55th Annual Country Music Awards

Ashley D\'Silva · From: Perth , Australia

First....my sincerest apologies if I appear to offend anyone. It is NEVER my intention to do so however, I have just received and watched a copy of the 55th Annual COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS and...Well, I strongly believe the event has been MIS-TITLED. There was so little Country Music in the 2+ hours of television.
In my pretty OLD mind Country music consists MAINLY, of Fiddle, Dobro, Banjo, Pedal Steel & Twangy Guitar...About 6 times we had PSG..Never saw TWANGY guitar, Fiddle, banjo or Dobro.
Now, I must say that the quality of ALL the performers was excellent, the expertise of musicians was at a very high level but...This is not COUNTRY!!!!

Again, I MEAN NO OFFENCE However, next year let's have COUNTRY MUSIC or else, re-name the show.

I await your comments with much anticipation.

Ashley (from Down Under)

Bill McCloskey · Posted 13 Nov 2021 4:47 am

Rip Van Winkle, is that you? Afraid its been that way for a decade or two.

Charlie Hansen · From: Halifax, NS Canada and Various Southern Towns.

I always said and will continue to say that I have no quarrel with contemporary country music. I just wish that they'd call it something more descriptive.
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John Palumbo · From: Lansdale, PA.

I don't even watch it anymore for that reason

Ashley D\'Silva · From: Perth , Australia

Yes Bill, you are right and I have noticed the "ERROR" over many years however, one has been immersed in the hope that "Things may change next year". Alas, it has been and does not seem likely to be.

Is there something we, the OLD Country Fans, can do to influence a possible change?

Yes, Rip Van Winkle I am...73 years and "Bright as a Button"...Been a Real Country Fan since I was 13 years old.

Thanks for all your words of wisdom and commitment.

Long Live "REAL COUNTRY MUSIC"

Regards

Ashley.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

We are of common mind Ashley, but you must bear in mind that the award shows are only representing the music of the previous year. We shouldn't be surprised that these shows just parrot the stuff that's been trending over the last year.

The part of this that bothers most of us long time country fans is that the country music business, artists, producers etc., brazenly market what they are doing as country music when most of it barely resembles same. Yes, they trample on the tradition of country music with straight faces, revealing outfits, hideous tattoos, and pretentious dialogue.

Most of it is party time music aimed at young girls. Witness that by who is screaming and applauding the whitewashed teeth and made up countenance of many of the artists.

People say change is inevitable...maybe, but change isn't always necessarily a good thing.

I agree on the description and nomenclature rip off but they use this to tag onto the coattails of the more honorable industry of years before.

As to if there's anything we can do to help reverse the trend....no....that has to come from within. It takes guts and determination from those with influence for a return to legitimacy and sadly, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 14 Nov 2021 4:53 am

All â€œgenresâ€ are marketing devices. Nothing more than that. Billboard changed their designation of â€œRace Records â€œ to R&B. I donâ€™t hear anyone complaining the donâ€™t make race records like they used to. Creating genres allows for the music to be easily packaged, organized and sold to a targeted market. The reason you feel the loss is because the music of your youth was packaged as country and marketersâ€™s job is to make you embrace those labels with emotional attachment that keeps you coming back with the Dough ray me. As the main genres become fixed, the music associated with the labels changes based on changing public tastes. Old music gets repackaged. Rock and Roll becomes rock-a-billy. Country becomes â€œvintage countryâ€ or Americana.

The downsides to marketing labels is how do you market music that defies genres? This is really more nostalgia then some abandonment of your perception of what music the country marketing label should include. If the old stuff sold, they would sell it.

Btw, Country Music used to be marketed under the genre â€œHillbilly Musicâ€. Anyone want to go back to that?

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Put any slant on it you want, but there's always been a certain attitude and personality... an element of the music that makes it country music that's hard to describe. A certain je ne sais quoi, if you will, that is simply not there anymore for the most part.

Yes, there are still a few fringe examples, but not many.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Good post, Bill McCloskey. You've hit the nail on the head.

It's odd; when I first came to live in the USA in the mid-'90s, I would constantly tune my car's radio to a country music station. I loved it because we didn't have such a thing in Britain. I thought (and I still think) that it was a vibrant time for the genre. Records were well produced and stunningly well played. I listened out for records by Tim McGraw, Tracy Lawrence, Alan Jackson and Steve Wariner because they were melodic and beautifully accompanied by the likes of Matt Rollings, Paul Franklin, Sonny Garrish, Brent Mason and so many more highly accomplished musicians.

And yet.... I can also recall the dissenting voices (mostly here on the Forum) saying: "This isn't country! What's happened to our music?"

I'm pretty sure that, when that Telecaster-driven west coast country started to take hold (early-'60s?), there were just as many dissenting voices. I bet there are more than a few of us who'd like to go back to either era - the '60s or the '90s.

I'm not saying that the singers I quoted earlier are or were the best-of-the-best; it was meant to illustrate how high the standard were across the board.

