|
27 Mar 09 - 08:42 PM (#2598962) Subject: when country was country From: olddude just listening to Hank Williams singing Lovesick blues for me the best country song ever written IMO what has happened to country. Today it is Tequila makes her cloths fall off, where are the Hanks I know I will get burned by this thread. It is just my opinon but i can't believe there are not so many others that feel this way. Art Thieme please pick up the guitar again ... please !! some of the old stuff sad tonight |
|
27 Mar 09 - 08:47 PM (#2598963) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: olddude how about a new CD art, some western tunes old style like you always did.. I am so tired of this new country music ... want to scream .. ok just grumpy tonight but that is true |
|
27 Mar 09 - 08:52 PM (#2598966) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: olddude When Art, and Jerry and Frank did a country style it was a country style, when it was a western style it was a western style, when it was a folk style it was a folk style... Dang ...now what do I have cookie cutter all sound alike blasting on my country station ... yikes I am getting old |
|
27 Mar 09 - 08:55 PM (#2598967) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: olddude and when my old sea captain Kendall belted out a tune you knew what it was about ... I am on a roll tonight, born too late or two early I think Dan (the grump tonight) |
|
27 Mar 09 - 11:32 PM (#2599004) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: Bert Yep, yep, yep! Where ARE all the good country songs? I got one of my own that needs a young girl singer who can really twang. Can't find her anywhere. And talking of twang, where is Vicky Vincennes? |
|
27 Mar 09 - 11:53 PM (#2599011) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: katlaughing Ya'll need to dial up yer own radio station over at www.pandora.com...the music genome project. I've got so many stations there, I can find anything to fit my mood/task/etc. All ya have to do is enter a song title or artist's name and it brings up all kinds in that genre and you get to give each one a thumbs up or down so next time the mix is even better. I hear ya, though! Chris LeDoux did a great job of real stuff when he first started out, then he went kind of glitz and glamour, but damn, he still sounded so good. I still have some of his early albums, autographed, even. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 12:13 AM (#2599017) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: GUEST,DonMeixner There are new real country and real western singers out there but they get no play. Robin and Linda Williams still do the real deal. Don |
|
28 Mar 09 - 01:07 AM (#2599028) Subject: RE: when country was country and western was From: Joe Offer Don, wouldn't you say Norman Blake is another one? We have a Mudcatter named Gene who collects old 78's and LP's and transcribes them. He posts some of his transcription work here, and lots more at Cowpie, http://www.roughstock.com/. I have to say that I can't sing that stuff credibly. I guess I'm too urban (though I live in the sticks now). -Joe- |
|
28 Mar 09 - 04:52 AM (#2599071) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Will Fly Whenever I go through my collections of Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams records, I'm still amazed at the number of fantastic songs they composed and sang - huge hits among them, and all singable as hell. Where are the Don Gibsons of today as well... |
|
28 Mar 09 - 05:15 AM (#2599075) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: skarpi jibbýkæjei Another cup of coffee = Marty Robbins :>) hahahahaha country what !!!!! countryfolkbluegrass and jango Jazz . :>)) |
|
28 Mar 09 - 05:56 AM (#2599092) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Acorn4 I'd go for "Lost Highway" as my favourite HW song, but there are so many good ones! |
|
28 Mar 09 - 06:16 AM (#2599104) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Richard Bridge Interesting. Pandora.com cannot supply non US users due to "licensing constraints" - I can get into the pandora site without getting a message to say that I am in the UK via proxify, but that access appears to be mute and I see proxify will not transfer mp3s unless I subscribe, so I imagine that whatever sound I might be able to get from pandora is blocked by proxify until I suscribe. Shadowsurf, however, gets me the "You are in the UK" message. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 07:16 AM (#2599130) Subject: Lyr Add: THE DEATH OF JIMMY MARTIN (Tom Russell) From: Midchuck Tom Russell, as usual, says it best, in "The Death of Jimmy Martin:" THE DEATH OF JIMMY MARTIN (Tom Russell) There's a hound dog running all alone through the piney woods The howlin' tears the soul out of me There's a jay bird calling up a funeral dirge In ragtime harmony. Barb'ry Allen rolled over in her grave all morning There were roses growing out of her head Hey, God's gonna burn down Nashville tonight Jimmy Martin's dead Ah, the great Jimmy Martin's gone dead You got twenty twenty vision but you're walkin' 'round blind You Grand Ole Opry fools With your hypocritic judgments and your self righteous snobbery And your God Damned false hearted rules. You scorned Hank Williams and you shunned Jimmy Martin, Boys who sang with tongues of fire. Hey god's gonna burn down your Grand Ole Opry Hear the screaming of the hypocrites and liars They feel safer now that Jimmy has expired. Run, Pete, run, your master's callin' you, He's waiting on up ahead Hey, don't look back, 'cause Nashville's burnin' down Pete, Jimmy Martin's gone dead The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead. Well, don't call me no country singer Those are poison words to me 'Cause I ain't heard a good country song Since 1973. The King of Bluegrass has died for your sins, The Whore of Babylon is sleepin' in your bed. And God's gonna burn down Nashville tonight, boys, Jimmy Martin's dead The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead. Run, Pete, run, your master's callin' you, He's waiting on up ahead Don't look back, Nashville's burnin' down Jimmy Martin's gone dead The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead. There's a hound dog runnin' all alone through the piney woods The howling tears the soul out of me... Peter. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 10:13 AM (#2599213) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude Boy does this bring back memories it is from a radio show with some video added Hank |
|
28 Mar 09 - 10:53 AM (#2599233) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Nehi Blame it on the record industry and thus the young listeners around the world. Record producers slowly transitioned country and western music to fit their image of what the younger audiences wanted to hear...a merger of rock and roll and country. The label marketing people kept harping on "demographics" and pushed (and payola) the DJ's until the audiences complied and began to buy the "new sounds". That's why Willie, Waylon, etc. left Nashville and the 16th Ave. studios to perform their own music "their way!". As Don said above, there are still artists out there performing the "real deal". You just have to go to the beer joints out in Americana. The reason they are out in those joints is that no label is picking them up... Same with Blues and Folk in the U. S. No one is buying, so no one is performing. It's terrible and personally I love the old stuff but that's the way the world is today...strictly driven by financial motivation. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 10:58 AM (#2599238) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Dave the Gnome From 'The Blues Brothers' "We have both kinds of music - country AND western" :D (eG) PS - I think 'both' kinds are well represented in the film by 'Rawhide' and 'Sand by your man';-) |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:32 AM (#2599260) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Ernest ah, don`t forget the time BEFORE country was country & western: when it was hillbilly.... Best Ernest |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:32 AM (#2599261) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,Arkie Can't say I miss the old stuff at all. Thanks to my own collection, several friends, emusic and the Record Lady I have about 25 CDs of the old favorites and the collection is growing. I can listen anytime I want. As for a new generation of singers who would be right at home in the old school, Elizabeth Cook and Heather Myles could hold their own. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:36 AM (#2599264) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Will Fly I've always thought Iris Dement has a voice that spans generations - it has a real, old-time quality and simplicity to it. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:48 AM (#2599269) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Gene The History Of [Country] Music and more here. worth checking out. http://www.scaruffi.com/history/country2.html |
|
28 Mar 09 - 12:08 PM (#2599278) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Jerry Rasmussen Country and western is mostly neither one now. It's American Idol Country. There's no room anymore for good singers in rap or hip hop which almost totally dominate the music sales, so young singers who are American Idol winners do "country" music, over-singing the crap out of the song as if they were channeling Ethel Merman. The have good voices, but every number has to be a showstopper. There are a couple of country programs on tv that play rootsier, less plastic stuff where I occasionally see someone who is fresh and original. There's always Allison Krause (not exactly vintage country, but not American Idol stuff, etiher.) Currently, I like Reckless Kelly who sound like Steve Earle if he was a band. Ragged as the road I'm on is a classic in the making for me. The young women who are doing country are mostly cookie-cutter leggy blondes with long hair who all sound the same to me, other than Taylor Swift who is fighting for the Myley Cyrus crowd. Sweet singers, singing about issues that are critical to 13 year old girls with their first school boy crush. You want grumpy, Dan? Fooey on plastic country. Dolly Parton, ironically, comes off as good ole; country. As she sings, she's a Backwoods Barbie. Jerry |
