VOA常速英语2007年-2007 Closes as Good Year for 'Roots' Music, Whi

By Katherine Cole
Washington
20 December 2007

Although the final numbers won't be in for several weeks, the retail¹ music industry is bracing² for bad news. Even though 14 million albums were sold during the week after the Thanksgiving holiday, traditionally the biggest retail week of the year, the record companies are facing their steepest annual losses to date. But, as VOA's Katherine Cole explains, not all the news is bad.

For example, it's been a very good year for Patty Griffin.

Patty Griffin released Children Running Through, her sixth solo album, to glorious reviews in February. But that wasn't her only achievement in 2007. In May, an off-Broadway musical based on her songs opened, and quickly sold out its limited run. September brought the news that she'd be touring Australia in 2008, and October saw the release of a concert DVD. In November, Patty Griffin was named Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Association Honors and Awards, with Children Running Through taking the Album of the Year trophy³. But that's not all. December brought word that the CD was nominated for a Grammy. It's one of the five nominated for the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana award.

Patty's facing some tough competition in the form of Mary Chapin Carpenter's The Calling; My Name Is Buddy⁴ by Ry Cooder; Tom Waits' Orphans⁵; and Washington Square Serenade from Steve Earle. That's where you'll hear Earle singing "Days Aren't Long Enough" with his wife, Alison Moorer.

"Days Aren't Long Enough" is one of the five nominees⁶ for the Contemporary Folk/Americana Grammy.

But singer-songwriters weren't the only ones releasing notable Americana music in 2007. Guitar Player magazines proclaimed "Titan of the Telecaster," guitar master Bill Kirchen came out with Hammer of the Honkytonk Gods, a collection that showcases both his considerable songwriting and guitar playing skills.

The Derailers and Dwight Yoakum each released CDs spotlighting⁷ the songs of Buck⁸ Owens, the duo of Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs joined forces for a rootsy collaboration⁹ that delighted fans of many musical styles. In March, The Greencards released Viridian, their third CD. It features "Mucky the Duck," which has been nominated for the Best Country Instrumental Grammy award.

While it's been a good year for these out-of-the-mainstream¹⁰ artists, all of whom record for independent record labels, things have not been as rosy¹¹ for the major labels, which have seen executives leaving at a record clip, and artists dropped more quickly than one would hope.

For the eighth year in a row, record sales have fallen. Going in to the month of December, only 415 mllion albums had been sold, down about 14 percent from the first 11 months of 2006.

This was also the year when superstars began leaving major labels. In October, Madonna announced her departure from the Warner Music Group, her home for the past quarter-century, to sign on with concert giant LiveNation. The move means LiveNation, not a traditional record label, will market all of Madonna's music and related business for the next 10 years.

A few months earlier, Paul McCartney turned heads when he left his longtime home of EMI for a new label started by the Starbucks Coffee chain. It turned out to be a wise move on Paul's part. His album, Memory Almost Full, was released in June, and available both in traditional record stores, and the more than 6,000 Starbucks Coffee locations in the U.S. It sold more than 160,000 copies the first week. That's a significant sales figure when you realize that just a few months earlier on January 14, the Dreamgirls soundtrack topped the Billboard¹² albums chart with sales of just over 60,000 cies in one week.

Interestingly, while sales are down for traditional music sellers, non-traditional sales, which include iTunes, Internet sales, and retailers¹³ like Starbucks, are up 30 percent this year. That figure, however, translates to fewer than 14 mllion CDs, nowhere near the number needed to offset¹⁴ the losses seen by traditional retailers and the mainstream musicmakers.

That brings us back to Americana music. While analysts¹⁵ blame lack of "superstar titles" for the slump¹⁶ in mainstream music sales this year, there was no such dearth¹⁷ of strong CDs by Americana artists, many of whom are refugees from the major labels, cast away in recent years for being "too old." 2007 saw excellent new releases from established stars Lyle Lovett, John Fogerty, Levon Helm, and Emmylou Harris being sold, and reviewed, alongside newer acts like The Avett Brothers, The Duhks, and Uncle Earl.

In the end, it was starpower that caused the most excitement. The most-anticipated CD of the year, was also one of the last Americana albums to be released in 2007.

Raising Sand

is the collaboration between bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss and the legendary¹⁸ Robert Plant. The odd pairing of the Grammy-winning fiddler and vocalist, and the former lead singer for Led Zeppelin has won over many critics. The pair's vocals¹⁹ compliment each other brilliantly. Those voices, combined with stellar songs and impeccable musicianship, result in something even greater than the sum of those two impressive parts, as you hear in the song, "Killing²⁰ the Blues²¹."

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

3 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

4 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

5 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

6 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

7 spotlighting   

v.聚光照明( spotlight的现在分词 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

8 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

9 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

10 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

11 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

12 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

13 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

14 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

15 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

16 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

17 dearth   

n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨

参考例句：

• There is a dearth of good children's plays.目前缺少优秀的儿童剧。
• Many people in that country died because of dearth of food.那个国家有许多人因为缺少粮食而死。

18 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

19 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。

20 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

21 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。