Elvis Presley's Hair Wax

The word Americana has a very broad meaning. On Americana Vibes it refers to music created in America, by Americans, mainly. Sometimes it means American-style music created by outsiders, those of us who love America in ways that only those born elsewhere can love it.

We see all the good bits, past and present, and latch onto those. We don't have to live there. We get to pick and choose, like tourists. A tourist version of anywhere is quite different to the daily lived reality. In this sense, Americana is an escape, like watching a horror movie (sorry) or even a romance. To the British, Americana is a fantasy, a non-reality that feels even more real because it is a fantasy.

One of the reasons I love writing about music and musicians is that it is one of the very few holistic art forms. It goes far beyond the sounds. It should dig into what fiction writers call milieu, that stuff around the edges that really matters. What does the singer choose to wear and why? What styles work with the tunes to increase their impact? What does she put in her hair?

I have no idea. But I know what I have been putting in my hair for over ten years and it is Black & White hair pomade. Mainly it's the smell. It is addictive. Early pomades literally had apple mixed in to give them a fruity smell but this one is vaguely lemon-ish, and I noted citronella and limonene on the ingredients. It might help me fight off the flies in summer.

So in the woodshed today there is not music, but a new salon-sized tub of genuine Pluko hair dressing pomade from (and this was the revelation) Memphis, Tennessee.

Call it fate or destiny, but for a decade or more I have been unwittingly putting Elvis Presley's hair wax on my head. Nobody could have been more surprised that this little tub has been around since 1922 and has been inextricably linked to most of the key trends in music since that time, including Country, Rock 'n' Roll, Punk, Rock... and Country as it came around again.

Pomades are mostly associated with male hairstyles because they work well in short hair, and I find mine in the men's section. But going back in time, they were just as applicable to women's hairstyles and many of the hairstyle 'recipes' on their website are for female looks.

B&W has been described by GQ magazine as “The Godfather of waxes” and justifiably so. The movie reference is relevant. Those Italian gangsters were known for their waxed slick back hairstyles. There is something natural about rubbing wax into your hair. Gel has always felt and looked somewhat fake whereas wax works with the hair itself, conditioning it, making it look shiny if you apply when wet, or you can add it when dry for a more matte, natural look.

What this little detour has done is to remind me that the Vibes was always intended to represent music in the broadest sense. As the Bennett Hall band reminded us last year, Country is an entire way of life. It's about the farming, the horses, the denim, the boots and hats. It's about church and the bible, in all the ways you care to think of those things, for good and ill. It's about shooting and fishing, about whisky and cigarettes. It's about a way of talking, about humour and fun. It's about 4x4s and trucks and tractors, the smell of gasoline, as much as being about fiddles and pedal steel.

Country music has boomeranged from Britain, where some of its roots might be found in our folk music, and has returned many times to our shores. Interestingly, modern Country as we think of it also belongs to the hillbilly 1920s.

The original Grand Ole Opry radio show began in the 1920s. Bristol, TN is now regarded as the original home of true Country music. Ralph Peer, who worked for the Victor company, started his on-location recording sessions in the 1920s and it was in 1927 when he rolled into Bristol to make the very first Country music recordings.

Perhaps it wasn't all that clear-cut, but history has to pick its firsts. Ralph had also worked for Columbia and New York's legendary OKeh records. He was certainly influential in early recorded Americana. The advent of both mainstream broadcast radio and recorded music in America coincidentally belongs to the 1920s. All of these small threads taken together caused these musical styles to explode in popularity.

The thing that radio and records do not value is the appearance of the musician. That came later, with the video generation. Hard to imagine a world today without music videos, but MTV motorised a new generation of music distribution and happily coincided with the CD and digital music. But we digress; that is getting too far ahead.

As TV exploded into living rooms in 1950s America, looks took on a new value. Who can imagine Elvis without at some point remembering his hair? Famous names other than the King have also rubbed in B&W Pluko. James Dean and Johnny Depp are not names that surprised me but Linda Evangelista too?

These days, B&W wax is distributed by J. Strickland & Co. out of Olive Branch, Mississippi, in the very furthest outskirts of Memphis. Yet there is a British connection. It was first imported into Britain via London's stylish Carnaby Street and helped to provide the look of both the Mods and Rockers, perhaps the only thing those two diverse groups ever agreed on.

Authenticity is our only answer to the algorithm

This means the hair product is also part of British motorbike culture and the brand retains an association with the legendary Ace Cafe and its annual Brighton Burn-Up. Surely the motorbike is the British equivalent of the horse. As forms of transport, they have both been associated with rebellion and the path less travelled, the trailblazer taking the scenic route.

At its best, Americana is more than mere nostalgia. It is relevant to the here and now with its focus on mindfulness, on storytelling, and on doing things the traditional way. Authenticity is our only answer to the algorithm. The new generation of entrants into the music industry bring this century of history with them, as they swing on their porches, writing fresh modern lyrics with old pencil stubs, twanging on their grandfather's guitar. One fact remains. They wouldn't look half as cool without some wax up top.

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