Good-bye Rock, Hello Country

When we throw a party we are usually careful to select music that projects the image we want others to perceive. It's the sort of thing that leads baby boomers to put on sophisticated-sounding jazz music and hide their dog-eared Melanie albums when cynical friends come around, and causes kids to blast the latest Eminem CD loudly. (Theory: Most kids don't actually like Eminem's raps as much as they like the revulsion it produces in adults.)

That is why the music selected for inaugurations is so crucial. It sets a tone for the following four years. And on that basis, George W. Bush will be off to a stolidly mainstream start.

For starters he has taken a "Man Show" attitude to that wimpy poetry stuff so popular with liberals. Whereas JFK's swearing-in was capped by a poem read by Robert Frost, and Clinton had Maya Angelou reading poignant stanzas, Dubya regards poems as the "chick-flick" element of the inauguration, and has nixed them in favor of all-American music. After Bush takes the oath, a choir of 97 Kentucky schoolkids will warble "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "America the Beautiful" and the promising-sounding "Elijah Rocks," all backed up by the Marine Corps Band. If that sounds traditional, that's intentional. This inauguration aims to be the musical equivalent of comfort foods such as meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The long national nightmare suffered by conservatives for the past eight years is over — and the music says it all.

He was country when country wasn't cool (the first time)

The first big musical statement comes next Thursday at the now standard open-air Inaugural Concert by the Lincoln Memorial.

The eclectic list of artists already announced for the show include country stalwarts Brooks & Dunn and Clint Black, Andrew Lloyd Webber (Margaret Thatcher's favorite contemporary composer) and "two fifths of the 5th Dimension" (no word on the other three fifths) — all topped off with a performance by Latin hunk Ricky Martin. By contrast, in 1996 super-producer Quincy Jones assembled performers ranging from Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Michael Stipe and Ruben Blades to Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett and Diana Ross.

But it's in the official and unofficial inaugural balls that the musical choices really start to make a statement.

Las Vegas on the Potomac

High on Dubya's list of favorites is Vegas fixture Wayne Newton, who will serenade the President with his rendition of "Danke Schoen."

And as if to underscore the President-elect's warnings of a recession in the offing, much of the music at the balls offers a link to the comforts of the Great Depression. How can Alan Greenspan and House members who are reluctant to go along with a trillion-dollar tax cut fail to be moved by hearing the familiar strains of the Tommy Dorsey and Guy Lombardo orchestras? And the Illinois State Society ball on Friday night will make even the oldest member of Bush's seasoned Cabinet feel sprightly and young, featuring as it does the musical stylings of the Lester Lanin Orchestra. Ninety-year-old Lanin has played at every presidential inauguration since Eisenhower's 1953 bash.

By far the glitziest ball, and the one over-brimming with name musicians, is the already sold-out Texas "do" the night before the inaugural ceremony. The "Black Tie 'N' Boots Ball" features Clint Black and his wife, Lisa Hartman, robust patriot Lee Greenwood ("God Bless the USA") and country's own bad girl Tanya Tucker, who was behaving badly while Madonna was still behaving nicely. While headline writers may wish to have fun with captions juxtaposing the words "George Bush" and "Asleep at the Wheel," there is no doubt that the appearance by this popular country band will be a highlight.

And there's a surprise at the top of bill: quirky country lad Lyle Lovett. Republicans will be relieved that Lovett is not planning to bring ex-wife Julia Roberts as his date. At a Gore fund-raiser in New York in September the former Mrs. Lovett announced the results of her etymological discovery that "Republican" was nestled near "repulsive" and "repugnant" in the dictionary.

The Big Tent includes... Roger Clinton!

If you hate country music, Washington will not the place to be during inaugural week — and possibly not for the next four years. Where Clinton presided over a White House that had an open door to rock 'n' roll and rhythm & blues, Bush seems to have attracted every performer who ever played the Grand Ole Opry. The Tennessee state party boasts Travis Tritt, Hank Williams Jr., Ricky Skaggs and the Oak Ridge Boys. A lone holdout is the Arkansas State Ball, which is bravely offering a performance by Roger Clinton. Let's hope he has a bodyguard and a thick skin. That will be one tough crowd.

Of course, it's not just the parties and balls that present music. The inaugural parade features more than 30 marching bands, ranging from high school ensembles to military corps bands. The two-hour parade will be a never-ending medley of Texan-themed tunes. Get ready for a heaping helping of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

There are also several ancillary events featuring music. A Political Arts Festival taking place during the week includes a charity night at D.C. club Felix, where several artists, including Washington band Wax, will deliver politically themed tunes. And the hottest unofficial party of the week, the Creative Coalition's "First Party" on Saturday night, has snagged ex-Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg (now bandleader for Conan O'Brien) to provide music. Given the stellar lineup of musicians who regularly support the bipartisan organization, there are already rumors circulating of superstar jams at that invitation-only event.

Luckily, Dubya's no musician

There are a couple of disappointments. First, there is unlikely to be an equivalent to Bill Clinton's playing the sax at his own inauguration. Clinton was the first musical President since the piano-playing Richard Nixon, though unlike the reticent Nixon he was shameless enough to blow his horn in public. Bush has not claimed musical proficiency on any instrument, and we will not see him getting onstage wearing Ray-Bans to strut his musical stuff.

Second, this inauguration will not have one defining musical moment such as when Fleetwood Mac played Clinton's 1992 campaign theme "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." That's possibly because the most popular tune played at campaign rallies during George W. Bush's long march to the White House was Gary Glitter's 1972 classic "Rock And Roll Part Two," and the British glam-rock pioneer has a previous engagement — in an English prison for possession of kiddie porn.