Josh Tuner, A/K and Union Station, Miranda Lampert, Taylor Swift, George Strait, Brad Paisley who is the best guitar player in country today. And 3 girls from Texas who I just better not name . Nick
Josh Tuner, A/K and Union Station, Miranda Lampert, Taylor Swift, George Strait, Brad Paisley who is the best guitar player in country today. And 3 girls from Texas who I just better not name . Nick
ntriesch
Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, Laurie Lewis, and Kathy Kallick.
Lurleen Lumpkin
Redd Volkaert is the best guitar player in country without a question.
-1
Is Brent Mason deceased?Originally Posted by (lgc @ Nov. 18 2007, 19:33)
"I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is."~John Mellencamp
"Theory only seems like rocket science when you don't know it. Once you understand it, it's more like plumbing!"~John McGann
"IT'S T-R-E-M-O-L-O, dangit!!"~Me
"Why do we even want the musics we love on "mainstream".
Bingo! Let the masses have Country music and the Superdome fireworks shows. What could be better than seeing Thile, Del McCoury, Fred Eaglesmith, etc.,etc. at small venues and festivals. PLEASE DO NOT tell the masses what they're missing!
They real fun has always been under the bleachers while those in them are distracted by the "show"!
Bill James
www.axinc.net
Amen.
There's a local Sunday night bg radio show that sits on the Monday-Saturday Country yuck station. The music is, of course, great (with a slant to the modern sounds...so be it), but it's almost embarrassing to listen to the standard format announcing it, repleat with canned announements of the show and things like "...Get Ready For 3 hours of Picking and Grinning with the Music That Made America Famous...", in a Garry Owens-type DJ voice, etc., etc.
I cringe.
Please dont bring that simple minded, hateful, woman hating, urban white-kid wanting to be a gansta genra into this. Its IS what is wrong with music today.
I hate new rock, new metal, new country. It all sounds the same. I dont want to see Toby Keith on stage or even Garth for that matter.
Give me sequins and rhinestones.
Who still does this stuff? Dwight Yoakam, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Dale Watson to name a few, there are others. I love Hank III's country based-hellbilly stuff but I dont care for Superjoint Ritual at all.
At least newgrass musicians can play their instruments somewhat. I dont know of any hip hop idiots who can play a simple chord.
And for the record, rhyming does not equal poetry so I cant accept that there are hip hop artists who are writing poetry.
Good post with some excellent points.All this is symptomatic of media consolidation and the concentration of control in the hands of fewer and fewer mega-corporations. #And it's gonna get worse if the current Republican head of the FCC gets his way in trying to rush through new regulations allowing ever further consolidation. Clear Channel only owned something like 50 stations before the first wave of "deregulation" - a year later, they owned 1200 stations. #Right now 5 megacorporations control 80% or more of all US media. #Eventually it will all be essentially the voice of Pravda - everything the megarich think you should think.
So what does this have to do with quality of music?
Regional radio, once a driving force in the development and exposure of regional acts, is long dead, replaced by fiats coming out of corporate headquarters as to what or what doesn't get on the playlists. Back in the 60's, there was a "Philly sound". Detroit had it's own stars - Bob Seger System, The Rationals, The Frost. New Orleans had it's local stars who were all getting airplay - in fact the N.O. scene was so good, many of these guys never bothered to play much outside of Louisiana because they made a good living right there at home.
Not that local music is dead, but it's harder and harder to get a foothold into the "mainstream" without having the suits and accountants telling you what to play etc. #It's the same thing with the big record labels - who may be running a chain of TV and radio outlets as well.
Why is there this move to stamp out internet radio? Why does Time-Warner and the others continually oppose low-power FM stations whose signals can only cover part of a city or a county? Could it be that they want to control or limit what you are exposed to musically?
What was the payola scandal of the 80s all about? It became mobsters extorting the labels for airplay, but that was something which backfired on the labels. It was originally cooked as up a scheme to deprive independent labels of any possibility of having a radio hit...the big labels have big pockets, so they decided that if (reasonable, for them) payola was brought back, the indies could not afford to get their stuff on the airwaves Having the mobsters act as independent (promotional) contractors, they could claim deniability about corporate involvement. However, once mob guys bought off the program directors, they decided to go after the big money by extorting the big labels. It's all in the Frederic Dannen book Hit Men. #There were congressional investigations, but it never went further than the mob guys. Al Gore was on the committee. #But guess what...Tipper was on her PMRC explicit lyric labels crusade. #And wasn't it amazing....the big labels went along with that stuff, and presto.... the payola investigations never extended into the corporate involvment.
I bet you there's a bunch of you that thought that bumping The Dixie Chicks off the airwaves was great. (Yeah...ban em forever...send 'em off to Russia) One corporation deciding they are not politically appropriate for their 1000 stations. Get in line sister if you want your careers, which was supposed to be the chilling message. But that much concentrated power means that maybe your favorite kind of music never gets any real airplay because some CEO doesn't think it deserves it...not enough money playing that "fringe music" when the formula will do.
It's not that people naturally opt for garbage..... it's what they are programmed to do. Limit the listener choices, don't let them even become aware of the other stuff...they might actually prefer it. And if it ain't on big radio, it's not in WalMart or KMart. It's similar to musical propaganda - repeat the official apporved spin - or spin the approved "product" - over and over, and the masses will buy into as reality. The same forces that are determining what you are allowed to (conveniently) hear musically, are the same ones which determing what sort of "news" you will hear and which viewpoints are not in their $$$-interest for you to become aware of.
