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Topic: The death of Country Music |
Barry Blackwood
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 8:55 am |
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| She was influenced by Shania Twain. Hence she has country "roots" albeit vicariously. |
Shania Twain? Country roots? To coin a phrase, "That don't impress me much..." |
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Brian Henry
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 9:15 am
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| How come violins and most orchestra instruments have been fashionable for 1000 ‘s of years and pedal steel is already becoming obsolete after 75 only? What is the secret of the violin etc? |
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Josephus Vroomans
From:
The Hague, The Netherlands
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 2:19 pm
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Anybody here ever listen to Sam Outlaw? Very good songwriter and singer. This is country music from southern California. I like it a lot. One of my favorite songs is this one:
https://youtu.be/bmZ2muQOtSY
_________________
Stage One licensed by Zumsteel, Boss Katana 100, Gretsch Electromatic G5715, Dobro Hound Dog Deluxe Square Neck |
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Josephus Vroomans
From:
The Hague, The Netherlands
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 2:24 pm
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Or how about this one:
https://youtu.be/PHOLqpZszOk
_________________
Stage One licensed by Zumsteel, Boss Katana 100, Gretsch Electromatic G5715, Dobro Hound Dog Deluxe Square Neck |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 3:57 pm
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| Josephus Vroomans wrote: |
Anybody here ever listen to Sam Outlaw? Very good songwriter and singer. This is country music from southern California. I like it a lot. One of my favorite songs is this one:
https://youtu.be/bmZ2muQOtSY |
This one is my favorite (or one of them), found it a couple months back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5iKwi4jq0
And Sam's on this one too - it's a brain worm for me, I hear it for a day after each time I play it. (nice legs too  )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyvHlENOp1o
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Many play better than I do. Nobody has more fun. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 5:11 pm
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How about this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ysJXGSO1M
Well, there's no crappy distorted Tele, no "snaps" or "claps", no banging snare drum and whumpy bass, no mention of pickup trucks, blue jeans, dogs, no over-faked southern accent, and no super-compressed sound.
Damn! Somebody should'a told me that wasn't country music! I guess I wasted over 40 years playing that kind of stuff. (Ask me if I'm sorry...)
There's no originality in commercial country music anymore, just a pervasive and sickening sameness. A multi-million dollar studio turning out twenty-five cent "McMusic" songs which are gone and forgotten as soon as the next release is made.
Gosh, maybe George Strait and Randy Travis were the last country singers, after all? |
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Godfrey Arthur
From:
3rd Rock
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 6:43 pm
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| Joachim Kettner wrote: |
Godfrey, the Moby Grape came from an area (1967) when "Commercial" was considered as something bad.
and as you said rather killed their career than supported it. |
Good point Joachim. That was the sentiment back then.
Edgar Winter's song:
Ooh, now you can call it commercial
If you wanna see it that way
But playing back in my mind
You know I could hear the people say
Keep playin' that rock and roll
Keep doin' what you been told
Save your money up for when you get old
Keep playin' that rock and roll
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ShoBud The Pro 1
YES it's my REAL NAME!
Ezekiel 33:7 |
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John Steele
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 20 Dec 2018 8:37 pm
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If you removed every 7th from Ralph Stanley's "Clinch Mountain Backstep", half the tune would be gone.
- John (not from the mountain) |
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David Mitchell
From:
Tyler, Texas
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Posted 22 Dec 2018 2:57 am
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
How about this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ysJXGSO1M
Well, there's no crappy distorted Tele, no "snaps" or "claps", no banging snare drum and whumpy bass, no mention of pickup trucks, blue jeans, dogs, no over-faked southern accent, and no super-compressed sound.
Damn! Somebody should'a told me that wasn't country music! I guess I wasted over 40 years playing that kind of stuff. (Ask me if I'm sorry...)
There's no originality in commercial country music anymore, just a pervasive and sickening sameness. A
multi-million dollar studio turning out twenty-five cent "McMusic" songs which are gone and forgotten as soon as the next release is made.
Gosh, maybe George Strait and Randy Travis were the last country singers, after all? |
Donny the late great Jack Greene is an excellent example of Country music at it's finest. Not a week goes by that I don't listen to my Jack Greene albums I digitized. It was the Renaissance era of country music you might say. It was all about the song and the singer back then. The studio players biggest job was to stay out of the way of the singer and just be a distance backdrop. First of all Jack Greene in my opinion was the best singer country music ever had except maybe Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline but my favorite was Jack Greene.
