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Topic: Why are we still playing that old country music? |
Larry Behm
From:
Mt Angel, Or 97362
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Posted 22 May 2018 6:43 am |
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You might ask the same question about old bluegrass, or jazz, or blues, or western swing.
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'70 D10 Black fatback Emmons PP, Hilton VP, BJS bars, Boss GE-7 for Dobro effect, Zoom MS50G, Stereo Steel amp, Telonics 15” speaker.
Phone: 971-219-8533 |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 22 May 2018 6:53 am
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The Heart wants what the Heart wants  |
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Eddie Thomas
From:
Macon,Ga.,USA
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Posted 22 May 2018 9:03 am
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| "The Heart wants what the Heart wants". Great reply! |
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 22 May 2018 10:27 am Why are we still playing that old country music?
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Because we want to and there is still an audience for it. A song is like a joke, if you haven't heard it, it is new.
The thing I hear over and over from the paying public is "We don't listen to the radio or TV anymore. We want George Jones and Merle Haggard." Granted, these are senior citizens , but they are the ones that pay to hear us. Strange thing is we do more 60's and 70's pop stuff than country. But it is the music our crowds grew up with in high school, so it still works.
The secret to a successful band is to play what the audience wants to hear. There is nothing wrong with playing what you want to play. You just have to find an audience/venue that is into what you do and avoid a venue and audience that is not into your style of music. If you have a real good band, word spreads and you will attract "your kind of people." |
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Roy Carroll
From:
North of a Round Rock
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Posted 22 May 2018 10:29 am
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In our group, we have guys that are professional guys (or have been) and we play 99% traditional country, from Hank Sr., Ray Price, Bob Wills with Gary Stewart, Moe Bandy and Gene Watson thrown in for good measure. We play the signature lick and otherwise fill what we want to and improvise to keep it from going stale. Even though we play the same arrangement on the song, as players, we need to keep it interesting. We all use new tones, which actually makes the song sound newer than it is. As we already have established, the public does not have a clue so the tones do not matter to them. They can't recognize the difference anyway. I am fortunate that we play, Legion Halls, SPJST Halls, Private clubs and Dance clubs with a few weddings and divorces in the mix. About a hundred dates a year or so. Our instrumentation is this:
Steel, Fiddle (also plays mandolin), acoustic guitar, drums, bass. All of the members sing which gives a diversity there as well. Sorry for the long winded explanation.
" Why are we still playing that old country music?
Short answer: Because we can?
  
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Just north of the Weird place, south of Georgetown |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 22 May 2018 2:02 pm
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| Why are we still playing that old country music? |
I think that in all cases, regardless of genre, it's because the "old music" was made by musicians and singers.
The "new music"???
Well, that's mostly all made by the engineers running the consoles.  No longer are they just capturing what the artists do, they're heavily (and forcibly) modifying the character and sound of the musicians and singers themselves. About the only way to hear "real music" is to listen to a live band or singer where there is no one running a console. |
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Don Kuhn
From:
Poetry/Terrell ,Texas, USA
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Posted 22 May 2018 7:21 pm This Might Help Explain It
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Roy Carroll
From:
North of a Round Rock
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Posted 23 May 2018 4:38 am
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Can I get an AMEN????
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Just north of the Weird place, south of Georgetown |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 23 May 2018 6:00 am
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You can always breathe new life into great old music. The catalog is so vast. We don't have to replicate the old records, but even when we do modernize it, the reverence for the old stuff finds its way in there.
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Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Larry Petree
From:
Bakersfield. Ca. USA
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Posted 23 May 2018 6:12 am old country music
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| Supply and demand? |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 23 May 2018 6:34 am
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Because often steak and potatoes is still the best choice on the menu.
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Floyd Lowery
From:
Deland, Florida, USA
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Posted 23 May 2018 7:10 am
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I'll take Old Country over all the noise I hear on the "so called country music" radio today.
However, I still say you can hear some very good country new songs if you will check out Texas music. We just had some listed on this site with Ricky Davis playing steel. 
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Carter 12 string 4petals 5knees, Mullen G2 3 petals 4 knees
Alesis QuadraVerb, Goodrich Match-Bro II
Peavy Nashville 400 & Session 500 |
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Steve Pawlak
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 23 May 2018 7:59 am
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I like the Dixie Chicks
They certainty got hosed |
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Brian Hollands
From:
Geneva, FL USA
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Posted 23 May 2018 9:01 am
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| Floyd Lowery wrote: |
| I still say you can hear some very good country new songs if you will check out Texas music. |
This is true. I recently discovered Jamie Lin Wilson - I could listen to that woman sing the alphabet all day and never get board with it. If I'm not mistaken, the song "just some things" has some simple but tasty steel playing by forum member Chris Schlotzhauer
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'81 Sho-bud LDG, 2 EMCI's |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 23 May 2018 9:01 am
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| Steve Pawlak wrote: |
I like the Dixie Chicks
They certainty got hosed |
What I liked about them is, they actually had musical talent. They could play as well as sing.
