Who Destroyed Country?

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greenascanbe said:
Ed is doing porno music... does that mean that genre is dead as well?
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Imagine the footage they'll assemble for 'Eruption'! :eek:
 
Mutt Lange and his ill-begotten brethern.

What killed country music is every song has that Celine Dion polish about it.

*gag*

If you listen to Hank, Waylon, Nelson, or Cash, it sounds natural. It sounds earthy, and rough. Even the western swing has that home-grown quality about it.

I think its just being over produced.
 
Wow, I go away for a couple days and found three pages.

I went home to appalachia to mom and dad's. Took a drive down to sistersville, WV and rode the ferry over to ohio. Passed a campground that had a big sign out front "Bluegrass and OLD country". And I was like "Hell yeah!"

One of my little theories is that Brian Setzer killed country by not participating. I know it sounds weird. After the stray cats, he had a couple solo albums that were really country, I thought. Unfortunately, he didn't have the balls to call it that and they ended up in the rock and roll or alternative bins at the record store.

If country would have taken a turn toward rockabilly, honky tonk, tattoos and hot rods, you wouldn't feel like such a phoney baloney cowboy wannabe to be in on it. The image of country isn't reverend horton heat. It's that fucker from northern exposure wearing a carhart jacket and fixing a prop fence and petting his dog.

There is this huge country guy who grew up in the same county as me, but he never hung out with the musicians. His guitar teacher did and does still. The big star guy went to private school and was taking business classes instead of blotter acid. A big part of country music - at least to me - was the availability of these great players at jam sessions and in small shitty dives where they took part in that rural society.

You hear this guy drawlin' on some TV commercial, but no one back home really talks that way. We all have a midwestern accent really, and we say "Y'uns" instead of "Y'all". He can pick, but he's deliberate and fake. There's no way I can deflect the accusation that I have sour grapes, but among the local gentry, that guy is a joke and it's mostly because he has zero street cred.

I don't really want to single him out because I think it's great when ANY west virginian gets out and spreads his seed afar (a hollywood starlet's even better) but he is a graphic example of that lameness that runs all through country. Shit, at least Wynona gets DUIs.

About the only country that I've been listening to lately is some hank Sr that I am trying to take in by osmosis. Growing up, my dad listened to alot of Willie and Jerry Reed - which isn't as easy to dismiss as un-progressive at the time. In the late 70s/early 80s, there seemed to be alot of mainstream country stuff on the radio (radio wasn't so genre specific back then). Alabama, Eddie Rabbit, Dolly and Kenny Rogers were very visible (and they sucked too). Maybe Urban Cowboy killed country.

So, maybe the parallel between this thread and the who killed metal thread is "popularity corrupts". The more mainstream a genre becomes, the shittier it has to be to satisfy the most record-buying consumers.

I still stand by my assertion that polls are gay. How many times does the who killed metal thread pop up to the top and you go to the last page and no one even posted an angry retort? It's a drag. I like the discussion.
 
jimistone said:
Country has not been destroyed....there is still alot of good country out there.

Unfortunately, it's not available on radio or major record label releases.

There are alot of great country music tunesmiths out there.
Unfortunately, they are forced to write trivial pop songs with no substance to have a prayer of placing a tune with a country star.

Country has not been destroyed, it has been hijacked by producers, record execs, and publishers who pass off pop music with a drawl as country music.

You can only blame the CONSUMERS who pay good money for this shit....not the music establishment....don't buy their records and things will change very fast in country music.
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I have to agree with this. Not that i'm some super Country Music aficionado, but I can certainly tell when something is over-produced and trying to be some sort of crossover hit.

I don't have some sort of super list to refer or direct to, but I can certainly recommend this record with no hesitation. And that record came out in 2000.

The true artists are out there...you just may have to seek 'em out.
 
My first post was tinted with a bit of sarcasm, on a slightly more serious note... Country music isn't really dead, but it hasn't aged gracefully either. When country music grew from the "smoke filled bar" to the concert halls and arenas the presentation had to change, so did the music. I don't think it was the musicians, but rather the fans, who called for more, bigger, louder, production oriented performances. The more the audience changed, the more the music changed. All music evolves to meet the demands of the audience. As country music became more acceptable in the urban areas its sound became more "urbanized" and much of the "down home simplicity" was lost. Some artists jumped on the wave of change and gave it the momentum to become a tidal wave, a lot of talent got caught in the backwash and swallowed up by the industry sharks. The void was quickly filled by new faces and slightly different type of artist. Then along came the video industry which opened a number of doors and pits (maybe CMT has done more to kill country by presenting it as something other than what it really is, or was intended to be.) We can't blame anyone specific for killing country music, we all had a part in it. I even got to the point where if I heard one more "cry in your beer" song ... enough said.
BTW is George Jones really still alive?
 
cephus said:
Growing up, my dad listened to alot of Willie and Jerry Reed .
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lol. jerry reed is great. having grown up in southern louisiana, 'amos moses' is one of my all time favorite songs. :D

Yay! Here comes Amos!
Now Amos Moses was a Cajun.
He lived by hisself in the swamp.
He hunted alligator for a livin';
He'd just knock them in the head with a stump.
The Louisiana law gonna get you, Amos.
It ain't legal hunting alligator down in the swamp, boy!

