Less Room For Creativity?

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

Is there less room for musician's creativity on today's records? I have that impression, because whenever you ask around for the memorable records, the intros, solos and back-up work that stays in your head, you'll hear that old songs and records (more than 10 or 15 years old) are mentioned far more often than the current sounds and records of today. Players are definitely not worse than in the past - all you guys who work the sessions and the road do a great job!!!- so there must be another reason for that. Here are some of my personal thoughts...

1) Is it the producer's dictate? Is there less freedom for the player to play whatever he feels? Everybody's talking about the new Alan Jackson record "Remember When" and the awesome solo Lloyd Green played on it. Producer Keith Stegall gave Lloyd absolute freedom to play, is this the exception to the rule today?

2) The general trend to give the Steel Guitar less room on a song, simply because producers still want to be Country, but not so much Country that it might hurt record sales in other fields. I know that Country, like every other musical style, always has been commercial, everybody tried to be successful, have a No. 1 record and sell as many records as possible, but with today's mainstream pop sounds you can make by far more money, too! It's the search for the mainstream sound that sells records and appeals to wider audiences. With this thought in mind, you have to make your music more middle of the road.

3) I don't think that there is any major record company who really is willing to take a risk with a concept that has not been tested before. Whenever there's a new trend or overnight success, everybody jumps up and does the same thing. Example: When "Brother, Where Art Thou" became a major success, everybody tried to participate by discovering old time and acoustic music. I never saw so many electric bands having a Mandolin player before!

4) The "Middle Of The Road" sound, trying to polish everything, no edges, no rough parts, everything has to be within certain parameters. Would singers with distinctive voices like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb etc. really have a chance to start major careers today or would they end up with a returned and denied demo tape?

5) Sometimes I have a problem with today's song material. Where are the songs that stick right in your head, with easy to remember melody lines. If you are honest, how many songs of the last two or three years are likely to become classics, songs that still will be sung in 20, 30 or fifty years? Why are Hank Williams songs still standard today, why Haggard songs? Because they have that pure simplicity and honesty so many songs of today are lacking. Lloyd Green pointed that out when he explained why the old songs, like Hank Williams-song, make perfect tunes to be played instrumentally, because of a simple melody line that still leaves a lot of avenues open for imagination and creativity.
I heard the same complaint from friends who are into Rock and Pop Music, classic songs from the Beatles or the Rolling Stones everybody knows, but how about today's songs by the mega bands that sell millions of records?

6) Or...Am I wrong, is it just my personal impression that we lost a lot of creativity over the years, with the commercial side more and more taking over? I am not clarifying the past, there was awful music in the 50's as well as there are amazing records today, but the overall trend is going in that direction!

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

There's art, there's money, and the two things just don't meet that often. Creative music requires creative listeners, and by and large, our culture is more about creating consumers than enlightened people. Just my opinion.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

It depends on what you mean by creativity.

In my case playing a country lick along to a country style song doesn't do much of anything for my creative juices. The music and role of the steel has become too standardized for my tastes. I don't find playing standard old time Hawaiian/early jazz on the lap steel to be very creative either. The early guys played such amazing and nutty stuff when the music was new. Now I need to stay inside the idiom to make the music sound authentic. I love the traditional styles of playing and have fun playing them but I don't find them to be particularly creative at least in my case.

What gets me going is playing steel in forms of music that the role of the instrument is not so standardized. Finding a way to make a tune come together when the track is already crammed with strings/samplers or whatever is a creative challenge that I enjoy. It might mean playing only 1 note but that note has to make a real difference. And if I really want to get loose the indie rock scene is wide open as well as the New Music composer/improv scene.

For me personally creating new roles and music with the steel is much more exciting than fullfilling an idiomatic role.

Other players can be amazingly creative and stay within the standardized boundries of the steel. Take John Hughey's playing on "Look at Us". It doesn't get any more creative than that. He is my favorite steel player these days. So what I'm saying is creativity is personal and subjective.

