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Topic: Tom Petty Slams Modern Country As 'Bad Rock with a Fiddle' |
Jon Guirl
From:
Millington TN, USA
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 2 Aug 2014 12:00 pm |
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I call unfair! TP is bad Byrds with a B3 and WE'RE the only ones allowed to diss modern country.  |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 2 Aug 2014 10:53 pm
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And between the returns to "Wildflowers" and the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil," Petty took a moment to explain the Heartbreakers' roots in country music – "not like it is today, like bad rock with a fiddle," he cracked, but in the records Petty, Campbell and pianist Benmont Tench would have heard on Florida-truckstop jukeboxes, travelling between gigs with their teenage garage combos. Then Petty and the Heartbreakers played one, with loving authenticity: Conway Twitty's 1968 drinker's confession, "The Image of Me." |
That is actually all that he said at one of these gigs:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-petty-finishes-beacon-run-with-more-rarities-covers-and-heavy-jangle-20130528
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| I call unfair! TP is bad Byrds with a B3 and WE'RE the only ones allowed to diss modern country. |
Dave, that was funny, but I have read that some ex-Byrds gave him a compliment for a cover of "Rock'n'Roll Star" on their "Pack Up The Plantation" album.
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 3 Aug 2014 5:38 am
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Ok, the article is also one year old, I thought Tom Petty was repeating himself, from time to time.
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LJ Eiffert
From:
California, USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2014 11:43 am
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| Tom's right! I've been saying this for over 5 years on this forum and now people care. I get it. The truth is it been in Country Music in the 60's with some Class. I know cause I've done it on sessions myself. That's why I couldn't get my records played on Country radio Stations in them days. The God Father Of Southern California Country Music,uncle Leo J Eiffert Jr & the Pigeons -facebook. |
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 3 Aug 2014 10:04 pm
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| Joachim Kettner wrote: |
| Quote: |
And between the returns to "Wildflowers" and the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil," Petty took a moment to explain the Heartbreakers' roots in country music – "not like it is today, like bad rock with a fiddle," he cracked, but in the records Petty, Campbell and pianist Benmont Tench would have heard on Florida-truckstop jukeboxes, travelling between gigs with their teenage garage combos. Then Petty and the Heartbreakers played one, with loving authenticity: Conway Twitty's 1968 drinker's confession, "The Image of Me." |
That is actually all that he said at one of these gigs:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-petty-finishes-beacon-run-with-more-rarities-covers-and-heavy-jangle-20130528
| Quote: |
| I call unfair! TP is bad Byrds with a B3 and WE'RE the only ones allowed to diss modern country. |
Dave, that was funny, but I have read that some ex-Byrds gave him a compliment for a cover of "Rock'n'Roll Star" on their "Pack Up The Plantation" album. |
Joachim,I was having a little fun with both TP and modern country.It does make one think,though,that there was a large public appetite for straight-ahead rock and roll with McGuinn-esque vocals that the Byrds hinted at with "My Back Pages" and "Rock and Roll Star" but that TP&THB's explored fully. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 8 Aug 2014 4:45 am
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| I hope that kind of swings around back to where it should be. But I don’t really see a George Jones or a Buck Owens or any anything that fresh coming up. I’m sure there must be somebody doing it, but most of that music reminds me of rock in the middle Eighties where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos. I don’t want to rail on about country because I don’t really know much about it, but that’s what it seems like to me. |
Tom, sounds to me like you know exactly what's going on!  |
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Skip Edwards
From:
LA,CA
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Posted 8 Aug 2014 6:42 am
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| Funny thing... in 1979 I played on an McGuinn, Clark & Hillman LP, and Roger was thinking about reaching out to Petty for material. Whether or not he actually did, I can't say, but he did talk about it a few times. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 8 Aug 2014 9:07 am
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Skip, I'm sure you know that he recorded "American Girl" before. I like your contributions on the the album you've mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN6iaotFbzk
You played a beautiful steel solo here.
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Nick Reed
From:
Russellville, KY USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2014 11:56 am
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| Bro-Country |
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Jeff Garden
From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 10 Aug 2014 12:08 pm
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Maybe the reporter was actually interviewing Martina Navratilova and thought he was talking to Tom Petty
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Glenn Suchan
From:
Austin, Texas
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 10:17 am
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I can relate to Tom Petty's remarks about the state of modern commercial country music, but the inclusion, by the writer of the article, of Petty's take on Conway Twitty's "Image of Me" is hilarious.  I'm gonna give TP the benefit of the doubt and say that he intended to turn Conway's classic country ballad into 50's rock 'n' roll. To me the Petty version of "Image of Me" is more of a nod to Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise" than the Conway classic. See if you don't agree:
Tom Petty's very uncountry version of "Image of Me", again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiScs1JWscc
The original recording of Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUSd_RYnxAY
Now, Conway's original of "Image of Me":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcuyqZF7mNw
Keep on picking'!
Glenn
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Steelin' for Jesus
Last edited by Glenn Suchan on 19 Aug 2014 10:26 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 10:37 am
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Glenn, the fact that Conway was a Rock'n'Roller when he started, makes Tom Petty's version even more fitting.
