as we get older do we...

Joe Shelby · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

get more conservative...musically?
Do we cling (or just simply hold on) to that
which so excited us when our hormones weren't
so in control?
All the posts about "today's" country not having the emotional pull that the artists of
the '50's, '60's, '70's had for many of us...
That so many of us can't relate to Rap--is it that there's a cultural difference we just can't bridge because of the living environment these artists grew up in?
I can remember being thoroughly immersed in
Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed at
age 13. I had nothing in common with them...
At 15, it was Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Connie Smith, Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel,
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.
AAaTW and CC&LPA certainly weren't accepted
seriously by the "country establishment" in
their early days, but there certainly was emotional pull in that music for me.
If the point of this seems murky, let me add
that my girlfriend gave me the soundtrack for
"Elizabethtown" and this is the first new (?)
music that I've really enjoyed in a long time
(even though there are a few not new artists/
recordings on it; i.e. Tom Petty, Elton John).
I hope I haven't lost everybody--I was just
reading through "singers vs. steel players,"
and started thinking about the state of pop
music. I think my listening habits need changing; you can't rely on the old avenues
anymore--FM radio, TV, or a lot of movies for
that matter.

Joe.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

John McGann · From: Boston, Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.

I'm finding stuff I hated when I was young, I am really enjoying now.

Couldn't stand trad. country when I was 18. Really like it now.

Couldn't "hear" contemporary classical music too well when I was in my 20's. Still don't like lots of it, but can hear it better (and am discovering incredibly cool and interesting stuff).

Never enjoyed the radio, other than progressive rock radio in the '70's (WNEW-FM outta NYC).

Part of the fun (for me) of getting older is realizing you can never get to the bottom of anything, whether it's a musical style or whatever.

I also enjoy the feeling that I don't have much to prove. I used to be pretty competitive as a player, and now I could care less (and am having way more fun).

and I still love most of the music I loved when i was a kid- Beatles (and the Stones are fine- apples and oranges there), Who, Yes, etc. So sue me!

I was a grumpier old man at 25 than I am today at 46. Way less conservative. I mean that in a good way

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[This message was edited by John McGann on 28 December 2005 at 02:14 PM.]

[This message was edited by John McGann on 28 December 2005 at 02:16 PM.]

[This message was edited by John McGann on 28 December 2005 at 02:17 PM.]

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I was much more musically conservative 25 years ago than I am today. 25 years ago, I was intent on reproducing the traditional country sounds I heard on old records. Now that I've done that, I'm willing to explore many other musical directions.

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Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Over the past five years I got to dislike pop music (i.e. whatever is played on commercial radio or video), and it's even gotten to the point where I don't enjoy listening to much of the stuff I grew up with either. And in a band situation I detest playing cover tunes, especially if it's anything that's been on the pop charts.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

A lot of it, I think, depends on "what era" you come from. I was born in 1937 and graduated HS in 1955 - that was before the "rock" boom. I was brought up on big band, Bing Crosby and "traditonal" country music. I took up steel because I wanted to be another "Little Roy Wiggins" - at the time.

In the mid 60's I worked for a jukebox company and did all the record purchasing and programming for their jukeboxes. That required me to be familiar with all syles, jazz, R&B, "adult" rock, "Kids" rock, country ,etc. I must have done pretty well as overall jukebox gross increased substantially from the previous person that had the job. I learned to like jazz musicians such as Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith, etc, but I was still mainly a "traditonal" country guy. That is the same today.

If I had grown up in a different time, such as my daughter (who was born in 1972) I would have been deeply into the various types of rock and rap.

As far as the "country' that Nashville is pimarily producing - to those of us that are traditionalists "it's not country". They should call it something else. There are some outstanding studio musicians, such as Paul Franklin and Brent Mason, that are doing a lot of the sessions and it's not a knock on their talents. Just for me personally it's like asking for a "Coke" and someone gives you a "Pepsi" and says "that is coke".

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

I am reaching well beyond my limits today..

I think I can state that back in my earlier days I was much more passive( conservative ) ..I played, played something similar and moved on..didn't really place all that much effort into the mix..I didn't practice...much..

Today I am much more of a self critic, exploring where the music comes from, always evaluating , stretching out of the box..thats something I should have done many years back but was probably to busy trying to impress myself...which didn't work..

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 29 December 2005 at 04:49 AM.]

Perry Hansen · From: Bismarck, N.D.

John. I was told by a Shrink once that a grumpy old man is just a grumpy young man that got old.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

I was never looking at just one music.
Most likely from growing up in studios,
where the music changes every session.

As I got older I found I had actually played
a much wider range of musics than I had
expected to when I was younger.

Yet oddly enough since I am now back playing rock,
but with a wide variety of influences.
I find my past influences has increased
my ability to play rock better.

A side benifit or detraction, as some see it,
is that I can write and play in more styles
than I can find people to play them in.

But I have less energy to put a band together
to play the mix of them all.

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

I find that the older I get the more open-minded I am about music and the less open-minded I am about attitude.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I've always listened to a wide variety, but now I'm a bit more willing to give something different a chance to grow on me. However, I'm overall less interested in spending my time listening to music that is clearly derivative, without bringing anything new to the table. As far as what has effects on my own playing, I seem to do better listening to fewer things really carefully, rather than having background noise blaring away incessantly; I'd rather listen to one symphony twice a day for a week rather than having the classical radio station on all day.

An awful lot of "new" music these days is designed by a consciously-manipulative "pastiche" or "collage" method - you take a specific Joni Mitchell melody, add a specific Eagles guitar tone, a specific 80's synth-pop drumbeat and Voila! - you've got a new Sheryl Crow single. My available listening time is too short and intentionally-structured to cope with that kind of "creativity."

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