I don't much care for what's being touted nowadays but I bet someone likes it. Smile

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Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

This whole post is satirical, right?
In order to make it stand out from the 437 other complaints on the Steel Guitar Forum about modern country music, you deliberately posted this comment about the mis-categorization of this music as "country music" in the category here on the forum (Steel on the Web) that in no way relates to the content of the post.
Well played!

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I moved this thread to Music. It has nothing to do with "Steel on the Web".

There is no chance they will re-name the show, or change the direction of country music back to what it was 50-60 years ago. A large proportion of the people who loved that music back when are either struggling to stay alive or no longer with us. As Bill states, the music marketeers are gonna move the music to where they believe the audience is. There have been way, way too many other influences, musical and otherwise, that have influenced the direction to go back now. This is the very definition of a paradigm shift.

We have the choice to participate in modern country music, or not. The good part is that there is still a ton of great music being made that harks back to what I call the golden era of country music. Most of it is marketed under a different label - Americana, Classic Country, even Folk.

Right at the moment, I'm playing steel with two different units - one totally classic 40s-50s country, rockabilly, and western swing; and the other a young guy who is plying more modern sounds. I think they're both good gigs, with plenty of steel. Country music is not dead. But we're not going back to 1965. And let me be blunt - I personally do not want to go back to 1965.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Dave

My remark was tongue-in-cheek; I don't want to ho back, either. Not really - we've had that era. Those artists and musicians enriched the soil, as it were, and their influence is still being felt, even if it's somewhat heavily disguised.

We can only go forward.
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Roger - my remark about not wanting to go back was not directed at your comment - not at all. I love the music of the eras you speak of.

I guess my point is that there's lots of music still being made that harks back to those eras, but it is not primarily what the mainstream is calling country music right now, nor is it going to be the same as it was back then. Time refuses to stand still, and lots of other influences have filtered in. We can't just undo the influence of blues, rock and roll, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, and many other styles on both the general public and, frankly, musicians. Including me, who really came up on blues, rock and roll, jazz, R&B, folk, before the country thing hit, initially via the country-rock movement of the late-60s and early-70s. Stone-cold country music came as a result of digging back into the influences. And I know a lot of other musicians with similar experiences.

I just think the constant complaining doesn't help at all. It comes down to accepting the world the way it is, versus insisting that it conform to our own personal preconceptions.

Dom Franco · From: Beaverton, OR, 97007

All music has undergone drastic changes over time... Not just country music. What was called "rock" in the 1950's is nothing like the rock music of today of today. Hence the need for Hyphens such as: Country-Rock, Acid-rock Classic-rock etc. And Yes we also have Hypenated classifications in Country music such as Country-Folk, Roots-Country, Classic-Country Western-Swing, Nashville, Bakersfield, California-country etc.

We need to face the fact that all things change over time, and sometimes older is better, and sometimes not...
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John Sluszny · From: Brussels, Belgium

If you like country music like it was before, I would call it Country Country... versus city Country.
After all isn't Nashville a big city !

LJ Eiffert · From: California, USA

Oh yes. That will change when the late Guitarist great Al Bruno is Inducted into the Nashville - Bakersfield " Country Music Hall Of Fame Museum. . . . . Go head and L O L. <> Even the new great steel Guitarist of today in 2022 coming can't fix Traditional Country Music with a Steel. It's, To Bad, To Sad and Who Cares? aka Magic Spirit. Winking

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

I still think ol Ernie Tubb never shoulda let that eelictric gitar player git on the Opry with him!
In many forums I see complaints about award shows: Oscars, Tonys, Grammys etc. Those shows are pretty much meaningless to me. My standard answer is â€œ The last time I thought about watching the Grammys was in 1980. I decided to listen to DOC AT THE RADAR STATION by Captain Beefheart (After that I listened to some Charlie Poole) instead and never looked back.â€ That goes for all awards shows.
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Ashley D\'Silva · From: Perth , Australia

My sincere apologies to Billy McCombs who had FIRST made comment in his CMA submission 2 days before I recorded my thoughts herein.

Obviously a man with a strong mind and thoughts akin to me and many of you great folks.

Bill Fisher · From: Oklahoma, USA

I like (and liked) Hillbilly Music. Thank you.

Bill

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Bill McCloskey · Posted 15 Nov 2021 12:18 pm

"I like (and liked) Hillbilly Music" I do too. Now all we need are about 50 million more like us and we got ourselves an award show.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Hillbilly and Cowboy music transitioned to this:

Bill McCloskey · Posted 15 Nov 2021 12:56 pm

what happened to "western"?

Dom Franco · From: Beaverton, OR, 97007

Cowboy songs of old were like folk music and handed down verbally with out sheet music. As well as hillbilly and bluegrass was an extension of olde fiddle tunes from across the Atlantic. Some mixed with Cajun French from the south. With the advent of recording Edison wire cylinders and later disc records the music was spread far and wide. Out west in Texas a fusion of swing jazz and western began tv and movies made the singing cowboy a big star. Those were the best of times for me as a young boy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFPWe0UGqRc
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

What you guys are seeking is Oldies Country. They donâ€™t honor Oldies on any music awards shows except for the obligatory lifetime achievement awards.

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