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Glenn Suchan
From:
Austin, Texas
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 1:04 pm
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I don't know what you mean by 'more fitting'. In my last post I was giving Tom Petty the benefit of a doubt that he knows and appreciates the country heritage of his references, George Jones and Buck Owens. I also gave him the benefit of a doubt that he chose to do "Image of Me" with a stylistic rock-based deviation from the original and not because he thought he was 'doin'-it-up country'.
Yes, it's true that Harold Jenkins (aka) Conway Twitty started out as an Elvis-type rock 'n' roller, but by the time he recorded "Image of Me" his rock 'n' roll days had effectively ended. Actually, my remarks were directed at the author of the article, "Trigger". By adding the Petty re-doux of "Image of Me", it leaves me to wonder if "Tigger", whom is affiliated with a journal titled "Saving Country Music", understands the art and history of the subject of the journal. 
Keep on picking'!
Glenn
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Steelin' for Jesus |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 1:47 am
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Is this Country, Blues or Rock'n'Roll? Mr.McCartney thinks it's Country:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kji-DJvuv0w
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Glenn Suchan
From:
Austin, Texas
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 10:18 am
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Well, Joachim, the way McCartney slowed the song, the verses could pass for a folk blues sound. Especially with the guitar phrase, which sounds like the melody vamp from Howlin' Wolf's blues classic, "Smokestack Lightning". Then, when the song gets to the bridge it sounds alot like a country shuffle. The original, by Sanford Clark, had the same 'smokestack lightning' vamp, but the song was done as a rock-a-billy tune.
The interesting thing about all of these musical genres (blues, country, rock-a-billy and rock-n-roll) is that they're all musical styles based on solo or small combo performance. They all developed out of music forms that originated in rural-cultural (in some cases, isolated) environments. Those music forms being rural folk, rural blues and Appalachian music. The similarities of the rural cultures, together with the probability of 'cross-pollination' with ancestral musical idiosyncrasies probably contributes to the similarities of structure and sound of those early music forms. For that reason it's hard to say which came first, but as I wrote above, the country, blues, rock-n-roll and rock-a-billy genres which burst into the music vocabulary in the mid 20th century are all descendants of those rural music forms.
Keep on picking'!
Glenn
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Steelin' for Jesus |
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LJ Eiffert
From:
California, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 10:50 am
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| Well!,this sure makes " Whiskey Heaven " from Mr. Fats Domino a native to Traditional Country Music & Elvis Presley with " A Trip To Heaven " a " Hard Act To Follow " from what History that " Conway Twitty " has made & put Al Bruno one of the World's greatest Guitarist on the map. Am proud to have known them all,but,Tom Petty can thank Tommy & Billy from the Palomino Club for his career. just 4 pennies. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 11:27 am
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Glenn, I think that's a good analysis.
Uncle Leo thanks for the reference to Whiskey Heaven.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjbz2LF8p_0
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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LJ Eiffert
From:
California, USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2014 4:51 am
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| Your welcome Joachim. That's my good friend Mr.Jay Dee Maness on Steel Guitar. Fats showed me how to play Piano when I was 9 years old and he's the one who told me I'd be better on drums because of my rhythm. So that's what I did for many years. Uncle Leo J Eiffert Jr & the Pigeons - facebook. |
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Dale Bennett
From:
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 23 Aug 2014 12:30 pm Paul Mcarnety
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I kind of like it, it's , I think, a lot better than what some of our so-called country artist are doing. I don't mean to make any Taylor Swift fans mad, but, I'm kind of ashamed when they call her country. Specially this new thing she has out. That my thought and I'm and American so I'm sticking to it.
I love this Forum. Dale Bennett
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Dale Bennett |
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Dale Bennett
From:
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 23 Aug 2014 12:51 pm Jay Dee
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Hi Leo, I'm so glad u mentioned Jay Dee. The Lord was so good to me for thinking that I was good enough to play bass with Jay Dee, Al Bruno, Clyde Griffin and Archie Francis. What bunch, I love and loved every one. Dale Bennett
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Dale Bennett |
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LJ Eiffert
From:
California, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2014 7:26 am
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Dale, we love you too! We have been friends for many Music School years from Southern California and I thank you for letting me pick with you in those days as well out here and in Oklahoma with Al Bruno when we stayed at your home. But, this new Music World is all wrong about how they do things as Business and it's not for talent it's for big money now by the same people we let in and they took it over and pushed us aside like we are nothing with the help of who we know that sold us out for their gain. I can't seem to get this point across to these dead ears & eyes of the young for the true History of Country Music, But,am not going to let is matter pass by.Also, so many of them ears & eyes are on this forum as watch dogs not for the real reason of the Steel Guitar Musician or the History of how it fits in Country Music or any kind of music when it's done right. Uncle Leo J Eiffert Jr & the Pigeons -facebook.  |
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David Cubbedge
From:
Toledo,Ohio, USA
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Posted 28 Aug 2014 8:23 am
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I think TP is mostly right. I've been playing in a top-40 country band and I can tell you that modern country music has almost no steel at all which requires me to find my own way! Most of my playing is more akin to a string section or playing pad-like textures. When it's time for a solo (about one in every 12 songs) I about jump out of my skin!
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Jim Myers
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 29 Aug 2014 8:55 am Tom Petty
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| I agree with Tom Petty but I've been calling it bad Rock and Roll with a southern accent. |
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