In all respect I think your question is really a statement where you are expressing frustration about the music that you like not being so popular these days.

In the words of the great Earnest Bovine: "A persons definition of good music is generally the music that they listened to shortly before their first marriage."

Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 29 November 2003 at 10:57 AM.]

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

In my experience, people want their recordings to stand out from the crowd. Nobody ever complained that I was too creative.

Roger Miller · From: Cedar Falls, Ia.

Creat a tivi ty is that 3 or 4 sylables, only the producer knows in most cases.

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

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

Just to explain a little bit further: Creativity is also the degree of control over what you can do on a record, how much of your own personality you can put into a project. Bob, I agree that it is a real challenge to participate in a project or session with your ideas, everybody who can do that is really lucky! I will participate in a Pop recording project, starting next week, going into the studio with Tim Rose, a Californian Singer/Songwriter (Pop/Rock) who asked me to play on his record and gives me the absolute freedom for my part. We'll see...

My comments were made from a general point of view, as an observation, but I freely admit that it also includes a certain level of frustration, but as a musician in general, not because of a certain style of music being more or less popular than others. Today's music business often lacks the spontaneity and personal dedication that sets the difference between a routine production and something that shows the personal approach and ideas of all the musicians involved. John Hughey is a perfect example for that, I can't remember one record he played on that didn't feature his personal and creative way of playing!

Walter

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Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Donny,
The really important notes are the 23 notes I didn't play right before the one note that I did play

Walter,
Around here it seems to vary wildly with sessions when it comes to if they want my creative input or not. It is way more fun when they turn me loose. Also I never believe producers when they tell me to play whatever I want. I usually start right in playing what I think they want so we don't waste to much time.

BTW: Being as you live nearby in Austria have you ever worked with the german singer Heino ? I know he has done some country records.

Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 29 November 2003 at 01:49 PM.]

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

OH NO!
Heino is a German "Folk" singer who used to sing old German folk songs in a very commercial way, I didn't know so far that he ever did something in the country direction, I really can't imagine him doing something like that!
Walter

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Cal Sharp · From: the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN

Quote:
Just curious, here. Bob, could you give us an example of a song where only 1 note made a real difference?
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I'm not Bob, Smile

> but Pete Drake played one G note after the line "If you don't wanna go to fist city" in the chorus of that song that I always thought was just perfect. Also, there's a standard blues lick that's a hammer-on of the tonic note and then sustained for a few bars that sounds real good.

C#

Jeff Lampert · From: queens, new york city

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

Greg Leisz sure sounds creative on Bill Frisell's records! Or how about Ricky Davis with Dale Watson? Jerry Douglas with Union Station? I don't think there's a lack of steel creativity in any of those records.

I think that radio music has always been mostly crap, with a few gems along the way. I heard the same arguments from musicians in the '70s that I hear today, and yet somehow we only remember the good songs from the '70s. To my ear, there's maybe a dozen memorable steel parts on the radio every year, and it's always been that way.

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Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
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HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

Walter Stettner · From: Vienna, Austria

Yeah, Bobby!
There are some good one's out today (Ricky!).

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John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

Donny,
Carl Dixon has testified that during a live convention show he attended, BE actually played an objectionable note. I wasn't there to witness it, but I trust Carl's sensiblities, as I respect his discretion in not revealing exactly which note it was. He is indeed, the Last Gentleman.

-John
Carl, buddy, I just couldn't resist. ha!

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

I heard that Thelonious Monk once played a solo that consisted of one note, somewhere in the chorus of the tune. I believe Miles Davis said, "Its not what you play, its what you don't play". As far as creativity in modern music goes, it seems to be tolerated occasionally.

[This message was edited by Bob Watson on 30 November 2003 at 03:07 PM.]

[This message was edited by Bob Watson on 30 November 2003 at 03:12 PM.]

Rainer Hackstaette · From: Bohmte, Germany

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