There was a time when music and songwriting weren't influenced by pop culture the way they are now. What's more important than their musical talents, however, is that they have damn good taste in old songs. For examples of the kinds of songs that strikes Norman as poetically and artistically good, pick up one of the dozens of recordings that he's made both with and without the company of Mrs. Blake. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The settings, characters and situations in the songs the Blakes sing would be right at home in many of the genres that Blake says he doesn't understand.
Groves beats a nobleman's time and gets caught in the sack with the missus.
A la Hamlet, everyone ends up dead, the lovers buried side by side with the husband at their feet. The Blakes' upcoming concert at the Laurel Theatre is something of a professional homecoming for Norman. His career as a six-string guru began when his first band, The Dixie Drifters, took a stint as the studio band on WNOX's Tennessee Barndance. He has since attracted a wide range of fans, most of whom share his occupation. Blake refuses any credit for helping to make historical music available.