Gimme some of that ol’ atonal music - 02/12/19 08:04 PM
This Video is blowing up on YouTube right now.
“(Gimme some of that) Ol’ Atonal Music,” by the singer Merle Hazard, details in sunny and endearing tones a love of atonality, while explaining to newbies what that is (music that isn’t in one clear key), and includes the best atonal banjo solo you’ve ever heard (probably the only atonal banjo solo you’ve ever heard). That the solo, and the production values, are so good, is no surprise: The soloist and the recording’s producer is Alison Brown, one of the leading five-string banjo players in the country. Combine that with a crack backup band, Hazard’s sweetly earnest delivery and a John Cage spoof that’s actually funny, and you have a lot of people laughing at their desks.
Hazard is the nom de guerre of Jon Shayne, a financial manager in Nashville, who, as Hazard, has pioneered a form of comic bluegrass economics on selected videos and Paul Solman’s economics segments on the PBS NewsHour.
Shayne’s career as Merle Hazard began in 2007 when he was talking with a friend about the looming economic crisis. “Hedge funds crumbled because their real estate assets were crumbling,” Shayne said in an interview. “We said, ‘This is awful. This is going to be a slow-motion train wreck. This is going to be a festival of moral hazard’ ” — an economic term meaning that when one party, like an insurance company, takes on risk for another, like a car owner, the insured person has less incentive to be careful.
“One of us said, ‘Moral Hazard? That sounds like a country singer, Merle Hazard,’ ” Shayne said. “I thought, Merle Hazard needs to exist.”
“(Gimme some of that) Ol’ Atonal Music,” by the singer Merle Hazard, details in sunny and endearing tones a love of atonality, while explaining to newbies what that is (music that isn’t in one clear key), and includes the best atonal banjo solo you’ve ever heard (probably the only atonal banjo solo you’ve ever heard). That the solo, and the production values, are so good, is no surprise: The soloist and the recording’s producer is Alison Brown, one of the leading five-string banjo players in the country. Combine that with a crack backup band, Hazard’s sweetly earnest delivery and a John Cage spoof that’s actually funny, and you have a lot of people laughing at their desks.
Hazard is the nom de guerre of Jon Shayne, a financial manager in Nashville, who, as Hazard, has pioneered a form of comic bluegrass economics on selected videos and Paul Solman’s economics segments on the PBS NewsHour.
Shayne’s career as Merle Hazard began in 2007 when he was talking with a friend about the looming economic crisis. “Hedge funds crumbled because their real estate assets were crumbling,” Shayne said in an interview. “We said, ‘This is awful. This is going to be a slow-motion train wreck. This is going to be a festival of moral hazard’ ” — an economic term meaning that when one party, like an insurance company, takes on risk for another, like a car owner, the insured person has less incentive to be careful.
“One of us said, ‘Moral Hazard? That sounds like a country singer, Merle Hazard,’ ” Shayne said. “I thought, Merle Hazard needs to exist.”
That solo got me good - definitely caught me off guard!