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Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 May 2018 9:42 am
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The same reason people still want to hear Mozart, Gershwin, and The Beatles:
Modern Classical sucks!
Modern Jazz sucks!
Modern Rock sucks!
Okay, that’s not true, but you know you want to say it. There’s tons of great country music being made out there, including stuff from the new stars. But it is harder to find and radio is in the hands of bean counters who need music for the modern country equivalent of Frank Zappa’s “Debbieâ€. |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 24 May 2018 1:06 pm
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| Steve Pawlak wrote: |
I like the Dixie Chicks
They certainty got hosed |
They (at least Natalie Maines) deserved to get hosed!
But you can't take away the fact that they do have talent. The two sisters are exceptional musicians if Natalie would just "Shut up and sing" I'd buy their recordings again.........JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 26 May 2018 8:46 am
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My God Jerry, do you really think that?
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 26 May 2018 1:28 pm
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| I play pedal steel and dobro at a jam session every Monday night, and the jam session consists of classic country songs, which I love. I open every jam session with "I Saw The Light" by Hank Williams, and another song I've been singing lately is John Conlee's "Rose Colored Glasses". One night, while playing steel at a jam session, a man came in and sang "Heartaches By The Number" by Ray Price and I played the pedal steel solo from memory, although I'd never played the song before then. I love hearing the classic country songs! |
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Darrell Criswell
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 29 May 2018 8:26 pm
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| I think the older stuff is different from today's music in that it has more of a mix of instrumental accompaniment that we like, namely steel, fiddle, jazz guitar whereas todays music relies more on multiple rhythm guitars. In addition the themes of the older stuff relate to an earlier day when relationships and marriages were perceived as being more permanent, many weren't but divorce was not as prevalent. So it was much more difficult for a person to move from one marriage to another status than it is today and the emotions associated with that are different. Many people relate more to these older cultural themes whether they like them or not. I also think there is a difference in the quality of the vocals although I don't know enough about singing to describe it. |
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Richard Wood
From:
Georgetown, TX
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Posted 2 Jun 2018 9:34 am
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| Darrell Criswell wrote: |
| I also think there is a difference in the quality of the vocals although I don't know enough about singing to describe it. |
It has to do with heart, soul and emotion.
Today's songs are to cookie cutter and generic (poptry) which doesn't leave room for a singer to add there heart, soul and emotion to the lyric. And on the rare occasion that its there then the vocal processing in today's studios takes it out because it thinks the singer is out of pitch.
Besides the crying PSG and clever lead runs (wich was replaced by rock power chords); the singers delivery of a lyric in the classic country songs we love are what I long for. Country singers used to be able to make you feel there pain. They used to be able to relate a song to your life. They had a way of making us sit for hours listening to the same album over and over again.
Who put Pop in my Country?
Is it Travis Tritt's fault for wanting to put drive in our country? |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 2 Jun 2018 10:11 am
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Compared to other genres of over-produced modern pop music, “New†country sounds downright organic.
I think we have to remember that this new music is not being made for the older generation, because we are obviously not the ones buying it. We sound like our parents talking about The Beatles. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 5 Jun 2018 6:27 pm
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| Back in 1998, I heard a great artist whose music is full of steel and has a great country sound. The artist is Danni Leigh. Before she was signed to Decca Records, Danni had written a song recorded by Tracy Byrd called "I Wanna Feel That Way Again", then released her first record, "29 Nights" on Decca Records. On the 29 Nights record, she covered a song written by Merle Haggard, as well as recorded by him, "Mixed Up Mess of A Heart". I'm friends with Danni now and she loves the sound of the steel guitar. During live shows, Danni can sing songs by Loretta Lynn("Honky Tonk Girl"), John Conlee("Rose Colored Glasses)", "Touch Me(written and recorded by Willie Nelson-the song appears on her 29 Nights record, Streets of Bakersfield(Dwight Yoakam/Buck Owens, and "Seven Spanish Angels(Ray Charles and Willie Nelson). |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 6 Jun 2018 7:50 am
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| Richard Wood wrote: |
Who put Pop in my Country? |
Uhh...Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, Marty Robbins, and Patsy Cline, just to name a few.
'Course, if "Alabama" had had a pedal steeler, country music today would've sounded a lot different today.  |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 6 Jun 2018 9:52 am
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| Fred Treece wrote: |
Compared to other genres of over-produced modern pop music, “New†country sounds downright organic.
I think we have to remember that this new music is not being made for the older generation, because we are obviously not the ones buying it. We sound like our parents talking about The Beatles. |
Bumpersticker spotted on the back of a drift boat:
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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