|
28 Mar 09 - 01:18 PM (#2599314) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: kendall I'm one of those odd balls who never cared much for Hank Williams, but he did a couple that I liked, Alone and forsaken was one. Minor chords in a country song? Why not? My favorite country song is "Sunday morning coming down." Roy Acuff, Hank Snow Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb Johnnie Cash, now they were country. This crap they pass off today is nothing but soft rock with a steel guitar. I can't stand the steel guitar, they all sound like they are searching for the note and crying 'cause they can't find it. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 02:17 PM (#2599351) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,Arkie What I liked about music in the 1950s is what I like about music now and that is the material, the song. The song can be enhanced with the right accompaniment and presentation or can be damaged with too much from the singer and or musicians. The statue of country performers in the 1950s was built around their consistency with music that appealed to audiences, not stage flash or how well they fitted into their jeans. Jerry's references to American Idol pretty much describes the current state of music and what is wrong with it. The commercial music industry is selling sex instead of music. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 02:34 PM (#2599359) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,glueman Did someone diss Dolly?!? Is that legal? |
|
28 Mar 09 - 02:37 PM (#2599363) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Lonesome EJ Its still around. Hank III looks and sounds enough like his Grandpa to have been cloned. Merle and the Possum are out there. Even "kids" like Ryan Adams are writing new honky tonk music Hell, you can even find good country music coming from England. Ignore Nashville. Except for Randy Travis, Chris Ledoux, and a few others, that vein has been mined of all the good stuff. LEJ (holding on to the past while plunging boldly into the future.) |
|
28 Mar 09 - 03:51 PM (#2599401) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Sandy Mc Lean |
|
28 Mar 09 - 04:03 PM (#2599408) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Sandy Mc Lean Sorry for shooting blanks. In my area country music still lives but you won't find it on radio station. Just last night at a local concert I sang Geisha Girl and Miller's Cave. Others sang several Hank Williams songs, Hank Snow, George Jones etc. The music still exists but it is mostly popular with an older audience who flock to small venues to listen to what they can't get on radio. To my mind most of the good stuff was written before 1980. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 04:08 PM (#2599412) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: pdq "Did someone diss Dolly?!? Is that legal?" If you mean the "Backwoods Barbie" comment, that is the actual title of her album from last year. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 04:16 PM (#2599417) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,glueman Thank goodness for that. I was minded to look at some old Dolly footage on youtube after I posted and my two year old pointed to the screen and said "s'that Barbie dad?" From the mouths of babes... She's still a genius. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 04:35 PM (#2599432) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: John on the Sunset Coast Country and Western have always, for me, been two different types of music. Many or most might disagree, but it works for me. Western music is the music of or about working cowboys, outlaws and the settling of the west. Don Edwards, Michael Martin Murphey and Dave Stamey are my current favorite performers of this music. Songs might include Streets of Laredo, Strawberry Roan, and Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Jesse James, or Going to the West are other examples. Country music is a more 'rural music' if that still exists, as opposed to big city bands and lush vocals. The music Sandy Mc Lean writes about performing woulds fit here in my definition. Generally, I would consider some blues (Jimmie Rodgers, early Gene Autry) to fit here. Western swing (Bob Wills or Spade Cooley), Honkey Tonk, bar ballads and marital (in)fidelity. Current country music is, MO, virtually indistinguishable from pop with just a hint of twang to separate them. I don't much listen to that. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 04:56 PM (#2599446) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude kendall Roy Acuff doing Great Speckled Bird haven't listened for a long time .. I never get tired of it got it going right now Jerry Amen my friend |
|
28 Mar 09 - 05:06 PM (#2599454) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude Patsy Cline doing Crazy what a voice huh Patsy Cline doing crazy |
|