Now everybody blamed his old man
For making him mean as a snake:
When Amos Moses was a boy
His daddy would use him for alligator bait- Tie a rope around his waist and throw him in the swamp! (Ha-ha-ha!) Alligator bait in the Louisiana bayou!
About forty-five minutes southeast of Thibodeaux, Louisiana Lived a man called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah.
Well, they raised up a son that could eat up his weight in groceries- Named him after a man of the cloth; Called him Amos Moses. (Yay! Ha-ha!)

Now the folks around south Louisiana
Said Amos was a hell of a man-
He could trap the biggest, the meanest alligator And just use one hand.
That's all he got left 'cau' de alligator bit it! (Ha-ha-ha!) Left arm gone clean up to the elbow!

Well the sheriff caught wind that Amos
Was in the swamp trappin' alligator skin, So he snuck in the swamp: "Gonna get de boy,"
But he never came out again.
Well, I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to . . .
Well you can sure get lost in the Louisiana bayou!
About forty-five minutes southeast of Thibodeaux, Louisiana Lived a cat called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah.
Well, they raised up a son that could eat up his weight in groceries- Named him after a man of the cloth; Called him Amos Moses!

:cool:
 
If anybody has a chance check out a guy named Junior Brown,that's my kind of country. :cool:

Cephus,what Setzer album is country sounding?I'd like to check it out. :cool:
 
I have a cassette in my giant box of cassettes that I don't listen to anymore. I think one was called "Live nude guitars".
 
We had a huge three day country music fest here a couple weeks ago. I'm a paint contractor at the site so I finagle some good seats and an ocasional production pass...

This year's lineup sold th outdoor venu out way in advance. The hillbillies and betties sure thought it was country...Ken Chesney, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, yadda yadda, yabba dabba doo, the list goes on, until you get to Big & Rich; By FAR the best, most energetic show, and some good music, but I heard very little "country" in it...

...Wouldn't ya know it, they're romancing the Eagles for next year's show... :eek:

...If I want to hear country, I throw my Steve Earl with the Dell Coury Band cd...

Eric
 
I don'know

I can't stand all this modern country it is almost as bad a rap and their videos are stomach turning.

I wasn't real fond of country while I was growing up I'd much rather watch the Beatles and Stones on Ed Sullivan.

But with a few extra decades under my belt I appreciate all the real country artist much more now.

Johnny, Merle, Waylon, Willie, Kris are my favorites.
 
yeah I can relate to getting older. My son caught a ride to his concert, I was quite happy not to sit thru 4 headbanging hours!

I can't even call country country, as I knew it. I mean if Tom Petty and Bon Jovi are country and "black leather coats and highlighted hair is country?
then I guess Blue Grass is country...then what does that leave Bluegrass as?

Its all good pretty much, but why can't they create a new name and keep 'em seperated? It probably doesn't matter anyway...

Country and Rap = Crap....its coming I'm sure, thank goodness for remote controls!! :p

50CENT does, Your Cheatin Heart....hahaa
 
So, a girl forced me into going to a Kenny Chesny concert with her. A rodey hands him a black Les Paul and he start strumming with the song. Turns out it wasn't even plugged in. So I turned to this girl and said, the guitar isn't plugged in. She said "Yea, but dosn't he look cool with it".
 
juststartingout said:
So, a girl forced me into going to a Kenny Chesny concert with her. A rodey hands him a black Les Paul and he start strumming with the song. Turns out it wasn't even plugged in. So I turned to this girl and said, the guitar isn't plugged in. She said "Yea, but dosn't he look cool with it".
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sure he wasn't using a wireless?
 
I would doubt it.....

how many times have we seen Hank Williams Jr. dance around with a Les Paul and you can tell he's not plugged in because half the time hes not fingering the right chords......
 
Gidge said:
I would doubt it.....

how many times have we seen Hank Williams Jr. dance around with a Les Paul and you can tell he's not plugged in because half the time hes not fingering the right chords......
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sure he wasn't using an alternate tuning?
 
timboZ said:
myhatbroke. :confused: :confused:






I think it was the dixie chicks and Gretchen Wilson.
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although i dont think her music is too bad, she doesnt really fall into the country category IMO

- Lou
 
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