I love that old Jack Greene at Bradley's barn sound so much I spent about a month a few years ago recording a bunch of songs from his albums. I played all the instruments and sang them myself in my bedroom to try to mimic that sound. I never could get that sound using modern studio musicians because they don't even think that way anymore. It's a lost art. Here is some examples of my attempt of that era's sound pretty much note for note of Jack Greene's recordings. I only wish I could sing like Jack.
https://youtu.be/KCE4Vv_q1C8
https://youtu.be/R0ZlqUJRRB4 |
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Brian Henry
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Posted 22 Dec 2018 3:35 am
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Yes Jack Greene even rewrote and re-recorded some oh his songs after he repented, had his life transformed by the Lord Jesus and became a true Christian. He didn’t just say he was a Christian and then continue as normall, his life was radically changed as true evidence of being born again. He wasn’t just one of the “Lord Lord Fakes†found in Matthew 7. Here is my favorite Jack Greene recording. What a testimony!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qG5miOUyRc0 |
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David Mitchell
From:
Tyler, Texas
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Posted 22 Dec 2018 6:15 am
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| Brian Henry wrote: |
Yes Jack Greene even rewrote and re-recorded some oh his songs after he repented, had his life transformed by the Lord Jesus and became a true Christian. He didn’t just say he was a Christian and then continue as normall, his life was radically changed as true evidence of being born again. He wasn’t just one of the “Lord Lord Fakes†found in Matthew 7. Here is my favorite Jack Greene recording. What a testimony!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qG5miOUyRc0 |
Praise God! We know where Jack is singing now. Hallelujah! |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 7:48 am
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| Brian Henry wrote: |
| How come violins and most orchestra instruments have been fashionable for 1000 ‘s of years and pedal steel is already becoming obsolete after 75 only? What is the secret of the violin etc? |
Maybe it's the fact that most all other instruments are fairly simple in comparison? Also, if you think about it, all those "orchestra instruments" you're probably referring to haven't changed in well over a hundred years. However, with our instrument, we're constantly changing and modifying. I think we've (mistakenly?) placed most of the emphasis on the instrument itself, rather than just learning to play good music and get the most out of what we already have. |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 10:09 am
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The Kentucky Headhunters were the beginning of the end of the great post-urban-cowboy Renaissance in Country. I remember hearing “Walk Softly On This Heart†for the first time in 1989 and yelling at the radio afterwards, “Please don’t do this!!!†They made ZZ Top sound country...
You can still find great new country music that recalls that trad era, even on mainstream radio, but you have to be very patient. And some studios are starting to record band performances using a single mic. So there is hope! |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 10:31 am
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A good personal cure for Nashville "pop" music is to dial in a classic playlist in Pandora. For example, create a Merle Haggard channel. Thumbs down on the songs that don't fit your taste. Good stuff!
Now if someone could figure out a gizmo to do that on the AM radio in old pickup truck--shizzam!
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 11:07 am
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AM radio had the potential to be the perfect live music broadcast experience. It's analog, captures the full dynamic range, and travels easily for hundreds of miles. Unfortunately, when stereo came in FM grabbed the hi-fi market and everything changed.
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-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 12:50 pm
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I dug AM, listening to stations across the border and Oklahoma City, for long stretches of highway at night.
And a lot of it was country and western. |
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Mitch Drumm
From:
Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 2:20 pm
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| Charlie McDonald wrote: |
I dug AM, listening to stations across the border and Oklahoma City, for long stretches of highway at night.
And a lot of it was country and western. |
You got that right, Charlie. I still can't find anything I want to hear on FM, but I've largely given up on the radio entirely for music purposes in this mp3 age.
KOMA 1520 AM out of Oklahoma City was the predominant way to hear rock and roll at night in isolated areas of the far west where I grew up. We couldn't pick up California stations much at all. Did get wise to Wolfman Jack on the border in the early 60s, but really relied on KOMA.
Long range AM music radio at night has pretty much disappeared in the last few decades, particularly for car radios. I don't know if that's because radio stations have changed their antenna setups or if AM radios are simply garbage nowadays compared to 1960. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 5:19 pm
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| b0b wrote: |
| AM radio had the potential to be the perfect live music broadcast experience. It's analog, captures the full dynamic range, and travels easily for hundreds of miles. Unfortunately, when stereo came in FM grabbed the hi-fi market and everything changed. |
Well, from the purist's or audiophile's point of view, AM radio never had enough bandwith for good listening. When music was all 78's, 45's, or live (phone line) remotes, audio quality was "acceptable"...but it was never really great. The improvement in album sound quality of LP's in the '60s and '70s was best enjoyed on FM stations. They had the required bandwith for hi fidelity and stereo, and they had also been the "de rigueur" purveyors of concert/classical symphony and high-brow pop music since the 1940's. I can remember back in the early 1950s and there were a half-dozen (or less) FM stations in any city, and all they played was classical and symphonic music. Occasionally, you'd hear Broadway show-tunes or the high-brow pop stuff, but none of the FM stations would delve into talk or young peoples' rock and pop music. When the FM stations switched formats to young peoples' music, the number of stations really exploded, and that sort of made up for the only limitation FM radio ever had - the fairly short range of the signals.