28 Mar 09 - 05:38 PM (#2599465) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Fortunato I have a great recording Lovesick Blues by Emmett Miller (with yodels) on Okeh on June 12 1928, accompanied by his Georgia Crackers (which included Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, and Leo McConville). Ernest Tubb is my favorite country singer, of course, but for me Hank Locklin's Fraulein seems the quintessential country melody. Although, Great Speckled Bird, as Kendall suggests, and You Win Again, by Hank Williams, are close, in my opinion. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 06:28 PM (#2599490) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,Arkie In my early years the music was country and the costumes were western. There were also a few groups that did mostly western songs but they also did non-cowboy as well. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 06:47 PM (#2599500) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude Arkie you bet Jerry hit it on the head. Is there a million seller country superstar today that doesn't have the same sound and 15 or so young girls dancing around to the exact same song with different lyrics from the exact same studio songwriter. And sadly I talk to the young kids (mine included) that say they love country and they have no idea who Patsy Cline was or Roy Acuff.... Yes there are some good ones I completely agree about Allison Krause and Iris Dement and some other good folks but for the most part it is all cookie cutter and almost immediately forgettable to my ears. But that is the only thing the country stations play or even the country tv ... They call it country but it is as far from country as Rap I think. there will be very few that survive the test of time I think. I grew up with the real country music. As a teenager I hated it cause it was my DAD's music and I was cool I thought .. Took me years to realize how smart my dad was ... |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:21 PM (#2599588) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: katlaughing THESE are what I grew up with as Cowboy music. Western could be them, too, but more likely Bob Wills and what we called Honky-tonk music. COuntry was Acuff, Cline, etc. When I met my Rog in 1979 we worked at a "country western" radio station and we had a great mix with all of the old standards, Chris LeDoux hand-delivering his new albums, and some crossover like Jerry Jeff Walker. Don Williams, Michael Martin Murphy and a few others were also some of our favs. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:35 PM (#2599590) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: RangerSteve There's a listener supported radio station in Hunterdon County, NJ, that, among other things, has some good country music. On Monday mornings, there's a show specializing in what they call "Independent Country", meaning country music issued by small labels, that still understands that fiddles and steel guitars are part of the music. Good country music exists, but it'll never get played on commercial stations. The radio station, by the way, broadcasts over the internet, at www.wdvrfm.org. |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:51 PM (#2599594) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,DonMeixner Joe, I would say you are correct about Norman Blake. Iris Dement is still high on my list. You don't get more western that Don Edwards or Ian Tyson. I sure miss Jim Ringer. Don |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:56 PM (#2599595) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude Don Jim Ringer ... oh yes thank you Dan |
|
28 Mar 09 - 11:59 PM (#2599597) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude Kat your collection is amazing all great classics. I didn't see Gene Autry on there. OH I just remembered "That silver haired daddy of mine" wow how great was that!! Gotta find it |
|
29 Mar 09 - 12:10 AM (#2599599) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude How about the sons of the Pioneers doing tumbling tumbleweeds sons of the pioneers and FESTUS man Ken Curtis could sing. Most people thought he was just an actor on gunsmoke but he had a great voice |
|
29 Mar 09 - 12:55 AM (#2599613) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: GUEST,DonMeixner Ken Curtis gained some fame as a big band singer before joining the Sons of the Pioneers. A great singer who never really lost the aw shucks voice. Festus Hagen was closer to his real speaking voice than most people imagined. The only complaint I ever had of TSOTP was in the movie Rio Grande when they were the Regimental Singers. Curtis sang I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen beautifully but with big D Martin guitars in a movie set before (1874)Tom Westendorf wrote the song(1875). And it wasn't their fault anyway, no one would argue with John Ford. The Sons were my favorite western band for a long time. Even when the lost the Farr brothers they still had better voices and instruments than most western bands. I truly believe they were as much a jazz swing band as anything else. Listen to Cajun Stomp or Kilocycle Stop and you will swear it is Stefan Grappelli and Django Reinhardt you are hearing. Don |
