A House Without Music

This is what the White House looked like for Christmas 2020. This was President Trump's last Christmas at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. before Joe Biden moved in. The atmosphere here is quite is quite stark and bleak, almost like that of a funeral home instead of the residence of a popular president. A Bach fugue softly piped in through hidden speakers, might aptly match the somber mood, displayed in this official photograph. One should also keep in mind that the 45th POTUS, probably spent the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago residence in South Florida, but that he did return to Washington for the January 6th counting of the Electoral Votes.

One thing that marked President Trump's time in office was the lack of live performances at the White House. Going all the way back to presidents Reagan and Carter (and probably much farther than that), the official domicile had always been a place that featured many music concerts, ranging in style from Classical to Country. Not only were these music performances well-attended by DC residents, but for the performers, they were regarded as a great honor and privilege to play for the American head of state and his guests.

Then in 2017 with the arrival of the 45th president, the concerts suddenly stopped. It's not that the new resident was not well-liked by musicians, for the conservative maverick from New York City definitely had his gung-ho supporters in the music world. Kid Rock, Kanye West or Ted Nugent could have easily given a live performance, but for some strange reason, this kind of public gathering rarely occurred. Speculation, as to why, runs rampant, but the end result was that for four years the chambers of this most public place was devoid of the sounds of music, unless it was piped in.

Now that ex-President Trump is soon to become the 47th President of the United States, someone like myself, would hope that the live musical interludes would again return to this most American place. Perhaps his new Vice President, J.D. Vance, can draw upon his Appalachian roots and the rich musical tradition that exists all across those misty mountains, so that once again the White House can rejoice with many joyous chords. This would be a good thing that might bring along a renewed spirit of humility, but somehow, I don't see this happening, for I don't see Mr. Trump allowing something so basic to the human psyche to unravel under the same roof, where he resides. I think ths is asking too much from the former business tycoon.

Donald Trump's last Christmas in the White House looked something like this.

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder perform Road to Spencer

After a successful career as a mainstream C & W performer, Ricky Skaggs went back to his roots and began performing traditional bluegrass music with a backup band called Kentucky Thunder. The above instrumental number was performed on The Prairie Home Companion back in 2016 and in my opinion features some of the best bluegrass sounds around. To my knowledge Ricky and Thunder are still going strong. .....Now wouldn't this ensemble be a good choice to light up the hallowed halls of the White House.