Of course, nowadays, satellite radio is all the rage. That figures. Most everything is being geared to eliminate the availability of "free" stuff, and instead, generate a constant monthly stream of income. |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 6:13 pm
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I got to think there's an opportunity for massive AM bandwidth, and classic country if it was marketed right, a retro is hip kind of angle. There's a lot of disdain for Facebook, the internet, commercial formulaic stuff. Maybe just because I drive all over the Northern Rockies and the Pac NW--I used to love pulling on those channels from 1000 miles away.
Maybe not. I wish someone would try though.
_________________
A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 6:41 pm
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
| Of course, nowadays, satellite radio is all the rage. That figures. Most everything is being geared to eliminate the availability of "free" stuff, and instead, generate a constant monthly stream of income. |
The advantage being that satellite music radio is largely commercial free. The XM channel “Willie’s Roadhouse†is an excellent source of classic country. If your listening palette is limited to that one genre and style, then the premium may not be worth it.
I don’t think a retro radio station is the best way of keeping classic country music alive anyway. Bands have to play it, big names in country have to cover it on their records, and writers have to write new material in that style.
I didn’t like big band swing music until I heard it played live. My parents records, which were “hi-fI†for the most part, just didn’t get the message and the energy across like a live performance does. |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 7:38 pm
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| Fred Treece wrote: |
I don’t think a retro radio station is the best way of keeping classic country music alive anyway. Bands have to play it, big names in country have to cover it on their records, and writers have to write new material in that style. |
I would agree....except, imagine if a dynamic personality hosted a show live (pick an artist that is compelling and entertaining) and did it . Look at all the folks that follow certain personalities daily (Rush, etc).
Maybe I'm trying to bring back stale Stewart sandwiches heated in a stainless steel light bulb oven in a last chance Texaco in the middle of Nevada.
I do have to admit, I'm a sat radio fan and surf the channels with schizophrenic zeal.
So maybe not.
Maybe a project for Shark Tank 
_________________
A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 27 Dec 2018 7:55 pm
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| Brooks Montgomery wrote: |
| Maybe I'm trying to bring back stale Stewart sandwiches heated in a stainless steel light bulb oven in a last chance Texaco in the middle of Nevada. |
I think you just won the internet today! |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 28 Dec 2018 3:42 am
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Funny, I've had Rickie Lee Jones' 'Last Chance Texaco' on my mind this morning.
Teens weren't so particular about hi-fi in those days; a 6x9 in the dashboard was sufficient, because we were in cars. |
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Dustin Rigsby
From:
Parts Unknown, Ohio
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Posted 14 Jan 2019 7:55 am New Country 💩
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My son had to clue me into some of this stuff. I haven’t listened to country radio since the classic country station in my area became a sports/talk channel. He played me a song by Brantley Gilbert that was supposed to be country but sounded like 80’s hair metal with a southern accent. I think it was called “read me my rightsâ€. It made me want to vomit. I’m not that old,still in my 40’s. Commercial radio is nothing more than LCD stuff. To quote a song, “ they killed country music, cut out its heart and soulâ€. Kids today wouldn’t know a good waltz time song if it smacked them in the face. All this education, they’re still stupid...by choice.
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D.S. Rigsby |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2019 11:46 am
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Country music has a habit of recovering itself after periods of disengagement. The current era seems to taking its good old time checking into the emergency room, though.
I’m reading a book called “Workin’ Man Bluesâ€, about the history of Country music in California. It seems this discussion of the genre’s demise has been going on since dirt was invented. Commercialism takes any art form, commodifies it, and conforms it to the lowest common denominator to generate sales. It really is up to the artists themselves to carry on the traditions and creative standards of quality that made the art form great in the first place.
Consumer demand is worthy of consideration of course. Art is not for its own sake, and only a purist fool wants to live a bum’s life deliberately defying popularity. But a steady diet of junk food music is not healthy for society, and those who produce it are corrupt, unimaginative, nefarious, greedy venomous charlatan bastards... |
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