Merle Haggard Slams Young Country Stars

Thaindian News ^ | February 6th, 2009

[nickcarraway]

Country music legend Merle Haggard, who is recovering from cancer surgery, has condemned young country stars, insisting they are having hits with all the wrong tunes.

The 71-year-old says he hates the songs of country music’’s current crop of leading ladies, with Carrie Underwood topping the list.

“Carrie Underwear, or Underwood. I mean, I like her, but where’’s the songs. You have to get past the belly buttons and the videos, Contactmusic quoted Haggard as telling America’’s Globe.

He also said country music today is so perfect. Maybe too perfect. “There are no surprises,” he said. “Everything is going to be perfect, and I can’t even hear someone breathe. That’s just my opinion. The electronic digital computer, anyone can do a record nowadays. You don’t have to stay in key or they’ll put you in key.” And he added that there is no better evidence of that than when you see an artist in concert: “You don’t really know who can sing or can’t until you see them in person, then you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, what happened?’”

[retrokitten]

I like her, too. But she seems like she could lay a serious smack down on someone. LOL

[La Enchiladita]

I think so....
You would definitely want to get on her good side, and stay there:o)

[silent_jonny]

I agree with you, RK. Carrie has a lovely voice and she certainly does not deserve to be singled out like that. "Carrie Underwear, or Underwood" -- what's up with that?! Merle could have offered the same critique without the unnecessary nastiness.

Haggard is either confused about who Carrie Underwood is, or he's off his meds.

Carrie has got to be one of the most conservative singers--in any genre of music--working today. The most revealing thing I've ever seen her wear was a pair of shorts, and even those were pretty tame--certainly no reason to call her "Underwear".

Looking through all the Carrie photos I've saved (I have several, lol), in not one of them is she so much as showing a bare midriff, much less a belly ring.

None of her songs are sexual either. They mostly deal with realtionships or small town life. None of the crying-in-my-beer tunes that Haggard is known for.

Carrie has even been goaded by the press to say unflattering things about other singers, but (unlike Mr. Haggard) she refuses to go that route, preferring to keep whatever private feelings she might have private. Remember when she won at the Grammys in 2007:

In backstage press questioning, Underwood didn't wilt as she refused to be drawn into a Dixie Chicks controversy about who was giving the finger to whom. I couldn't make this up, but this is what she said when asked about the Chicks "giving the finger" to the country music establishment: "Next question, please. I don't like talking about anyone giving the finger."

Well, all right. That's refreshing in an age of increasing vulgarity. It also shows a lot more grace and class than Natalie Maines' clueless and rude invoking of the Simpson's "heh-heh" in her little country Grammy acceptance speech.

One more thing, a year after winning American Idol, with a multi-platinum album climbing the charts and a #1 song under her belt, Carrie went back to school and graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a bachelors degree in journalism.

The closest Merle Haggard got to a formal education was a prison reform school, which he was sent to twice--once for petty theft, and then again for assault and burglary.

Haggard's Wikipedia page

[silent_jonny]

(I’d steer clear of Gretchen Wilson, because even though I like her songs, she scares me).

LOL!

She doesn't seem too cuddly. But she did sing at the Republican Convention last September, so she has that going for her. Then again so did Cowboy Troy :)

[Cloverfarm]

Country music definitely needs more songs about trucks, tractors and rodeos. Less about divorce in the suburbs.

[PalmettoMason]

Country music definitely needs more songs about trucks, tractors and rodeos.

I listen to a channel on XM called "Outlaw Country" all day every day at work. (XM channel 12) It's great... lots of music like the kind you mentioned.

[WetWillie]

Yea,I don't listen to country music like I use to. Not that there isn't some good songs out there,its just that you have to wait so long for one. Its not worth the time. I really like the old stuff,and why not I'm pretty old myself(-; People are always comparing the voices of different singers and I'm not denying that can be important. But there are singers that do not have great voices that really grab me. They have some other intangible that I'm not smart enough to put into words. A good example would be Ernest Tubb. He was never accused of having a good voice. The man was frequently off key and could not hold a note if his life depended on it. But he is still one of my all time favorites. People who know about this stuff say he influenced Hank Williams,Merle Haggard and many others. Perhaps someone more computer savvy than me could link to a couple of his songs.

[tlb]

Merle makes a very true and legitimate professional criticism, then undercuts himself with that pathetic personal “Carrie Underwear” slur. Makes him sound like an old man yelling at the kids to stay off his lawn.

[Liberty Valance]

Get off my lawn!

[Wolfstar]

Just a follow-up to my post yesterday in which I mentioned that Taylor Swift's song 'Love Story' was sitting in the #3 spot on the Mediabase Top 40 radio airplay chart. Today that song went to #1. Before the Grammys last week, 'Love Story' had stalled in #3 and it looked like it was headed back down out of the top 10. Swift's Grammy win gave it new life.

I totally dislike this song and think it doesn't represent country music very well at all. Haggard had a legitimate point that he mucked up due to his unnecessary "Carrie Underwear" comment. Carrie does have a really lovely voice and she is talented. Word on the music boards about Taylor is that, like Britney Spears, her voice is manufactured in the studio.

BTW, my three favorite recent country hits are Montgomery Gentry's rocking 'Gone', Brooks & Dunn's 'Believe' (Ronnie Dunn's voice is to die for), and 'Bless The Broken Road' by Rascal Flatts.

[Clemenza]

1. Merle is a leftist who did a little too much coke back in the day. Hell, the real reason they didn't smoke marijuana is Muskogee is because Merle smoked it all before it reached the city limits.

2. GREAT songwriter, although I always preferred Kinky Friedman's rejoinder to Okie from Muskogee, A--hole from El Paso.

[Clemenza]

I like Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, and early Merle (back when he used to look like Warren Beatty and before he became a flaming lefty). My fave country singer of all time, however, was the late great Marty Robbins. As a matter of fact, I am listening to "Devil Woman" as I type these words.

The Nashville Sound has always been prepackaged and manufactured. This has been the case for decades. The Nudie Suits may be gone, but the polish and artificiality is still there.

[Clemenza]

My fave Marty Robbins was probably the first to have the pop/country crossover sound (more then compensated with by some outstanding songwriting and “live in the studio” production). Hell, Bob Wills “western swing” was in many ways done in response to pop music trends of the times.

[uglybiker]

AM country radio is snooze-inducing.

You mean FM, don't you?

AM is usually where you hear the old stuff played these days.

[uglybiker]

.. wheres the hard drinking, pot smoking, neer-do-well, addicted, fist-fighting, moral trainwreck, mot'ercyle riding, trailer park vanity of yesteryear..

Hank Williams III

I'm takin' too much acid
Smokin' too much weed
Now I'm hangin' out in Texas
Drinkin' mushroom tea

And I woke up on the floor
An' I think I know why
Musta been some o' that
Boone County moonshine...

[uglybiker]

The problem is that good vocalists are a dime a dozen and with digital mastering, even mediocre vocalists can sound amazing.

And when everybody's amazing.......nobody is.

[smith288]

You know who I meant. JR

[La Enchiladita]

Well, alrighty. That’s a nice line-up, right there.

[Sawdring]

This one is a goodie:

Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles well sing a victory tune
Well all meet back at the local saloon
Well raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
Weve got too much corruption, too much crime in the streets
Its time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send em all to their maker and hell settle em down
You can bet hell set em down cause

[La Enchiladita]

They call him the "Texas Troubadour."

Waltz Across Texas~~Ernest Tubb

Sounds pretty to me, and I sure like that slide guitar!