Good Afternoon.
My name is Jaron, and I am the writer of the aforementioned Loretta Lynn review. I would like to start by saying that my views do not constitute the general opinion of BigYawn, any writer not named "Jaron," or the guy who runs the site. As Eric already pointed out somewhere in this quagmire of a hissy fit, he likes country music. I do not. However, my bias does not change or discredit the two central points of my review, namely: (1) that the
indie rock community would not care about Loretta Lynn's album, absent Jack White's association with it, and (2) that the mad rush to give rave reviews to said record (i.e. Pitchfork just included it in it's top 50 of 2004) speaks a paradox of sorts; if Van Lear Rose is truly deserving of a 9 of 10 rating, then - this being an average, par-for-the-course Loretta Lynn album representative of her body of work - the indie rock community has ignored lavishing similar praise on equal records from Ms. Lynn's back catalogue. So, no matter how you want to slice it, they're either pandering or derelict in their goal of informing us of decent music.
That said, Celeste, or whoever still cares 85 posts into this thread, that's my opinion and you're totally entitled to disagree. I said it was an average Loretta Lynn record, in that it sounds on par with her other work, and gave her the rating that from our standard is average - a 5. On a tangental note, I find it funny you and Rhett seem so heaven sent against Eric "advertising" on here (and I'm not neccessarily going to disagree with you on that), yet you cannot follow up your disgust for such actions with taking the high road and emailing myself, or the site's webmaster. Several people have emailed me about reviews they've disagreed with in the past (in particular, one I wrote about Wilco), and the majority was able to express in a more mature manor then crying on 930.com. The thought of you calling my reviews condescending and then throwing a hissy fit on a venue's website is hypocritical at best. I encourage you to email myself or post commentary on BigYawn's message board if you have a follow-up or would like to engage in an actual discussion of the merits of recent album releases, as I will not waste 9:30's bandwidth any longer airing our dirty laundry. It's funny, one of the things I was thinking about earlier this week was suggesting to Eric that we have a mailbox section where people can write in and disagree, and we'd post them on the site in the spirit of fairness. Perhaps in light of this recent unpleasentness, that is an idea we'll take under advisement, but then again, I do not run the site, I just write "closed-minded bigoted rants."
I'm sure I speak for both myself and Eric when I say we appreciate your interest, and your obvious readership of his site and my work. On a personal note, it's so rewarding to see when something I create has such a profound effect on other's lives. I never write a review saying to myself, "Oh, boy, I hope someone will be so clearly affected by my opinion - so stirred with feeling and rancor - that they run to the streets, wraught with emotion, and have to tell others what they've seen," but when it does happen, it's most rewarding. Thank you, God bless.
-jaron
jaron@bigyawn.net
