-85), she was a badass country singer/songwriter with a great voice, gleefully mixed punk with country, and was backed by a solid roots-rock band (Lone Justice). By the time “Sunday Dress” came out in 1989, Maria had (sadly) moved on from country music into more earnest, sensitive, almost proto-Lilith Fair territory a thousand miles from the cowpunk golden age. “Sunday Dress” was a kickass throwback, and I previously addressed it in 13 Songs: 1989 Reconsidered. I stand by what I said then.
“This is the Maria McKee I want cloned and kept in a vault. That Voice, plus her spirited appreciation for classic roots music from Hank Williams to X is/was a potent combination. Unfortunately, the woman who could’ve been the cowpunk Patsy Cline was knee deep in her Stevie Nicks phase in 1989. Thankfully, “Sunday Dress” escaped the industry’s lacy, twirling subterfuge. It pays stylistic homage to the heady early days of Lone Justice and looks ahead to 1993’s outstanding You Gotta Sin To Get Saved album.”
FWIW, about a year after the “13 Songs” post, I put together a 40-45 minute audio documentary on early Lone Justice. We’re talking the real deal country-punk stuff that gives their legend some balls/ovaries. The doc is a mix of recordings, live stuff, and radio/TV appearances.
This recording is a more casual version of the studio version, but I like it. Maria is on acoustic guitar and I assume that’s Bruce Brody, her longtime musical foil, on piano. It omits the last verse and hellfire outro, but this three-minute excerpt proves scientifically that Maria McKee was put on this earth to sing country music.
Maria McKee – Drinkin’ In My Sunday Dress (1989)
“Our reverend is a kingly soul, repents ‘em on a dime
His bible is not inked in gold, he is not the cheatin’ kind
One Sunday after meetin’ I was in the greetin’ line
He said I’ve seen you from the altar
Gulpin’ down communion wine
Just remember who’s beside you when it’s no business of mine.”
Returning to the song of the day, this verse represents the fundamental difference between “Sunday Dress” and “Jesus Was A Wino.” Both Maria and Lydia use country music to build narratives about drinking, sinning, and how religion intersects with both. But, that’s where the similarities end.
I’VE HAD MY FUN AND NOW I MUST CONFESS
For McKee’s character, religion offers hope and a possible safe place. The reverend is a kingly soul, not a mooch, and extends his support even while knowing that some things are none of his business. By contrast, Loveless’ character sees religion as an overbearing, judgmental presence in her life. The narrator of “Wino” knows that people look down on her for being a drunk, and there’s nary a safe place in sight. What’s interesting to me is that though these songs were written roughly 22 years apart, both women effectively use the vision of wine as alcohol and sacrament to make their respective points. Maria above and Lydia below:
“They’re gonna feel almighty when I can barely stand
I just tell them I couldn’t turn down
One more glass of the blood of the lamb.”
Please note: I’m not claiming that from these songs you can extrapolate each singer’s individual views on religion. They could be snake handlers or atheists for all I know and frankly, that info is besides the point. A singer can use “I” without it being autobiography and fictional narratives can just as easily speak to larger cultural truths as non-fictional narratives. But hey, all this talk of wine has made me thirsty. Is it just me?
“But hey, all this talk of wine has made me thirsty. Is it just me?”
– first jug of Carlo is on me!
Ben
Haha. You got it, Ben. Looking forward to gettin' my wino on with you and Lydia.
Hey is it just me or has there not been anything new on this fine fine blog in quite some time?
Todd, not to worry. I moved back home to LA about a month ago and am crashing at a friend's place with limited internet access (i.e. the Blackberry). I actually have a sizable post coming fairly soon, so keep a look out!
that's darn good news, brother!
Anxious to check out this doc…always thought Ms McKee the real deal and wondered if she wandered too close to the flame or just got bored to tears hanging out with Robbie Robertson…
hey ld, i'm new…stumbled on you while getting caught up with maria…glad to see someone's making an effort to keep the conversation about her going..i'll probably weigh in in the future though i'm a little concerned about responses because my preferences or favorite things about her work seem to be pretty different than others posted here, but it seems like a pretty respectful message board unlike alot of sites i frequent…i do think what we all have in common is our love of maria, and that's a good bottom line, marc p.s. somebody brought up maria's stepbrother bryan of love…i just read an extensive blog post on the entire family done through the blogger's interview with maria's mother…it is stunning stuff, an incredible portrait of an artistic family with loss, love, illness and everyting else…i think everyone here will want to read it if they haven't found it already, though it is a tough read and i was trying to force myself not to at times..i battle between knowing things and mystery and i might prefer to leave things maria to my imagination in the future..i'll go find that post (god, i hope i remember) and relay it to you and everybody else
hey ld, it's www. johncodyonline.com
this really amazing stuff…i kind of sensed things were like this, but really not to this extent…be interested to know what you and others think
marc
Thanks for the heads up, Marc. Yeah, I like for there to be a conversation about a given topic, not a series of competing monologues, which is what society is set up to encourage.
Thanks for the link to Cody's site. I saw Chris Hillman's name a few times, so I'll have to check that out. As for Maria, I've been thinking about doing something on You Gotta Sin To Get Saved for awhile now. Just need to hear the calling.
sounds good ld…one last thing for today…i assume people here know she and her husband have a movie out…it's called after the triumph of your birth…with that title you'd probably imagine it's a little different from your average flick and after seeing the trailer on mariamckee.org (that's her site now if people didn't know…active now on twitter and facebook too, great pictures there including a cute seven or eight year-old maria) it certainly is, and maria's an actress now, i guess she always was…on to die hard 20 and adam sandler…she's doing premieres of the film in la and ny this week and next with an accompaning concert…hey, it's her time to shine again
marc
p.s. the film will be available on her website…love to see her on tv promoting it