JESSI's BIOGRAPHICAL ESSENTIALS, PART II

This is not a good day to peruse the Jessi-Bio. I spent over two hours composing the "Part II" of Mirriam Joan Johnson's early life, liveliness, and legacy, and my wicked, wicked, WICKED pc just flopped like a dead squirrel as I was finishing the piece.
I wrote some exceptional insights about Mirriam's early years, gleaning nuances about that powerful & peculiar "pentecostal style" in terms of her piano playing at Mama Helen's church. Yes ... I plumbed some depths, and am flummoxed. Blogspot used to "save" drafts. I guess they are pissing me off.

In any case, I am devastated by the loss of all that I wrote about Mirriam Johnson's (Jessi Colter's) early fusion of influences. Namely, I went into detail about the tradition of Pentecostal muscianship, the socio-cultural background of Mesa, AZ, and the juicy amalgamation of church-y styles that 11-year old Mirriam must have incorporated into her "sound" by the time she reached the mere brink of her teens.

I went on (with references) about how she was duly sheltered as a young lady (from the skunky honky tonks) but was encouraged in reasonable directions as a young woman by her Mama.

Being totally pissed at the services of blogspot, I noted that Mirriam Joan Johnson gained a fabulous local reputation as a prodigy in Mesa, was guided under the watchful and worthy love-shroud of Mama & Papa Johnson, but still became intuitive and fabulous enough to merit a "smuggler" scenario. Mirriam's sister, Sharon, had married wheeler-dealer producer "Cowboy" Jack Clement, and Jack was "in thick" with twangy guitar superstar Duane Eddy. Though she had particpated-in and won a number of regional singing/songwriting contests, Mirriam was a bit interested in auditioning for Eddy.

Willie Nelson has made more than one semi-nasty remark about Jessi Colter, and we aim to take him to task for his comments (Yes, I am going to rake Willie up one side and down the other), but "lack of ambition" cannot be a slogan wrapped around Mirriam Joan Johnson circa 1960-61. Mirriam's brothers had to secrete her out of the house into a "bar" (Oh MY! That was CLEARLY off Mama Helen's radar), but Mirriam, who could sing like a bird, as we all know, caught Eddy's eye and ear, on that particular evening, and she also caught the very first wave of a tide that would bring her toward shores she had never dreamed of.

The rest of my previously stunning bio was related to Mirriam Johnson's  hypothetical conundrum, as a youngster:

"I suppose I am something of a prodigy. Mama's flock requires me to have a Gospel soul, and I have one, and this sort of pentecostal "soul" requires emphatic piano-playing. Plus, they like soft, roadhouse-y flourishes at-the-edges of hymns, when they break to speak in tongues. I can do that, which makes my piano-playing style rather funky and unique. But I also want to write my own songs, and I think I can take-on the world in that regard, if I want. Do I want it?"

I will revisit Mirriam's development as a very young singer, songwriter, and Evangelical Gospel chanteuse in the next installment. My two-hour "version" was obviously much better and more elaborate. Bear with us.

(Grrrrrrr.....)

JESSI COLTER: The Biographical Essentials (PART ONE)

The woman who would become known to the world of pop, country, rock, and American roots music as "Jessi Colter" entered the world on May 25, 1947 (or 1943, according to sources we dismiss due to Jessi's seemingly eternal youth and sexiness) as Mirriam Johnson, the sixth child of seven children born to Helen Johnson of the Mesa, Arizona "neck of the world". Mama Helen (a formidable, hard-working woman of European ancestry) was not only a full-time homemaker for her delightful brood, but an ordained evangelical/Pentecostal minister and feisty preacher with her own church and congregation. Papa Johnson was a one-time racing-car builder, inventor, and entrepreneur who, with his lovely wife, owned copper and turquoise mines sequestered near a lodge-style family camp near the Gila River, deep in the Arizona desert. Remember these things as we outline our story of Jessi Colter's unique beginnings: faith; family; fast cars; and the kinds of wide-open, mystically lonesome Western desert spaces that can often be the domain of genuinely maverick American "outlaw" personalities.

That inimitable, pioneering Western lifestyle formed the foundation of a loving family guided by the strong hand of Mother Helen's unshakable faith. These were key factors in the development of Jessi Colter's character. Throughout her adult life, Jessi has been known as a woman of class, sass, grace, independence, and a sizzling sense of humor as wry and dry as the desert sands from which she seemingly sprung. She is a woman of the American "West" and, though fame has enabled her to travel the world and light-up everything from concert stadiums and record company offices to glitzy Nashville, New York, and LA soirees, her identity will always be authentically linked to the gorgeous-but-arid land of her birth, and to the faith that permeated her stark and very "deep in the West" Arizona upbringing. It has always amazed me that some folks think that the only people who dwell in "the country" are to be found in the South. Sorry, honey -- that is Establishment Nashville smoke & mirrors, along with a lot of other twisted territorial foolishness. Authentic rural music is defined by whatever off-the-beaten path, outside-the-big city, hardscrabble outskirt and otherwise backwater American region can be found. Nashville is about as "country" as Times Square. Yet it has been the mecca for giddy artists who craved acceptance and who were subsequently eaten-up and spit-out. This, good friends, is why the term "outlaw" was even applied to country & western music to begin-with. Listen and learn from the likes of Waylon Jennings and his posse. Even so, every outlaw worth his or her salt tends to take a circuitous route on the journey to "find themselves" and gorgeous Jessi Colter was no exception.

There can be little doubt that children in large families often find wonderfully strategic ways to make themselves heard and to demonstrate their usefulness. Kids are resilient in this regard and the creative child can employ particularly effective methods in order to secure the attention and love that all normal children need and desire. Little Mirriam Johnson proved herself quite useful indeed; Mama Helen's church congregation needed a piano player and, when Mirriam demonstrated a swift talent for tickling the ivories soon after lessons commenced at age seven, a prodigy was just around the proverbial corner. Within four years, the scene must have looked portentous, like something out of a rollicking (but evangelistic) rock & roll bio-flick: Helen preaching God's love and the holy words of Scripture to her tongue-speaking flock, churning them into a crescendo of hallelujahs and prophetic exaltation, while, at the nearby upright piano, 11 year-old Mirriam was just beginning to strike the first, authoritative notes of a Gospel nugget like His Eye is On the Sparrow. The kid could play, and, with the help of God and the spirit-filled orchestration of Mama Helen, that church swooned and swayed with the searing brand of intense "soul" that has been the bedrock and constant wellspring of some of the greatest American musical artists of our time. Mirriam Johnson had soul -- and she came by it the real way ... hard work, innate talent, and instilled inspiration. No one had to "attach it to her" years later in some industry boardroom at the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood.

An eleven year-old girl striking the keys and filling a room, filling hearts with the wonderfully aching chords and melodies of soul-stunning Gospel music -- Gospel music up at the sharp end. That was only the beginning, folks, but what a beginning it was!

(STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO)