Country In The 21st Century
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I should note that I like country music. Not the old dreary stuff and sweet lord not the bluegrass stuff from Western Maryland and West Virginia that they play on NPR on Saturday nights. I like the pop stuff. Taylor Swift, Martina McBride, Trace Adkins. That stuff. And I also like Darius Rucker, liked him from when I called him Hootie of Hootie and the Blowfish. And Wednesday night he became the first black singer to win best new artist at the CMAs.
Neat.
Ok, Trace Adkins, you right wing nut, play us off with the Honky Tonk Badonkadonk. But I WILL NOT slap my grandma, sir.
43 Responses to “Country In The 21st Century”
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Keith Urban has some chops. But give me Hank Williams (no, not junior, Papa Hank) and Mr. Cash any day.
I’m with Quibbie. If it ain’t old school country, it ain’t country.
But I’m happy to watch that video with the sound off.
“And I also like Darius Rucker”
Taste in music FAIL.
Shorter Jaim: *My* music is better than yours!
It’s all rhyming set to music.
De gustibus yadda yadda!
Thumbs down here. I love the old bluegrass/folk stuff. Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) has a new album of banjo folk/bluegrass out called “The Crow” that’s delicious. (What, you thought he only played the banjo as a joke?) But I dress up in armor and hit my friends with swords for fun, so I’m old-school. Damned if I can figure out the difference between Taylor Swift’s “country” music and pop, though.
Country Music has been going downhill since Hank Sr. died.
You disappoint me, Oliver! I’m with Quibbie and Felix: Johnny, Merle, Waylon, Willie, Hank. Sr. The newer stuff sucks ass. It should be a criminal offense to even label it “Country”.
So you don’t like *both* kinds of music. Just one kind.
I disagree, Oliver. That music you call “pop stuff” just ain’t country music. It’s like calling rap music the new urban blues. It’s urban music but it ain’t the blues. Pasty Cline lives!
IMO, the best Country album of all time was Waylon Jennings’ “Dreaming My Dreams” from 1975. Simple, unadorned, it’s the voice of a grown-ass man who has lived a tough life and had his heart broken a couple of times.
There’s some OK country music out there right now, but much of it is pap and propaganda. Have you noticed how much of it is about “bein’ happy with what we got” and “we ain’t got much, but it’s all we really need”? There’s a lot of God stuff in there too. Rucker is in that category.
Taylor Swift is cute as hell, my teen daughters love her, but she’s not really very country, is she?
I think the best years for “Country Pop” were the 1990s: Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Shania Twain. Most since then has been ripoffs of those artists and a few others. Formulaic schlock.
Like most people who do not follow country music, I do admit to listening to Johnny Cash, and can appreciate some of the older guys like Hank Williams Sr. But, it does seem that country music has less studio tricks than pop, R&B, or rap music. So, when you go to a country concert, you are more likely to hear the real voice of the singer, and not have the performer just lip-synch.
Chris Rock joked about the commonality between country and rap. Both praise their moms, brag about their skill with women, wear funny hats, and sing the praises of alcohol.
How can you not love it when Martina McBride belts out ‘Let Freedom Ring’ every day at the beginning of the Sean Hannity Show.
Oh, looky there: lil Dennis is standing over there with his dick out saying “notice me!”
Mm-hm
Never give an inch!
The only country music worth listening to: Hank Sr., George Jones and the Austin Lounge Lizards.
“How can you not love it when Martina McBride belts out ‘Let Freedom Ring’ every day at the beginning of the Sean Hannity Show.”
Precisely what ruined country music; it’s now part of the state controlled music industry.
I’m liking that old time banger music these days; is it called the “claw and hammer” style.
Funny thing is, I like that song. And even funnier, that song is not about what Sean Hannity wishes it was about. It’s about an abused woman leaving her abusive husband.
Country music’s cool except for John Rich going to teabagger rallies
Didn’t know that OW. Why is she allowing her song to be mis-characterized, I wonder.
new, pop-country is NOT country. It’s just the soundtrack for shopping at Wal-Mart. Give me bluegrass or “the old dreary stuff” rather than the over-produced, factory-made stuff that comes off the Nashville assembly line anymore
She didn’t write the song, Gretchen Peters did. And she uses the royalties to donate to liberal causes. Same with Chrissie Hynde with her song ‘My City was Gone’ that Rush Limbaugh uses for his intro.
Chrissie Hynde has got the sexiest voice imaginable. I could listen to her read the phone book.
Oliver, not all bluegrass is the same. You may not like the “old-school” bluegrass of Bill Monroe, but you should check out artists like Tony Rice and Doc Watson before you write it all off. It’s not all whiny voices and scratchy fiddles.
Ugh, I HATE ‘todays country’. It’s just pop/rock lite with fiddle and banjo, maybe a dobro.
I blame it all on Garth Brooks, that bastard. He ruined it forever with “The Dance” back in 1990 but at the same time, he moved the genre into the mainstream by combining rock and roll elements with his songs, and his live shows too.
There are great bands today that stay in the tradition of the old timers, Sadies, old Whiskeytown, Neko Case, etc.
Patsy Cline is one of my all time favorite singers ever. You can hear the pain in her voice when she sings of love that is lost…she fuckin means it!
George don’t like him some ‘young country’
Don’t trust ‘em if they ain’t got dust on their boots.
Gimme West Texas swing.
One of the first records I ever heard in my life was Bob Wills. Love me some western swing.
New Grass Revival is pretty hot too.
Take all the Eagles wannabes out of country music, and you’d be lucky to have 10 bands left. Only the girls are singing country.
Lemme hear ya say, “Hell, yeah!”
Asleep at the Wheel is keeping that tradition alive.
Miles and Miles of Texas
This.
Well yeah, and Bruce’s Glory Days is a downer yet they still play it at the Meadowlands after Giant games.
Today’s Nashville sound is pablum. May as well be recorded in Boston.
Hank Williams, Cash, Junior Brown, Jennings, Hagard. That’s country.
Bobby Bare’s Lullabys Legends and Lies is one of the great albums ever. Ironic that all the songs on the LP were written by Shel Silverstein.
Oh – and check out Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music.
As to Bluegrass – the finest album Dolly Parton ever made was The Grass is Blue.
That “dreary stuff” has a damn sight more life and soul (that’s right, SOUL) than the adult-contempo jizz that is so popular today.
If you haven’t paid much attention to Johnny Cash, find a copy of “The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983,” a 3-CD set released in 1992. (Not to be confused with the later 2-CD or 3-CD “Essentials”.) This one follows Cash from his Sun days until almost the end of the CBS period, and is a fantastic listen all the way through. (Played it from start to finish without interruption right after he died…what an emotional experience.)
Add to that his “American Recordings” CDs with Rick Rubin, especially “American IV: The Man Comes Around.” That’s the one with his cover of “Hurt,” but it’s the last song, “We’ll Meet Again” (yes, the Vera Lynn oldie) that will break your heart. J.R. Cash gave it his all and made awesome music right up to the end of his life…would you be able to say the same for the “stars” of today’s radio pabulum? Billy Ray Cyrus, for example, would be a forgotten bad memory if not for his even less talented daughter.
While you’re buying CDs, get some collections by Willie Nelson (either version of “Essential…”) Emmylou Harris (“Anthology,” “Songbird”), and her former mentor Gram Parsons (“Anthology”). A bit of Hank Sr. and Jr. wouldn’t hut, either. Finally, Patsy Cline – she may have veered a little close to dreaded “country-politan” at times, but that soulful voice saved the day.
(BTW, for some reason the “a href” tag wouldn’t work right.)
How about that senile ol’ bastard, Ronnie Reagan, thinking “Born in the USA” was a patriotic song? (As well as millions of idiotic WWF fans?) That’s mainly why Springsteen started performing it as a country blues.
Speaking of blacks and country…did you know that Motown tried to break into the country music market – TWICE? First from 1963-65, with records on the Mel-o-dy label; the lineup included Howard Crockett (Johnny Cash wannabe) and Dorsey Burnette. Not surprisingly, the venture was a failure; the records are collected in Hip-O’s Complete Motown Singles box sets.
In the 1970s they tried AGAIN, this time on the Melodyland label. They actually managed a couple country #1 hits with T.G. Sheppard (“Tryin’ to Beat the Morning Home,” an Eddie Rabbit sound-alike), and another artist was Pat Boone. PAT motherf–king BOONE!! Soon, this experiment too was dropped; Melodyland became Hitsville, a reissue label for Motown classics.
Actually it is about an abused woman who murders her husband, kills herself, and leaves her young daughter an orphan. It’s quite an uncaring and selfish song.
More power to you Mr. Willis for putting what you like out there. It amazes me how freely people will tell you “what you like is crap,” and that you’re not enjoying the “real thing”.
I can’t stand any of the new young country singers. I am in agreement that 90′s (for me) where the best time for country music in mainstream stances.
I love me some Reba, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, and Dixie Chicks.
Hank III is also pretty cool, but yeah, Hank Sr is the way to go.
What? Bill Monore and Old School bluegrass are fantastic.