Posted on 01/14/2018 9:41:37 PM PST by nickcarraway
My life didn’t change when I saw the duelling banjos scene in Deliverance, but it was the first time I realised there was more to country music than the Benny Hill theme tune
y name is Martin and I love country music. There you go, I’ve said it. It’s not always an easy thing to do. When the subject comes up, I get a funny sort of look. Once you spring the c-word on people, you can see they’re thinking: “[darn], this bloke’s weird. Does he dress up like a cowboy at home and do those funny dances?”
Sometimes people like to crack a joke about country and I’ve heard most of them. There’s the one that goes: “Do you like country? Or just western?” And then there’s: “Yeeeeehaaaaa!” People think that one’s pretty hilarious. But there is one joke which is quite funny and also very telling. It goes like this. Two blokes go into a pub, somewhere in northern England. One of them, who is hard of hearing, goes to the bar to get some drinks. The barmaid says there’s a band on, a country and western band. The bloke goes back to his mate and sits down with the drinks. “There’s a band on tonight,” he says. The other bloke says “What type of band?” The other one replies: “I don’t know. Some [expletive] from Preston.”
Sorry to hit you with another c-word but the punchline neatly reflects popular contempt for country music. The gag is perceptive in that a lot of what we call country music is irredeemably naff – chugging pop-rock with lyrics about beer and trucks sung by blokes with hats like Garth Brooks and Jason Aldean. But I also hate the joke because it obscures everything that I love about country. There’s no rollicking
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I’d rather listen to fingernails on a chalk board than I would C&W “music”.
I bought tickets to see them in March in Kansas City.
FYI, I had a short Facebook exchange with JD Souther one time over moose calf death rates and expanding wolf and brown bear populations. He is a certified leftist as well.
>> There are many gradations and portrayals of ‘Country Music’ <<
Yes, indeed. Couldn’t agree more.
And thank goodness I can still tune in every night to WSM 650AM and hear the classic versions!
The author is talking about a particular gradation/portrayal (that he likes) that has its roots in bluegrass/folk:
“The country I love is what it was before it was even called country music. It was first known as hillbilly or mountain music, or just traditional music, born of its roots in Appalachia where families would sit around taking turns in ensemble singing and playing. “
Then he goes on to cite:
“...Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Highway 101 and Dwight Yoakam, ... They rocked but they also had swing, great melodies, harmonies and, yes, fiddles, pedal steel and banjos. It also had great story songs. Paradise by John Prine... George Jones, Merle Haggard, Gram Parsons, Guy Clark...”
“To my ears there’s nothing more beautiful than Emmylou Harris’s voice but others such as Lucinda Williams – a sort of female Steve Earle – Iris DeMent and the peerless, contemporary champion of traditional music, Gillian Welch, all showcase vocals in a way rock simply can never do.”
A good album is Nanci Griffith’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms” where she does covers with the original songwriters.
Good stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Gv7UNX2X4
It is rather interesting that the best archive for real AMERICAN country music is in Britain.
http://country-music-archive.com/
Thank you!
Forty-nine posts before somebody mentioned George Jones?
:-)
>> there’s even good country music <<
Of course there is. Willie Nelson’s “western swing” recordings use pure jazz phrasing. And the original King of Western Swing, Bob Willis, was playing mostly jazz, albeit with “country” instrumentation.
I could go on and on, not only about singers and various ensembles, but also about the professional talents and techniques exhibited by solo instrumentalists like Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph and Floyd Cramer.
And would you believe that Jethro Tull, of the famous “Homer and Jethro” act, was actually a well-respected jazz artist? Jazz was what he really wanted to play on his mandolin when not on-stage with the cornball H & J comedy routines.
Or consider one of my all time favorite country tunes, “All the Good Ones Are Gone,” sung by Pam Tillis. I really love the chord and key changes in the bridge, which I think are comparable to some of the best standards in Great American Songbook. Drop your prejudice and take a listen sometime.
(OK, OK. Maybe it’s not as inventive and challenging as the bridges in “Cherokee” and “Body and Soul.” But still pretty good. And a lot better than the Sears and Roebuck bridges in “Rhythm Changes” etc.”)
Anyway, maybe my favorite story is about Charlie Parker:
When touring, he and the boys-in-the-band would stop at a roadhouse for food, and he’d often put a few nickles in the jukebox to play country tunes. A bandmate would say, “Hey, Bird, why you be listnin’ to all that cracker sh#t?”
Parker would reply,
“Hey, man, it’s the words. Listen to them words!”
Great quote. Also, country music suffered greatly due to "Urban Cowboy".
>> There ain’t no saxophones in country music! <<
That means you ain’t been listnin’ to “Bobby Sue” by the Oak Ridge Boys.
And Garth Brooks, who is responsible for the wussification of Country Music.
Sturgill Simpson sure sounds a lot like Waylon Jennings. Also, his style is not like the slick, overdone offerings coming out of N’ville these days. So, yes, there may be hope.
Garth Brooks - The Most Boring Man in Country Music
>> Isn’t zydeco Cajun “country” ? <<
Nope, it’s a unique Afro-American music that grew up in the “Creole” (black and mixed race) people of SW Louisiana, and it was originally sung in the Creole French patois.
Moreover, although Zydeoco definitely has been influenced by the (white) Cajun musicians, especially in the use of the accordion (an instrument not found in other black music traditions), it’s still a very distinct genre from pure “Cajun” music.
“...well I was drunk the day my ma got outta prison...”
That’s all it is now. Trucks, drinking and screwing. Hick-hop! I despise what it has become. How many times can you sing the same song with rearranged words from a goober who couldn’t carry a tune in a wash tube and if his nose fell off he couldn’t make a sound as that’s all they sing through. George Strait is about all that’s worth listening too currently.
All the current country singers would cut their throats if they actually listened to a George Jones or Conway Twitty song from total embarrassment.
Listen to #7 and you’ll hear it. No creativity at all.
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