Every once in a while a fluke breaks through. Notable was O Brother. The Nashville CW establishment would have like to have crushed that...no airplay. BUT, it was a MOVIE, and they couldn't control the movie screens. #And that's how the music got to the public...from seeing the movie and then getting the soundtrack. Radio didn't have anything to do with it. #
Or how about Billy Ray Cyrus? Yeah, I know, everyone got sick of "Achy Breaky", but the real deal was that Nashville was out to get him because of his success because he was a fluke that came from outside (WV) their system.
The music mags get a lot of ad money from the big labels...so they "play ball" coverage-wise if they want to keep that money flowing. No airplay...no magazine coverage. No press....no airplay. It's a big vicious circle of parasites with the people that actually produce the music at the very bottom of the food chain. The average musician as the equivalent of migrant workers in agribusiness.
Tom Petty's The Last DJ has plenty of commentary about the music biz. I thought it was one of the best albums he ever did, but the AMG reviewer only gave it 1-1/2 out of 5 stars. Boy, that guy's nose really got brown with that review. #Maybe he was afraid that his flow of promo review copies might slow to a trickle if he gave it a good review. Get in line brother!...
You want to save country music? Then you need to think about saving the first amendment. #Otherwise, don't complain about the garbage and proganda you're limited to.
Niles H
I played music for many years and worked in a record store during that time. I can tell you that you can sell ANYTHING that people can hear IF THEY CAN HEAR IT.
I pimped a lot of bands/music with great sucess within the store. However, the local indy radio station was bought up, another popped up and the same thing happened.
The conglomerates don't want you to form an independent opinion. Just like theme parks and museums.......this is how it is, here is the interpretation...no no thinking allowed.
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto.
I blame it on soccer moms.
Shawn Camp - good songwriter
Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band
Don't sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
The problem with mainstream country is it has become what I will just call 'Mainstream'. Meaning pop-rock, pop, country, etc.
They've all molded into one big clusterfu**, and are all equally indistinguishable and terrible. There's nothing wrong with collaboration, but when it's bad music to begin with, well... Basically, country is just rock now, and rock is just pop, with a little more distortion, and rap and rock have already mixed, and etc. It wouldn't surprise me if Timbaland started producing country singers. Anything for a buck.
Nashville radio is a significant obstacle (far more so than perhaps, radio in rock).
Country is headed down a pretty depressing road, as is a lot of music. Luckily, there will always be good music, you'll just have to look harder for it.
The major labels A&R committees , unfortunately, are not elected positions.
Though starting a new label is, perhaps, like a vote of No Confidence.
And adding to the community listener supported non commercial radio stations on the air.
AND names I'll add Charley Pride and Martin Bogen and Armstrong
Howard Armstrong was a damn fine mandolin player and fiddler.
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
There is nothing that anyone can do about modern country today. It happened to rock over 50 years ago. Right after the true rockers like Carl Perkins came out with fantastic songs like " Blue Suede Shoes" , " itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow pokeadotted bikini" came out! All pop music over time is filled with junk. Thats just the way it is. Do what I do....just listen to what you like!!!!!! Nick
ntriesch
Speaking of Kathy Mattea, I just bought her 2008 release entitled "Coal". Concept album of mostly old time songs about coal miners, dedicated to the memory of her grandfathers, both miners. Produced by Marty Stuart who also plays some nice mandolin throughout. Session musicians are top drawer, (Byron House, Stuart Duncan, etc.) I highly recommend it for fans of Appalachian roots music. Heartfelt music that still matters.
R
I'd throw Charlie Robison into the mix.
There is no doubt that good music is defined by the notes the instruments play. But it is also by the words. Maybe a lot of the young acts don't have the road rash on them that the older country stars did. That makes a difference. But when you listen to lyrics you know these folks are singing songs that hit people right where they live. I listen to a Taylor Swift song and remember the angst of teenage love. Man, I felt those feelings deep back then. And I believe you can't beat the simplicity of Don Williams.
There is still great music today. The reason some folks here won't give new country and new music a chance is the same reason some people won't give old, good country and bluegrass a chance. It doesn't sound right and we decide in the first 5 seconds whether it is junk or not. Sometimes we have to listen again.
Restore country music? I'm waiting for the distressed version!
2015 Chevy Silverado
2 bottles of Knob Creek bourbon
1953 modified Kay string bass named "Bambi"
Only the buying public and their not interested.
I think as far as country goes, you hit this spot on. I choose to ignore mainstream country and focus on the smaller artists/groups that make the rounds on the festival circuit. I like to buy my CDs directly from the source, which hopefully means they get the full $15 bucks.
'08 Weber Fern 'Old Wood' Red Spruce
I thought Leftover Salmon had a great start with "The Nashville Sessions". Waylon really made that album special, as did Del. Anyone familiar with that one?
If not, you should check it out.
"The trouble with you is the trouble with me, got two good eyes, but still don't see."--J.G.
Forgive my ignorance but what is a "Nudie" suit? Vince Gill has a new song called "Take This Country Back." The chorus goes:
"We got to take this country back
We need a few more matchin' Nudie suits
and silver dollar Cadillacs
There's one too many dime store cowboys
muscled up in a cowboy hat
we got to take this country back"
I quoted the whole chorus as it seems to echo the thread.
Dwight Yoakom
Chris Stapleton.
I love that guy.
Of course, there would be a lot more killin' songs.
Paula
The undisputed king of the Nudie Suit - the late Porter Waggoner
2015 Chevy Silverado
2 bottles of Knob Creek bourbon
1953 modified Kay string bass named "Bambi"
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