I’m about done with people who categorically denounce certain music genres.

Any artistic endeavor has a bell curve of quality. Some stuff is piss poor. Some stuff is superlative. Most stuff is OK/Pretty Good. Crap is crap, and that goes for music in pop, rock, rap, country, classical, blues — whatever.

So recently I had to endure an infuriating eyeball-roll when I mentioned the Jimmy Webb classic “Wichita Lineman”. You see, I’ve been following uber-session bassist Carol Kaye on FB. Kaye was queen of the Wrecking Crew, that group of studio musicians who were the stunt-men/women for pop and rock “stars” who had charisma but didn’t have the chops to cut it in recording sessions.

In that group were Hal Blaine, Kaye, Glenn Campbell, Leon Russell, Dr. John, James Burton, Billy Strange, Barney Kessel, and a whole lot more. A few of them went on to stellar solo careers.

You may recall Glenn Campbell. He had major, MAJOR, guitar chops. He was like pre-Hendrix “Hendrix”. The guy could play anything. In time, he owned the airwaves, and was a leading exponent of Jimmy Webb, who is on my Mount Rushmore of all-time great songwriters.

Carol Kaye recently wrote that she created the opening descending bass line in “Wichita Lineman.” It was released in ’68, as the war raged, and he was backed by members of the Wrecking Crew. It’s unforgettable, that throbbing intro, and sets the table for this classic line from this tale of love: “and I need you more than want you; and I love you for all time…”

The song was affecting then, as was another Webb/Campbell collaboration, “Galveston”, for me a stellar song, if only for the “I am so afraid of dying…” line. I mean, for a song’s male character to admit that to the love of his life, as he cleans his gun, and dreams of Galveston, back then? Wow. Imagine the “anti-woke” BS we’d hear today if that line was ever uttered in a pop tune. Hegseth would have a hissy, for sure.

But back to Wichita. I was one of the few kids to play WHN-AM and WKHK-AM on my transistor radio at Orchard Beach’s Section 13 back in the day. My dad had basic training down south before going overseas during WWII, and he played country music in our apartment all the time. In time, whenever my friends and I hit the bars, I’d play songs like “Ring of Fire”, “Detroit City”, and of course, “Wichita Lineman.”

For that, I was dubbed “Wichita Kleinman”. Whatever.

I guess I liked the poignancy and simplicity of some of those songs. “Wichita Lineman” became even more touching for me in recent years. Time has punctured the balloon of youthful invulnerability. This year has smacked my upside the head with a one-two of physical ailments. Thankfully, I’m on the mend. However, being upended like that gave me a finer appreciation of the fact that Glenn Campbell, master guitar slinger, was robbed of his mind by the devil of dementia. Still a relatively young man, he was lost.

Except when he took the stage and started to play. It was as if the gods hit “play” on his brain’s computer. Campbell would go into “perform” mode. As he did in the clip above, which was from 2000.

So, yeah, no eyerolls on this song, or “good” country, or “good” pop, or whatever. Shit is shit. Jingoistic tunes are not what the genre is really all about. Rather, it’s about basic human emotion and the trials and tribulations — and joy — of life.

As for me, “Wichita Lineman” is still on the line…and, yes, I DO INDEED need a small vacation…