|
29 Mar 09 - 03:40 AM (#2599635) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Mavis Enderby For me Hank Williams with the Drifting Cowboys were pure class. Hank's songs were amongst the best country songs ever written and I just love the simplicity of the backing - seemed to make a perfect combination. I'd say for modern stuff Gillan Welch / David Rawlings are my favourite - but I don't know how well they fit in to the "Country" genre. Having said that I'm not sure how well the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers, fitted in either.... Pete. |
|
29 Mar 09 - 10:41 PM (#2600163) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Art Thieme Old Dude, Well, thank you for the way too nice words. -------- But please know, good sir--- It is not just a matter of me picking up my guitar once again. It wasn't something I purposely put down. I had to do it -- and it was like dying. My hands are thoroughly numb and I have no feeling in them to make chords or anything. This started in the early 1980s and I managed to keep on playing until '97. The nineties were a decade of f.....g spinal surgeries for my symptoms before Mayo Clinic saw I'd had MS--probably all along. O.D.--I have a 2-CD bootleg of western stuff you'd enjoy of mine. It's yours if ya want it. |
|
29 Mar 09 - 10:48 PM (#2600164) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: M.Ted I've got to figure that the day country music died for all and for good was the day Kenny and Dolly made that record about Christmas in a Lake Tahoe ski chalet. |
|
29 Mar 09 - 10:55 PM (#2600168) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: John on the Sunset Coast GUEST,DonMeixner Date: 29 Mar 09 - 12:55 AM Ditto and Amen, sir! |
|
29 Mar 09 - 10:56 PM (#2600169) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude Art I did not know and it breaks my heart to hear that. And I would treasure the CD thank you. If you ever ever wish to record or write any new music I know I speak for a thousand like myself that would be honoured to back you up. Even though none of us could ever hope to have your skill on the guitar thats for sure. Dan |
|
30 Mar 09 - 01:19 AM (#2600207) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: katlaughing Dan, all of those 78s came out long before Gene Autry...my dad grew up on them, then we did, and now they're out there for next generations through my kids, my grandkids and Mudcatters who have also bought them. I really enjoy Autry, don't get me wrong, but these were what represented the old time cow man like my granddad and dad when he was growing up.:-) And, that is one reason why my dad loved Art Thieme's music so much...esp. Blue Mountain which we drove past while listening to Art singing it on a tape, on the way to visit my dad where he lived in Utah.:-) |
|
30 Mar 09 - 07:05 AM (#2600296) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: JohnInKansas when country was country & western was western ?????! I get more sentimental about when country was hillbilly and western was called cowboy. They changed it all just after we got our first radio big enough for two people to listen at the same time. I'm not sure when the next transmogrification happened 'cause that was mostly done after that new-fangled crap called tellagabision came along and we couldn't afford one of them fancy things for about 20 years and it all happened when we wasn't lookin'. When we finally got one of 'em ('bout '56) the only channel we could get (if somebody held onto the antenna just right) never played nothin' but Lawrence (bubbles) Welk so we still didn't find out a lot about what "new music" was around. But a local DJ by name of Johnny Western did play "Old Shep" day before yesterday on our local AM old-time country station. (Hadn't heard that one since about '51, and now I remember why; but he was memberalizin' the passing of the writer or somethin' like that. Apparently a personal friend of his.) John |
|
30 Mar 09 - 08:14 AM (#2600341) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: olddude John love it ... my dad used those terms , he would say if it aint "hillbilly or cowboy don't play it " love it |
|
30 Mar 09 - 12:29 PM (#2600491) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: DonMeixner Hi John in Kansas You haven't heard Ol' Shep until you've heard Ol' Kendall do it. It's on one of his CD's or LPs from Folk Legacy. Excellent work. My favorite Old Time country radio show was from Lee Moore The Coffee Drnkin' Night Hawk and no one did old country and hill music better than Bradley Kinkaid. Don |
|
30 Mar 09 - 01:16 PM (#2600541) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: Wesley S Here's Don Edwards singing : Little Joe the Wrangler That's western music. |
|
30 Mar 09 - 01:24 PM (#2600547) Subject: RE: when country was country & western was western From: pdq Here is a website that lets you listen to Western (aka Cowboy) Music all day long. They have good taste in material, too: Cowboy Cultural Society |