Talk Songs Top Ten: Let the Whole World Talk (#3)

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Yesterday was set aside to get caught up on discussions I didn’t get to read (or did read but didn’t get to reply to) because of the weekend at the tournament. I’m definitely not complaining! And, after you see that today’s song with “talk” in the title is bluegrass music, you’ll probably wish I’d take a few more days off. Here’s today’s song. #3: Let the Whole World Talk - Johnson Mountain Boys Oh no you don’t, Linda! I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again, because it’s true. I was at the bluegrass music awards in 2001 when Dudley Connell, vocalist on this song, won best bluegrass male vocalist. After his speech (“I was beginning to feel like the Susan Lucci of bluegrass,” he quipped on his multiple nominations without a win), Laurie Lewis prefaced the next introduction by saying, “Dudley, you’re not male vocalist of the year. You’re male vocalist of a lifetime.” Absolutely. This man has one of the most remarkable voices in bluegrass music. He’s singing with the Seldom Scene now (where the late John Duffey, another “male vocalist of a lifetime,” used to sing), but throughout the career of the Johnson Mountain Boys he was their main vocalist and guitarist. I remember Eddie Stubbs (the band’s fiddler) mentioning that the tour bus driver played them the Jimmy C. Newman version of the song and insisted that the band record it. They did, and it became one of their best-known songs. Stubbs retired from his job as Opry announcer and DJ at WSM in Nashville a couple of years ago. He’s in the Country Disc Jockey Hall of Fame as well as in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame with the rest of the members of the Johnson Mountain Boys. A band that was light years ahead of its time by being stuck in the past while everyone else was playing “progressive bluegrass” (or “newgrass,” as Sam Bush calls it), the JMB didn’t last long but their influence was massive. And their stuff still sounds great today, 35 years later. Let the Whole World Talk Written by J.D. Miller Recorded by the Johnson Mountain Boys From Let the Whole World Talk, 1987 I’ve changed and so have you: