Kevin's Watch

depends on how you define country. if it is most of the pap on GAC, then yes it is horrid. but broaden it to what doesn't get played on the radio and you have a bonanza. Alison Krauss, Bobby Bare jr, Shooter Jennings, Nicklecreek, James Hand, Neko Case, Dixie Chicks, Damnations... Country can include Americana, Folk, Bluegrass, Honkey Tonk, Swing. check Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakum, Jessi Colter, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis, David Allen Coe, Robert Earl Keen jr, Hank Williams III... and you will find many more great artists from that launching point. Gillian Welch, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Josh Ritter, Old 97's, Drive By Truckers, Cowboy Junkies, Mary Gauthier, Spoon, lambchop, Junior Brown... and that is off the top of my head. check out this great link for more...
www.pastemagazine.com/
I forgot... Dumptruck, Silos, Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly...

Chris Whitley and Johnny Cash are a credit to the genre.

When I lived in Savannah, GA, REM was revered by the locals.

Somebody is always going to be capable of making even the most ridiculous genre wonderful to listen to...

That ALMOST gives me hope for our species.

Alan Jackson has a new album out. usually i wouldn't care less. but Alison Krauss produced it, so i will at least give it a listen now.

Trapper439 wrote:Chris Whitley and Johnny Cash are a credit to the genre.

When I lived in Savannah, GA, REM was revered by the locals.

Somebody is always going to be capable of making even the most ridiculous genre wonderful to listen to...

That ALMOST gives me hope for our species.

no Trap, other way 'round buddy,...somebody's ALWAYS going to be able to make sh*t out of something good.

"country music" was a direct reference to music played in "the country", in other words, roots music. that is why your first statement is true. Whitley and Cash both come from a roots tradition. that tradition is...well...bare bones. in the country, they used what they could transport easily, small instruments like fiddles and mandolins might make it, small hide tablas, tambourines. washboards. anything percussive. as different peoples came from different music traditions and landed here and their sounds expanded... okay okay, i DO go on...but, you get my drift.

heheh, it took sarge 3 pages before he posted on this one
... sorry sarge, I saw the topic and imagined you being from the lone star state would have chimed in earlier (it was an old post though, eh?)

I will confess to disliking country in almost all forms. But like 'rap', every so often there comes a some that elevates itself above the ear torture I perceive these musics to be. Totally subjective! No offence...

Country-pop is the soundtrack to Hell.

Most of the older stuff, (the original Hank, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, some of Dolly's early work, etc.) and more current stuff with re-playable substance (Allison Krauss, the occasional Dixie Chicks song) is good. (It's somewhat subjective, but I bet 4 out of 5 dentists could probably agree on what is replayable).

It's been said before, but Johnny Cash is in a class by himself. I really dig his covers of One (U2) and Hurt (NIN), but his older classics (Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison, Man in Black, etc.) are just as good, if not better.

What's with country-pop and the stupid metaphors/similes? Are they drawn like flies to fresh cow-pie?

DW

sgtnull wrote:depends on how you define country. if it is most of the pap on GAC, then yes it is horrid. but broaden it to what doesn't get played on the radio and you have a bonanza. Alison Krauss, Bobby Bare jr, Shooter Jennings, Nicklecreek, James Hand, Neko Case, Dixie Chicks, Damnations... Country can include Americana, Folk, Bluegrass, Honkey Tonk, Swing. check Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakum, Jessi Colter, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis, David Allen Coe, Robert Earl Keen jr, Hank Williams III... and you will find many more great artists from that launching point. Gillian Welch, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Josh Ritter, Old 97's, Drive By Truckers, Cowboy Junkies, Mary Gauthier, Spoon, lambchop, Junior Brown... and that is off the top of my head. check out this great link for more...
www.pastemagazine.com/
I forgot... Dumptruck, Silos, Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly...

Your examples of country music are great...as is Trapper's Whitley (i am a huge fan) and Cash. The problem is Nashville.

"Country" music generated there, for the most part, is lowest common denominator bull poo, that appeals the the cliche'd idea of rural america. Not to mention the jingoism apparent in some of it!

As a sweeping generalisation, Country music is EVIL

Nashville is going through the same thing that the LA metal scene went through in '89-'91. Unfortunately, country's been stuck there for over a decade. Country is in dire need of a Nirvana-like enema.

Phantasm wrote:As a sweeping generalisation, Country music is EVIL

country music is NOT evil. what's been DONE to country music (can you say pop marketability cross-over) is evil.
matter of fact, hank williams is rolling in his grave and having hissy fits.

phantasm...see my above post where i nearly lapse into a roots music lecture...some of american "country" music CAME FROM SCOTLAND, dude. (ok, nevermind, you don't have to, i'll just reiterate)

a LOT of scots settled in the kentucky, tennessee, north carolina, and other southern regions of the U.S. and they brought fiddles and mandolins and all kinds of ballads and dulcimers and other stuff.

the music that you don't like coming out of nashville and other areas (poor buck is gone now but bakersfield, california comes to mind) is stuff that is attempting a cross-over into the pop market.

"country music" in its purest form, is VERY VERY similar to the blues, in structure and content.

of course, hank is the best progentitor i can think of as an example of this.
how many blues songs did he write? hell, nearly his entire catalog is blues.

and why, you may ask, did a soulful, R & B genius like Ray Charles make so many forays into "country" music. because it IS the blues.

once again, i submit that the music you're saying is evil is NOT country music. it's crap pop with twang on the side.

oh and PS....check out my post in the Concerts thread regarding the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in SF this coming weekend.
there are SEVERAL europeans on the schedule. billy bragg, richard thompson, and others!! why are they there? ROOTS MUSIC.
hell, even Led Zeppelin played roots music, they married celtic and blues and made rock and roll out of it!

danlo wrote:No! There's a big dif between country music and Bluegrass--

Speaking as a musician, bluegrass is much more difficult to play, and is more like southern rock than country, at least to my ears, which were raised on southern rock and bluegrass, as well as surf music, rock, prog and country.....

Lord Foul wrote:Especially when it's 9/11-related . . . Country music making political statements is basically rednecks holding up their shotguns in the air and going "Heehaw!"

Funny, this is exactly the kind of prejudice I'm told to expect from the people you're insulting. When did it become so embarassing to love our country? I know it has flaws, but so did my wife, and I loved her. I just don't get this at all.



Oh, and one other thing, so I can avoid triple-posting here. Luci's post (just above) is dead on accurate. Read it, and become wise.

hell Phish has done some country songs...

sgtnull wrote:depends on how you define country. if it is most of the pap on GAC, then yes it is horrid. but broaden it to what doesn't get played on the radio and you have a bonanza. Alison Krauss, Bobby Bare jr, Shooter Jennings, Nicklecreek, James Hand, Neko Case, Dixie Chicks, Damnations... Country can include Americana, Folk, Bluegrass, Honkey Tonk, Swing. check Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakum, Jessi Colter, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis, David Allen Coe, Robert Earl Keen jr, Hank Williams III... and you will find many more great artists from that launching point. Gillian Welch, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Josh Ritter, Old 97's, Drive By Truckers, Cowboy Junkies, Mary Gauthier, Spoon, lambchop, Junior Brown... and that is off the top of my head. check out this great link for more...
www.pastemagazine.com/
I forgot... Dumptruck, Silos, Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly...

I realize this topic hasn't been posted in a while, but those I recognize (about 2/3)...particularly Bob Wills ... are awesome.

yes, there a4e many great country/folk/americana artists. the problem is that country radio plays to the lowest common denominator. most of what passes for country nowadays is just pop with fiddles. (bad pop at that)

Urban Cowboy-Nashville-NASCAR-Toby Keith, is there some strange connection there?

loud trash?

Well, if Borat goes off the charts we'll probably have an accurate measurement of the average American IQ...

www.accuradio.com/app/radioframe_full?c ... SubPrimary

try this

Country (he'd probably say hillbilly) or no Dwight brings the house down: Fast as You