"Blue Echo" is a 1957 country single by guitarist and producer Chet Atkins. It was released on a 45, with the other side being "Trambone" (sic). The song is an instrumental of acoustic music that lasts about two minutes.
When investigating ancient fossils, such as those found in the Burgess Shale, entire systems of biology and taxonomy have been upended by fossils a few centimeters across, that scientists have trouble placing in any one category. The entire history of the chordate phylum can be upended by some little unplaceable worm found amongst thousands of other fossils. And that was that on my second listen of this country and western record, I realized I was listening to a jazz record. Then I listened to it again and felt I was listening to something that sounded like dubstep. Or that sounded like a video game soundtrack. Or dubstep from a video game. Somehow, this slight instrumental song from the 1950s sounded like it should be playing in the background of EarthBound.
The song has "echo" in its name, and it is played with reverb and a certain spacy bounciness that sounds like someone was trying to...make Hawaiian techno with acoustic record production technology in the 1950s, only better than that sounds. And it made me reconsider the (admittedly small) knowledge I had of the history of country music. Like many people, my first impression of country music is on personal tales of travail, to the point of hokeyness. That this clear, melodious and experimental music was also part of country was something I didn't know. But upon reflection, not something that should surprise me: around the same time, on the island of Jamaica, the musical traditional was also splitting in two directions: raw personal stories over acoustic instruments in reggae, counterparted with experimental and abstract music in dub.
It is extraordinary that songs like "Blue Echo" could be written, with two minutes of seemingly simple acoustic music giving hints of so much experimentation. It is also just as extraordinary that this early genius would quickly be covered up by either overly-orchestrated pop music, or somewhat hokey takes on stereotypical travails.